The class of 1957 witnesses the College's transition as it expanded beyond the area it had occupied for half a century. The Manhattanville campus opens in the fall of '55. On October 8, 1953 - City College's Downtown Center was officially named The Bernard M Baruch School of Business and Public Administration. The Bernard M Baruch Distinguished Lecturer Series begins in the spring of 1953 when Bernard Baruch, Class of '89, delivers a three part talk on "A Philosophy for Our Time". The class of 1957 is the first 'business class' to graduate from The Baruch School of the City College.

Jonas E. Salk, City College Class of '34, makes headlines in the medical community in 1955 for developing the Salk vaccine, which represented man's quest over 'crippling infantile paralysis'. !