Rockford College is a private American liberal arts college in Rockford, Illinois. It was founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary and changed its name in 1892. The college is known as the alma mater of Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, who was a member of the class of 1881. Rockford College was founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary. It was the sister college of Beloit College, which had been founded the year before. The seminary's initial campus was on the east side of the Rock River, south of downtown Rockford. In 1890, the seminary's trustees voted to offer a full college curriculum, which led to the name changing to Rockford College in 1892. Men were first granted admission to the college at the beginning of the 1955-56 school year. At about this time, the school requested that the City of Rockford close parts of a street adjoining the campus. In January, 2008, Dr. Robert Head was named the College's seventeenth president effective July 2008.