Marist College, located at Poughkeepsie, New York, is one of the prominent colleges of arts and sciences in the Northeast region. Founded by St. Marcellin Champagnat of the Marist Brothers, it maintains its ecumenical character while pursuing higher excellence in education. It is noted for the usage of cutting-edge technology in the teaching and learning process. Marist College originally began as a seminary for training future priests. Although the seminary began in 1905, college level courses weren't introduced until 1929. The college was then called Marian College. It acquired the official four-year charter from the State of New York, in 1946. The college got its present name of Marist College, in 1960. The college shed its all male image in 1966, by admitting women for the first time. They were initially admitted for the evening classes, but in 1968, the college admitted women during the day, making it completely co-educational. In 1969, the college ownership was transferred to the Marist College Educational Corporation. The Marist College campus spans an area of 150 acres in historic Hudson Valley, overlooking the Hudson River. It houses various schools dedicated to disciplines such as communication and the arts, computer science and math, graduate and continuing education, liberal arts, management, social and behavioral sciences, and science. The college, which began with a class of four Marist Brothers, now boasts 4,000 undergraduate men and women, 1,100 continuing education students, and about 1,000 graduate students. The college inaugurated the James A. Cannavino Library, in 2000. The 83,000-square-foot structure earned nation wide attention owing to its classic architecture and state-of-the-art infrastructure. It features more ports per student than in any other library around the nation. The Marist College’s tendency towards adopting latest technologies dates back to the 1980s. In 1984, the college received $2.5 million in equipment and almost $2 million in software from the IBM Corporation. In a joint study conducted by Marist College and IBM in 1988, the college was placed among the most technologically advanced liberal arts colleges in the United States. The tradition of using the latest in computer and telecommunications technology towards education and research works still continues. In recent years, Marist College’s progressive approach towards technology has won it recognition for excellence from U.S. News & World Report, Time Magazine and the Princeton Review, and Barron's Best Buys in College Education.