In 1958, Connecticut College for Women began investigating the possibility of expanding the College’s graduate program to male students. Although the College had enrolled men since the late thirties under “special student” status (those seeking to fulfill prerequisites for other institutions or to supplement or advance their careers), the awarding of degrees to male graduates wasn’t given serious consideration until the 1950s, when local manufacturers and industrial production facilities Pfizer, Dow Chemical Company, and General Dynamics approached the College, looking for opportunities for advanced study for the college-educated men and women they employed.

Though interest on both sides was strong, the effort was soon met by a major stumbling block – the College’s charter restricted the granting of degrees to women only. Rather than amending the original charter, which would have necessitated a name change, the College instead petitioned the state legislature to charter a separate institution, Connecticut College for Men, on June 2, 1959. Connecticut College for Men opened to its first class in the fall semester of 1959, sharing its faculty, facilities, and two-thirds of the Board of Trustees with Connecticut College for Women, which also managed finances, admissions, and salaries.

Together with Connecticut College for Women, Connecticut College for Men was incorporated under the title Connecticut College in 1969, after the decision to move to coeducation was made.