University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
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University of St. Thomas |
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| Motto | Challenge Yourself Change Our World |
| Established | 1885 |
| Type | Private, Roman Catholic |
| Endowment | $351.6 million |
| Rector | Archbishop John Ireland |
| President | Rev. Dennis Dease |
| Faculty | 564 |
| Staff | 1,051 |
| Undergraduates | 5,584 |
| Postgraduates | 5,057 |
| Location | St. Paul, Minnesota, USA |
| Address | 2115 Summit Ave St. Paul, Minnesota 55105 |
| Telephone | 651-962-5000 |
| Campus | Metropolitan: 87 acres (352,000 m²) |
| Colors | Purple and Grey |
| Mascot | Tommie the Tomcat |
| Website | http://www.stthomas.edu |
The University of Saint Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a coeducational archdiocesan Roman Catholic institution of higher learning based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1885 as a Catholic seminary, it is named after St. Thomas Aquinas, a medieval Catholic theologian and philosopher who is the patron saint of learners in the Roman Catholic Church. Now a university, it currently enrolls more than 11,000 students, making it Minnesota's largest independent college or university. St. Thomas' recently revised mission statement is as follows:
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- Inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition, the University of St. Thomas educates students to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely, and work skillfully to advance the common good.
Rev. Dennis Dease became the 14th president of the University of St. Thomas on July 1, 1991.
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[edit] Campuses
The University of St. Thomas has four campuses: St. Paul, Minneapolis, Owatonna in Minnesota, and Rome, Italy.
[edit] The St. Paul campus
The main campus, built on a farm site once considered "far removed from town," is located where St. Paul's stately Summit Avenue meets the Mississippi River. The site was farmed by ex-Fort Snelling soldier William Finn, who received the property as a pension settlement after he accidentally shot himself in the hand while on guard duty.
The western edge of the campus borders the Mississippi Gorge Regional Park. Summit Avenue, which runs through the middle of the campus, is the country's longest span of Victorian homes. This tree-lined avenue includes the Governor's Mansion, F. Scott Fitzgerald's townhome, and James J. Hill's spectacular mansion.
The 78 acre (316,000 m²) St. Paul campus consists of the original 45 acre (182,000 m²) campus, five acres (20,000 m²) of adjacent properties and 28 acres (113,000 m²) of the St. Paul Seminary campus (informally referred to as the "south" campus) that was transferred in a 1987 affiliation between St. Thomas and the seminary. The beautifully landscaped campus has been used as a setting for two motion pictures.
St. Thomas is currently involved in an aggressive expansion project. The fall of 2005 marked the completion of the expedient 15-month construction of a new apartment-style residence hall. Selby Hall now sits on top of a three level underground parking ramp and houses an additional 400 residents. This is part of a larger plan to develop the land south of Summit Avenue. Recently completed is McNeely Hall, a large classroom building for Business that will replace the small, ineffective building of the same name that sits quietly next door. A new residential village, more parking ramps, and general civil engineering all have been negotiated successfully with the surrounding neighborhood. These developments are expected to begin within the next five years.
In addition, the designing of a new student center is currently in the works as the current student center, Murray-Herrick Center, is out of date and incapable of serving students and staff to the fullest extent. The new student center is slated to be placed on an existing parking lot, hold underground parking, and be large enough to contain a new cafeteria, a ballroom, offices, a gathering area, and other facilities that are currently unavailable or inefficient.
The St. Paul campus is home to most undergraduate students.
[edit] The Minneapolis campus
In fall 1992, the university opened a permanent, 150,000 square foot (14,000 m²) campus at 1000 LaSalle Ave. The building, named Terrence Murphy Hall in May 2000, is headquarters to the Graduate School of Business and Graduate School of Professional Psychology. Artist Mark Balma created one of the largest frescoes in the United States on the arched ceiling of Terrence Murphy Hall's atrium. The seven-panel, 1,904 square foot (177 m²) fresco was completed in the summer of 1994 and portrays the seven virtues discussed in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Directly across the street is Opus Hall. The four-story, 100,000 square foot (9,000 m²) building opened in summer 1999 and is home to St. Thomas' School of Education. Connected to Opus Hall is a K-12 magnet school that also opened in 1999.
The University of St. Thomas School of Law began operations in Terrence Murphy Hall in fall 2001; the new School of Law building opened in 2003 and is located on the block south of Terrence Murphy Hall.
[edit] The Gainey Conference Center (Owatonna)
The Gainey Center is located on 180 acres (728,000 m²) in Owatonna just one hour south of the Twin Cities. The conference center and satellite campus was built around the French Norman-style home of the late Daniel C. Gainey who bequeathed the property to the university upon his death in 1979.
[edit] The Bernardi campus (Rome)
The University of St. Thomas Bernardi Campus is located on the west bank of the Tiber River on Lungotevere delle Armi in Rome, Italy.
Purchased by St. Thomas in November 1999, the Bernardi Campus houses St. Thomas students participating in academic programs and offers guest accommodations for visitors. Situated in the heart of the modern Prati Zone, the campus is near both the center of Rome and Vatican City.
The University of Thomas is the only university in the United States to have a formal affiliation with the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, called the "Angelicum." The university was founded by the Dominicans in the 16th century.
[edit] History
- Founded in 1885, St. Thomas began as an all-male, Catholic seminary. John Ireland, archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul, started the St. Thomas Aquinas seminary, which became a liberal arts college in 1894. A gift from local railroad tycoon James J. Hill provided funds to establish the St. Paul Seminary apart from the college.
- In 1896, college officials made an artificial lake, Lake Mennith, using water from an underground stream. Located in the lower quadrant, the shallow lake dried up in 1922.
- The College of St. Thomas became a military-based school for undergraduates in 1906 and awarded its first academic degrees in 1910. Before that, the school gave out two-year diplomas in commercial and classical programs.
- In 1915, the college and St. Thomas Military Academy for high school students split into two institutions and in 1965 the academy moved to Mendota Heights. The college later dropped its military distinction in 1922.
- From the late 1920s through the mid-1930s, the Holy Cross Fathers, who run the University of Notre Dame, controlled the college's administration. The diocese called those priests in to help with the school's financial problems; those priests were known as a crisis intervention team of sorts for parochial schools of that time.
- During World War II, St. Thomas served as a training base for naval officers, which kept the school open when men who would have attended college were fighting in the war.
- After the war, in 1948, the college established 'Tom Town' on the eastern end of the lower quadrant, which is currently home to the O'Shaughnessey-Frey Library. Tom Town consisted of white, barrack-like housing units for faculty, students and their families. The units helped to meet housing demand after WWII.
- In the latter half of the 20th century, St. Thomas started two of its most notable graduate programs: education in 1950 and business administration in 1974.
- Women started regularly attending classes at St. Thomas for the first time in 1977 and now St. Thomas' undergraduate student body is 51 percent women and 49 percent men, according to Institutional Research.
- In 1991, the College of St. Thomas became the University of St. Thomas. The following year, the university opened the Minneapolis campus.
- In 2001, St. Thomas reinstated its School of Law at its Minneapolis Campus. The Law School was shut down during the Depression. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the speaker at the Grand Opening.
[edit] Organization
[edit] Rectors
- Father Thomas O’Gorman (1885 – 1887)
- Father Edward McSweeney (1887 – 1888)
- Father James Keane (1888 – 1892)
- Father James Byrne (1892 – 1899)
- Father John Dolphin (1899 – 1903)
- Father Humphrey Moynihan (1903 – 1921)
- Father Thomas Cullen (1921 – 1927)
- Father John P. Foley (1927 – 1928)
- Father Matthew Schumacher (1928 – 1933)
- Father James Moynihan (1933 – 1943)
- Father Vincent Flynn (1944 – 1956)
- Father James P. Shannon (1956 – 1966)
- Monsignor Terrence Murphy (1966 – 1991)
- Father Dennis Dease (1991 – Present)
[edit] Academics
Each year the university awards almost 2,500 degrees including four different bachelor’s degrees (B.A., B.S., B.S.M.E. and B.S.E.E.). There are 88 major fields at the undergraduate level, with 59 minor fields of study and seven pre-professional programs. At the graduate and professional level, the university offers 41 master’s degrees, two education specialist, one juris doctor and five doctorates.
The University of St. Thomas is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC), a consortium of five private liberal arts colleges. Other ACTC members are Augsburg, St. Catherine, Hamline and Macalester. This program allows students to take classes at any of the associated universities as long as the class is not offered at their home university.
[edit] Schools and Colleges
The university offers its degree programs through nine divisions:
- College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences includes undergraduate departments in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, plus a number of interdisciplinary programs. Master’s-level programs are offered in Art History, Catholic Studies, English, and Music Education.
- The Opus College of Business
The Opus College of Business has six departments offering undergraduate curricula in an interdiscplinary setting. The college also offers nine degree programs at the graduate level. It is home to a variety of centers offering credit and noncredit seminars and continuing-education programs.
The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity offers master’s- and doctoral-level degrees oriented to theological study and the practice of ministry. The school also offers a two-year pre-theology program for priesthood candidates who require additional preparation.
- School of Education
The School of Education offers undergraduate courses and curricula for elementary and secondary teacher licensures. Graduate study is offered leading to certificates, master’s, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees.
- School of Engineering
The School of Engineering offers graduate and undergraduate engineering degrees. Located on the St. Paul campus, programs in the college are committed to leadership in engineering and industry, in innovation, and in development of the whole person. They are built upon a firm –foundation of values and global awareness, and embedded in the context of the liberal arts. The college offers bachelor of science degrees in mechanical engineering (B.S.M.E.) and electrical engineering (B.S.E.E.), masters degrees in manufacturing systems engineering (M.M.S.E), manufacturing systems (M.S.M.S.) and technology management (M.S.T.M.) The B.S.M.E. and M.M.S.E. degrees are Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET accredited.
- School of Law
The School of Law was re-opened in 1999 after a 66-year hiatus. The first class of 120 students was accepted in fall 2001.
- School of Social Work
The School of Social Work offers undergraduate courses and curricula for social work and chemical dependency counseling. The Master of Social Work, offered as a joint degree program with the College of St. Catherine, is designed to provide advanced professional study in social work. Dual-degree programs are offered in cooperation with Luther Seminary, the Department of Theology at the College of St. Catherine, and the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity.
- Graduate School of Professional Psychology
Master’s- and doctoral-level degrees are offered in counseling psychology. A certificate in family psychology also is offered.
- Graduate Programs in Software Engineering
These programs offer master’s-level programs in software engineering.
[edit] Athletics
- NCAA Division III
- The University of St. Thomas is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).
- The school colors are purple and grey. The team mascot is Tommie the Tomcat.
Athletics has been an integral part of the college scene at St. Thomas since the institution first opened in 1885. In the first 20 years, intramural baseball teams were quite popular. The Tommies' school colors -- purple and grey -- evolved from the "Blues" and the "Greys," the top intramural baseball teams in the 1890s.
Varsity intercollegiate sports began in 1904, and St. Thomas celebrated its 100th year of varsity athletics in 2003-2004. (Varsity football didn't play during World War II in 1943, thus the 2004 season was the 100th season of varsity football).[1]
St. Thomas leads the MIAC in NCAA Division III Team Championships won with 10. Their largest rival is St. John's University from Collegeville, Minnesota.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported in a mid 1990's article that St.Thomas University was considering making a jump to Division I in athletics. Those rumors dimished soon after.
[edit] Accomplishments
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[edit] Student Housing
Undergraduate housing is found on the St. Paul Campus. Approximately 2400 residents live in 7 traditional halls, traditional apartment residences, quasi-on-campus apartment residence, 3 university-owned specialty houses, and the undergraduate residence for St. John Vianney Seminary. All traditional halls are single-sex, while apartment residences are single-sex by floor.
Each hall is governed and supported by its own hall council, which is part of a larger student organization called the Residence Hall Association. Hall councils plan activities and events in their own hall and support larger resident-based programming on campus. RHA as a whole deals with resident issues and serves as a liaison between residents and the larger university community.
[edit] Traditional Halls
Brady Hall
- Built in 1967 and named in honor of Archbishop William O. Brady Brady Hall is the largest male residence hall on campus.
- Built in 1894, designed by famed architect Cass Gilbert, and named in honor of the first Bishop of St. Paul, Joseph Cretin
Dowling Hall
- Built in 1959 and named in honor of Archbishop Austin Dowling
Grace Hall
- Built in 1913, designed by famed architect Cass Gilbert, and named in honor of the second Bishop of St. Paul, Thomas Grace
Ireland Hall
- Built in 1912 and named in honor of the first Archbishop of St. Paul and founder of the school, John Ireland
John Paul II (JPII) Hall
- Built in 1978 and named in honor of Pope John Paul II
Murray Hall
- Built in 1978 as the first female hall on campus and named in honor of Archbishop John Murray
The University of St. Thomas offers what they call special interest floors, or floors that are intended to house specific residents. Almost one third of all floors are First Year Experience floors, which consist of only freshmen. This is a nationwide practice that attempts to create a cohesive community by placing students together that will have a similar experience. UST also has a few FYE Weekend Activities floors, a newly created Catholic Women's floor, the Changing Faces of Minnesota floors, the Women in Math & Science floor, and a couple Substance Free floors.
[edit] Apartment Complexes
- Grand Avenue Apartments (Acquired in 1981)
- Morrison Hall (Built in 1998)
- Selby Hall (Built in 2005)
[edit] Specialty Houses and Buildings
- Common Ground
- The Wellness House
- Child Development Center Housing
- Castel Milano (Catholic Studies Men's House established in Fall 2005, name relating to the house patron Saint Augustine who had his conversion in Milan
- Castel Oropa (The Second Catholic Studies Men's House established in Fall 2006, name relating to place where house patron Blessed Pier Giorgo Frassati would literally run to mass every morning)
[edit] Seminaries
- St. John Vianney (SJV)
- Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity (SPSSOD)
[edit] Film & Movies
- In 1992 Crossing the Bridge starring Stephen Baldwin used St. Thomas as part of its set.
- A made-for-TV film entitled She Led Two Lives was filmed on campus in 1994. “Several students sat in the auditorium of [John Roach Center] as extras for a classroom shot,” Bill Kirchgessner of University Relations said to the Aquin in 2002. “They were fed pizza and pop during the shoot, and that was for ‘She Led Two Lives.’”[2]
- Direct to video film Overnight Delivery starring Reese Witherspoon was shot on the St. Thomas campus in 1998.
- The film Scream 2 was almost filmed at St. Thomas in 1997. The story is recounted by the Aquin in 2002: “The producers for ‘Scream 2’ approached us after the Minnesota Film Board had pitched our campus as the perfect college for the sequel,” Kirchgessner said. “The director was familiar with the campus also, which made it seem as if UST would be a good place for the film.” After university officials looked more closely at what the shooting would entail, they decided that it would better for the students to turn down the offer. “While some questionable actions outlined in the script influence our decision, the major reason was the timing,” Kirchgessner said. “We would have had to close several classrooms, blocked off the entire H parking lot (Summit and Cleveland) and cleared people out of an entire residence hall floor. There were just too many negatives in having them on campus. “It would have been pretty neat to have that film to our credit, but it would not have been fair to the students of the university.”[3]
- St. Thomas alumn Casey Garven was cast as Larson, a snobby "cake-eating" hockey player from Edina in the movies The Mighty Ducks and D2: The Mighty Ducks.[4]
- Best Buy filmed a commercial on campus in the fall of 2004. The commercial, which played before films at AMC theaters, was a spoof on a cheerleading movie preview. It reminded AMC customers to turn off their cell phones before the movie started.
[edit] Controversies
In the spring of 2006 controversy arose from the undergraduate campus regarding the climate and the University's treatment of minorities on campus. The City Pages, the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press and the University's newspaper The Aquin have written and featured articles regarding instances of purported discrimination. However, this controversy has reportedly died down as of the fall semester of 2006.
That same spring the 2006 Tommie of the Year, Benjamin (Ben) Kessler, shocked the campus community with his undergraduate commencement speech. An Academic All-American football player with a 4.0 GPA, Kessler reprimanded his fellow students for their "selfish" behavior, use of contraceptives and disrespect for Catholic values. He also used the speech to share his own views on moral behavior and university policies. Kessler later apologized for the statement[5]. The university now has a policy regarding speeches[6].
[edit] Notable alumni
- Jim Oberstar - U.S. Congressman
- Larry Bond - Game designer and author
- Dottie Cannon - Miss Minnesota USA 2006
- Ann Winblad - Venture Capitalist
- Will Steger - Polar explorer
- Vince Flynn - Author of political thrillers
[edit] External links
Categories: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Educational institutions established in 1885 | International Council of Universities of Saint Thomas Aquinas | Law schools in Minnesota | Roman Catholic universities and colleges in the United States | Saint Paul, Minnesota | Universities and colleges in Minnesota
