St. Bonaventure University

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St. Bonaventure University

St. Bonaventure University Logo
Motto The Good Journey (after Bonaventure)
Established 1858
Type Private
Endowment $32.5 million [1]
President Sr. Margaret Carney, OSF
Staff 300
Undergraduates ~1,900
Postgraduates ~500
Location Olean, New York, USA
Campus Small town/Rural, 500 acres
Athletics Bonnies
Colors Brown & White
Website www.sbu.edu

St. Bonaventure University is located in Cattaraugus County in western New York. The university was established by the Franciscan Brothers in 1858 and is a private, Catholic university, located near Olean, New York. It has roughly 2,750 students. The current president is Sister Margaret Carney OSF, the 20th president and the first religious sister to hold the position. Its sports teams, the Bonnies (formerly nicknamed the "Brown Indians") play NCAA Division I sports in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Students and alumni refer to the university with an affectionate nickname—"Bona's"—which originates from the school's original name, St. Bonaventure's College.

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[edit] Location

The campus sits on 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) in the town of Allegany, just over the line from the city of Olean. The area around campus is known as St. Bonaventure, New York, with a population of 2,100. The university is located off of Interstate 86 (exit 24).

The south edge of campus lies on the Allegheny River. Campus buildings are designed in red brick with Italianate roofs, to reflect the architecture of St. Francis' native Italy. A small portion of the campus is wooded, and it contains a cemetery, a 9-hole golf course, an old airport, among academic and dormitory buildings. The expansive front lawn has been cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest front lawn in North America.

The university also owns a plot of land on an Allegheny Mountain foothill in West Clarksville, New York called Mount Irenaeus. "The Mountain," as it is referred to by students, faculty and alumni, provides a retreat for students.

St. Bonaventure University has its own U.S. Post Office. Mail may be addressed to St. Bonaventure, NY 14778.

[edit] History

The college was founded by Utica financier Nicholas Devereux, one of the first to gain land grants in newly surveyed Cattaraugus County from the Holland Land Company. Devereux founded the town of Allegany on the grant, hoping to build a new city. A great city needed religious instruction, so Devereux approached John Timon, the bishop of Buffalo, for assistance. The two invited the Franciscan order to Western New York, and a small group under Father Pamfilo da Magliano OFM arrived in 1856. This was the first group of Franciscan brothers to settle in the United States. The school graduated its first class in 1858. St. Bonaventure's College was granted university status by New York State in 1957. The largest dormitory on campus, Devereux Hall, is named for the founder.

Once one of the nation's most prominent Catholic colleges, St. Bonaventure ran into financial difficulties in the early 1990s, and nearly declared bankruptcy in 1994. Since then, the school has been put on a more solid financial footing and has seen record growth and campus improvements in the past five years.

Thomas Merton taught English at St. Bonaventure for a year just at the start of World War II. It was at this school that Merton finally gave into his vocation and decided to join the Trappists. He entered the monastery in Kentucky in 1941. An unusual botanical phenomenon on a mountain in view of campus, where the trees have fallen and left a clearing in the shape of a heart, is linked to Merton in campus myth. Some students call it "Merton's Heart" and claim that Merton visited the place often.

St. Bonaventure is strongly identified with the Western New York region. A notable proportion of the student body are from the Buffalo and Rochester metro areas, and references to Buffalo and Rochester—and their Catholic high schools—are common even among students not from those areas.

[edit] Athletics

St. Bonaventure has been long known for a successful basketball program that plays in the Atlantic Ten Conference. Nearly every member of the spirited student body attends home games, leading ESPN to call St. Bonaventure one of the top-five "worst places to play" in the country, along with Duke and Michigan. The team has struggled lately, but had success in the past: Bob Lanier played at St. Bonaventure, leading them to the Final Four in 1970, as did Tom and Sam Stith. In addition to these, and other, NBA players, other St. Bonaventure players played in the top European leagues. The last St. Bonaventure player to reach the NBA was J.R. Bremer, who played for the Boston Celtics in 2002 and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.

Mike Gansey, who finished his college career in 2006 as a star at West Virginia and signed with the Miami Heat as an undrafted free agent, played his first two years of college basketball at St. Bonaventure, but transferred along with several teammates in the wake of an academic scandal in 2003 after it was found that the university had accepted a junior-college transfer player whose only academic credential was a welding certificate. Dismissed after this affair were the university president, Robert J. Wickenheiser, the basketball coaching staff including head coach Jan van Breda Kolff & assistant coach Kort Wickenheiser, the president's son, and athletic director Gothard Lane, who was later absolved of culpability in the situation. The scandal also took a toll on university trustee, Bill Swan, who committed suicide on August 20, 2003, following sharp criticism from media and internet bloggers, specifically those on the Bonnies Bandwagon[citation needed], who criticized him for not interceding earlier to prevent the scandal.

The men's and women's basketball teams, among others, play at the Reilly Center Arena. The Arena seats 6,000 and is usually sold out during basketball season. Many people from the Olean area have been season ticket holders for years. After the 2006-2007 season, men's basketball coach Anthony Solomon was fired. Solomon was hired in May 2003 when the NCAA had imposed sanctions upon the basketball program. Over his four seasons, Solomon compiled a record of 24-88, including a mark of 10-54 in Atlantic 10 Conference games. This season, St. Bonaventure finished 7-22 overall and 4-12 in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies' season ended last Saturday following a loss at Charlotte. The current women's basketball coach is Jim Crowley.

[edit] The university today

The school is well known in New York State and the mid-Atlantic region for its journalism, business and education programs, having produced five Pulitzer Prize-winning writers. The institute is traditionally considered as a "Buffalo and Rochester" school and has struggled to enroll students from other regions.

St. Bonaventure is home to the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Its campus newspaper, The Bona Venture, has been published continuously since 1926. The school is also home to The Laurel, the nation's oldest continuously published college literary magazine. The school's student radio station, WSBU 88.3 The Buzz, is ranked No. 2 nationally by The Princeton Review. Lastly, the school has a unique organization known as SFM (Students for the Mountain). SFM holds retreats for students on the university's Mount Irenaeus.

[edit] The Franciscan connection

The school is the largest Franciscan-affiliated institution of undergraduate higher education in the English-speaking world. The friars at the St. Bonaventure Friary belong to the Holy Name Province, OFM. Franciscan brothers at the school are members of the Order of Friars Minor, one of the orders of Franciscan brothers.

The Bonaventure friars are involved in a number of activities in the greater Olean community, besides ministry on campus. They administer St. Bonaventure's Parish in Allegany, called "Little Bona's". There is a strong Franciscan presence at Olean General Hospital, and the university operates the area soup kitchen. Also adjacent to campus is the Motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, a group of Franciscan religious sisters.

St. Bonaventure himself (1221-74), born John of Fidenza, was a cardinal and Doctor of the Church. A theologian and contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas at the university in Paris, he became head of the Franciscan order and did much to institutionalize that order. His most famous work is Itinerarium mentis in deum, or The Soul's Journey to God. Bonaventure was canonized in 1482 by Sixtus IV.

The university is also home to the Franciscan Institute. Founded in 1939 by Fr. Thomas Plassmann, O.F.M., then President of St. Bonaventure College, and led by its first Director, Fr. Philotheus Boehner, O.F.M., the Franciscan Institute stands as the preeminent center in North America of teaching, research and publication on the history, spirituality and intellectual life of the Franciscan movement.

[edit] Notable alumni

Notable alumni of St. Bonaventure University include:

  • Ed Don George '29, Hall of Fame wrestler, inducted 1975.
  • John McGraw Hall of Fame baseball player and manager, inducted 1937.
  • Hughie Jennings Hall of Fame baseball player and manager, inducted 1945.
  • Ted Marchibroda '53, NFL football coach
  • Fr. Mychal Judge OFM '57, chaplain, Fire Department of New York, and Victim #1 on September 11, 2001
  • Eugene M. O'Connor '75, partner at Chamberlain D'Amanda (Rohester, NY)
  • Thomas P. Ryan Jr. Democrat, Mayor of Rochester, NY 1974-1994
  • Samuel L. Molinaro Jr. , executive vice president and chief financial officer Bear Stearns Companies Inc.
  • Arnold J Eckelman Former Sr. Vice President - Operations,Verizon Communications
  • Lee Coppola '64, former Buffalo television news reporter and federal prosecutor, current dean of the Jandoli school
  • John "Jack" R. McGinley '65, Vice President of the Pittsburgh Steelers
  • Shaun Sheehan '66, public affairs specialist and vice president, Tribune Company
  • James T. Walsh '70, U.S. Congressman from New York
  • Bob Lanier '70, Hall of Fame basketball player
  • Charles J. Dougherty '71, President of Duquesne University
  • John K. Schmitt '71, Brigadier General, U.S. Army
  • Tom McElroy ’74, director of athletics at the University of Rhode Island
  • Leslie C. Quick III '75, investment banker and president, Fleet Securities
  • Timothy R. Brownell '83, real estate and hospitality financier, owner of Slider's Pub, Baltimore's Inner Harbor
  • Maureen Keenan LeBoeuf '76, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (ret.)
  • Richard A. Bucci '76, mayor of Binghamton, New York
  • Jim Baron '77, men's basketball coach, University of Rhode Island
  • Dan Herbeck '78, Buffalo News reporter and biographer of Timothy McVeigh
  • Neil Cavuto '80, Fox News Channel anchor
  • Thomas M. Marra '80, executive vice president of The Hartford
  • Catherine M. Young '82, New York State Senator, 57th Senate District
  • Mike Vaccaro '89, Sports Columnist, New York Post
  • Adrian Wojnarowski '91, author, "The Miracle of St. Anthony"
  • Tim Kolpein President of Kolpien & Associates & Co-Chair of Young Republican National Federation, Inc.
  • Chuck Daly, Hall of Fame NBA coach
  • James Post, Boston University School of Management professor and founder of the Catholic lay group Voice of the Faithful
  • Eugene M. McQuade, President and Chief Operating Officer of Freddie Mac
  • Aaron Cappotelli, '97, morning radio host, Tony & Cappy KDMX - Mix 102.9/Dallas

The school also boasts five Pulitzer Prize winners as alumni.

  • Robert A. Dubill '58, former executive editor of USA Today. Won in 1980 for public service (uncovering religious fund-raising scandals).
  • John Hanchette '64, former managing editor of Gannett Newspapers, now professor of journalism at St. Bonaventure. Won in 1980 for public service (uncovering religious fund-raising scandals).
  • Charles J. Hanley '68, reporter for the Associated Press. Won in 2000 for investigative reporting (the massacre at No Gun Ri).
  • Brian Toolan '72, vice president of The Hartford Courant. Won in 1999 for breaking news reporting (shooting at the Connecticut Lottery).
  • Dan Barry '80, reporter for The New York Times. Won in 1994 for investigative reporting (corruption in Rhode Island court system).

Four Members of the United States Congress also attended St. Bonaventure.

[edit] External links


The Atlantic 10
Charlotte • Dayton • Duquesne • Fordham • George Washington • La Salle • UMass • Rhode Island • Richmond • Saint Bonaventure • Saint Joseph's • Saint Louis • Temple • Xavier
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