PITTSBURGH — Chatham University today accepted a gift unequaled in the institution's 139-year history: the nearly 400-acre Eden Hall Farm in Richland Township, Pennsylvania from Eden Hall Foundation. The gift establishes the largest university campus in Allegheny County and enables Chatham to expand its academic and environmental programs for the University's nearly 2,000 students and for the North Hills community at large.

"With the Eden Hall Foundation's generous gift of the Eden Hall Farm, Chatham University will become one of the most unique university campuses in the country," said Esther L. Barazzone, Ph.D., president of Chatham University. "Eden Hall Farm campus will be a living laboratory, where students will engage in a broad range of studies including programs aimed at improving the lives of women and addressing issues of environmental sustainability that will impact our lives," she said.

At 388 acres, Eden Hall Farm is almost ten times the size of Chatham's historic 39-acre Shadyside campus and was originally assembled by Sebastian Mueller, one of the first executives at the H.J. Heinz Company, who utilized the farm to benefit the working women of Pittsburgh. The gift and initial plans for Chatham's new campus were announced this morning by George C. Greer, chairman and president of Eden Hall Foundation; Esther L. Barazzone, Ph.D., president of Chatham University; and S. Murray Rust III, chair of Chatham's Board of Trustees, at Eden Hall Farm, north of Pittsburgh in the Pine Richland School District.

"Sebastian Mueller, with great foresight, created a retreat at his Richland Township summer home, Eden Hall Farm," Mr. Greer said. "The Farm, following the direction of his will in 1938, became a place of respite and recreation for working women and a place to further their appreciation and enjoyment of the natural environment. Mr. Mueller directed that the scope of the Farm should broaden when the needs changed. Currently, the challenges of working women are often best met through educational opportunities. The Eden Hall Foundation is pleased that Mr. Mueller's legacy will continue under the guidance of Chatham University, which has long shared his vision and devotion to enhance the lives of women through higher education."

Chatham University has quadrupled its enrollment in recent years, increasing programs for young women and graduate students, enhancing its arboretum campus and launching online degree programs, and is recognized for its vibrant, innovative and highly involved approach to learning. The addition of Eden Hall Farm to its campus is, according to Dr. Barazzone, "an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue to realize our vision for the future of our school, our students and our campus."

"This gift is a true 'alignment of the stars' for both Chatham University's long-term growth and Eden Hall Farm's mission," Dr. Barazzone said. "Sebastian Mueller's legacy of serving the working women of Pittsburgh and Chatham's history of advancing the cause for women in western Pennsylvania and beyond are closely intertwined," she said.

"As the alma mater of environmentalist Rachel Carson, we think that Eden Hall Farm will enable us to advance environmental education through specific additions to our curriculum," Dr. Barazzone said. "Our undergraduate and graduate programs will play a key role in shaping our Eden Hall Farm offerings, both to our own students and to the North Hills community at large. The possibilities are almost endless and will enable us to establish a learning community unlike any other."

About Sebastian Mueller and Eden Hall Farm

Sebastian Mueller (1860-1938) immigrated to Pittsburgh from his native Germany in 1884 at the age of 24 to work for his cousin Henry J. Heinz in his fledgling food processing operation. Mr. Mueller spent more than five decades working for what was then called "The House of Heinz." He headed the company's manufacturing operations, served on its board of directors and ran the organization during Mr. Heinz' absence.

Mr. Mueller won the respect and gratitude of not only the company's founder but also its legion of working women. He was generous in providing Heinz' female employees with medical care and financial assistance — long before the existence of corporate health care plans or government programs. Having no heirs, Mr. Mueller willed his entire estate, including Eden Hall Farm, to serve as a vacation and respite destination for the working and retired women of the H.J. Heinz Company, as well as for women throughout the region.

The property — much of which is agricultural and forest land — includes the Mueller's former home, a conference center with guest rooms and a dining facility, a barn and caretaker home, as well as several smaller structures.

About Chatham University

Chatham University now offers 23 masters level programs and four doctoral level programs, all applied degrees, for women and men. As Chatham College, the institution offered undergraduate degrees to women only until 1994, when it launched its first graduate program for women and men. Of Chatham's 2,000 degree-seeking students, more than 800 are graduate students. Along with 440 full- and part-time faculty and staff, the University's campus population was quickly outgrowing its landlocked 39-acre Shadyside campus, and so the addition of Eden Hall Farms provides a new opportunity for growth.

Chatham University offers undergraduate liberal arts degrees for women through Chatham College for Women, its historic residential women's college. The College for Graduate Studies offers master's- and doctoral-level programs for women and men; and the College for Continuing and Professional Studies provides online and hybrid degree programs, and community programs including the 52-year-old Summer Music and Arts Day Camp.

Founded in 1869 as Pennsylvania Female College and today housing one of the oldest women's undergraduate colleges in the United States, Chatham also today celebrated its first year as a University, which was granted on April 24, 2007 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and announced on May 1. The Eden Hall Farm gift marks yet another remarkable milestone in almost 15 years of growth.

"Eden Hall Farm has served so many individuals since Sebastian Mueller began his first summer program for women in 1935. Because of Chatham University's historic commitment to women and the environment, Sebastian Mueller's legacy will live on to serve even more than he could have imagined," Mr. Greer said. "Today we witness the evolution of one man's dream into what I believe will become a unique learning community for people from around the world."