The college originated from a women's industrial club that was founded by Lucy Skidmore Scribner in 1903[6] and chartered as a school in 1911.

[8] In the late 1960s, the college moved from downtown Saratoga Springs to a newly constructed campus on the city's northern border.

In 1911, the club was chartered under the name Skidmore School of Arts as a college to vocationally and professionally train young women.

)[10] In 1971 Skidmore also launched the University Without Walls (UWW) program, which allowed nonresident students over age 25 to earn bachelor's degrees.

[21] An Oklahoma law firm filed a class-action suit, with two former employees of the college named as lead plaintiffs.

[23] In the 2022–2023 school year, 617 bachelor's degrees were awarded in the following departments:[24] Students are also encouraged to take their education outside of the classroom with internships.

is given to those students majoring in art (studio), dance, dance-theater, education, exercise science, business, social work, and theater.

The Saisselin Art Building houses studios for animation, ceramics, communication design, drawing, fibers, metals, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

[43] The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery was opened in 2000, and was designed by the architect Antoine Predock.

It aims to implement programs, events, and policies that establish and maintain high standards of community life, academic scholarship, responsible citizenship, and personal growth.

Founded by Robert Boyers, a long-time faculty member in the English department, it has been published at Skidmore since 1969 and now has an international subscriber base of several thousand readers.

Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee, Tzvetan Todorov, George Steiner, Orlando Patterson, Norman Manea, Christopher Hitchens, Seamus Heaney, Mary Gordon, Susan Sontag, Benjamin Barber, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Howard, Carolyn Forche, Martin Jay, and David Rieff are among the writers who have contributed to Salmagundi.

Regular columnists include Benjamin Barber, Tzvetan Todorov, Martin Jay, Charles Molesworth, Marilynne Robinson, Carolyn Forché, and Mario Vargas Llosa.

In 2002, the Associated Collegiate Press awarded the newspaper first place for a four-year college weekly for special coverage of the community reaction to the September 11 attacks.

Three of Skidmore's buildings have geothermal heating and cooling systems, and the college has recently hired a sustainability coordinator to assist with efforts to "green" the campus.

"[55] Skidmore's athletic department, run out of the Williamson Sports Center, currently funds and supports 19 varsity teams, including basketball, ice hockey, rowing and riding.

Some notable Skidmore graduates include MacArthur Fellows Elizabeth LeCompte[61] and Heather Hurst;[62] Cornell Law School dean Jens David Ohlin;[63] longtime Vogue editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella;[64] television producer David Miner;[65] oceanographer Sallie Chisholm;[66] philanthropist Wilma "Billie" Tisch;[67] political operative Anne Wexler;[68] business executives Cynthia Carroll,[69] Oskar Ibru,[70] and Carlie Irsay-Gordon;[71] journalist Arwa Damon;[72] actors Zazie Beetz,[73] Justin Henry,[74] and Michael Zegen;[75] dancers Sybil Shearer[76] and Robert Tracy;[77] historian Judith Flanders;[78] computer scientist Fillia Makedon;[79] game designer Zach Gage;[80] cookbook authors Helen Corbitt[81] and Molly Baz;[82] comedian Chris Fleming;[83] early nutritionist Hazel Stiebeling;[84] musicians Evan Mast and Mike Stroud of Ratatat;[85] artists Grace DeGennaro[86] and Glenda Arentzen;[87] biophysicist and health policy expert Ruby Puryear Hearn;[88] environmentalist Céline Cousteau;[89] and film and TV composer Nathan Barr.