About The Chatfield Edge

What is The Chatfield Edge?

The Chatfield Edge is a nonprofit organization that offers a unique approach to supporting first-generation and non-traditional students as they gain success in life through education. Built upon the 177-year-old educational history of the Ursulines of Brown County and the legacy of Chatfield College, which closed in 2022, The Chatfield Edge combines student support services, scholarships, and mentoring to empower individuals to achieve their life goals. Services include college and FAFSA application support, career counseling, mentoring, and scholarship assistance.

How We Give You an Edge

By utilizing our services, individuals can use higher education to help them move beyond their current life limitations and create a better future for themselves and their families. Whether education occurs in a college or university setting, a trade school environment, or a certification program, the unique support and encouragement we provide are what will give individuals The Chatfield Edge.

Mission Statement

The Chatfield Edge empowers and accompanies students as they transform their lives through the pursuit of postsecondary education. Our work is rooted in the educational legacy of the Ursuline Sisters of Brown County, and we welcome people of all faith or no faith backgrounds.

Our Vision

The Chatfield Edge envisions a world in which first-generation and underserved students are equipped with resources to reach their education and life goals, increasing their employability and deepening their impact on their families and communities.

Our Team

As they say, "It takes a village." That's certainly true in education and in life. While The Chatfield Edge has a lean but highly proficient staff, they are supported by a dedicated Board of Directors as well as partners, mentors, and volunteers.

MEET OUR STAFF AND BOARD

Annual Report - 2022 through 2023

Our History

In 1845, Julia Chatfield, along with ten Ursuline sisters from Boulogne-Sur Mer and Beaulieu, France, traveled to St. Martin, OH, at the urging of the Archbishop of Cincinnati to establish a school for young ladies. The academy they built, The School of the Brown County Ursulines, was renowned for the quality of its education and welcomed girls from across the country and world for 136 years. In response to changing needs of the surrounding community, the Ursulines of Brown County established Chatfield College in 1971 as an accredited liberal arts college.

While the Ursulines are best known for providing a superior education to young women, Chatfield College’s mission from the beginning was to extend that same experience to adults who dreamed of changing their lives for the better through education–both women and men.

The college continued for the next 50 years, proudly transforming thousands of lives at two campuses, located in the historic St. Martin campus near Fayetteville, OH, and the Cincinnati campus located in the revitalized urban community of Over-the-Rhine. Then, in 2022, the college's leadership announced plans to transition from a two-year, private liberal arts college to a nonprofit agency focused on supporting postsecondary education attainment.

Today, The Chatfield Edge serves recently graduated high school students as well as young adults who are looking for a better life and know that education is the key to getting there.

foundresses4

Ursuline Values

What does Ursuline mean? Ursulines are members of a Catholic teaching order of nuns. The order was founded in 1535 in Brescia, Italy by St. Angela Merici. St. Angela named the order Ursuline in honor of St. Ursula, a Catholic martyr. In keeping with our founders' tradition, Chatfield College infuses the following values into the college experience:

  • Nurturing the whole person

  • Fostering collaboration

  • Forming servant leaders

  • Living Gospel values

ursuline values

Timeline

1845

Archbishop Purcell invited 11 Ursulines under the direction of Mother Julia Chatfield to come from Boulogne-Sur Mer and Beaulieu, France, to St. Martin in Brown County, Ohio, to establish a school for girls.

1958

Ursulines of Brown County open the Ursuline Teacher Training Institute in St. Martin to provide quality liberal arts education to sisters joining the Ursuline Order.

1971

Ursuline Teacher Training Institute was renamed Chatfield College to honor Sr. Julia, opened to the public, and was accredited under the Higher Learning Commission.

1989

Cincinnati campus moved from Lower Price Hill to North Fairmont.

2008

Cincinnati campus moved to Mercy/St. John near Findlay Market.

2015

Chatfield College completes construction on its new campus in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, allowing more students access to its quality associate degree.

2020

Chatfield College added two new degree programs, the Associate of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education and the Associate of Applied Science in Human Services.

Today

Whether education occurs in a college or university setting, a trade school environment, or a certification program, the unique support and encouragement we provide is what gives focused individuals The Chatfield Edge.