Simmons University

Simmons University is a private university in Boston's Fenway district. John Simmons founded it in 1899 as a women's college to educate women for independent livelihoods; the undergraduate college remains women-centered while graduate programs have long been coeducational. It became Simmons University in 2018. The defining fact is that mix of a women's undergraduate college and a large professional graduate school on an urban Fenway campus.

Schools cover nursing, social work, library and information science, health sciences, business, behavior analysis and education. Graduate students are known for nursing, social work, and library science, with additional work in nutrition, physical therapy and public health. The Fenway campus sits beside other Boston colleges and teaching hospitals.

Enrollment is about 6,000 students, with graduate students in the majority and undergraduates numbering about 1,700, plus a modest international share. Faculty number a few hundred. Alumni include journalist Gwen Ifill and generations of nurses, librarians and social workers in New England.

Graduate study emphasizes the MSW, MSN, DNP, PhD in social work and nursing, the master's in library and information science, and professional doctorates in health fields. Programs combine coursework and field placements, with online and hybrid sections for working students. The calendar is semesters. Funding includes assistantships and employer tuition support. Students use the Fenway and Longwood medical area for clinics and internships.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Simmons University lists 1 doctoral program, in information systems & MIS.