Mount Senario College

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Mount Senario College
Active: 1930—2002
Type: Private
Location: Ladysmith, Wisconsin, USA
( 45°27′20.5″N, 91°07′12.0″W)
Campus: Rural
Colors: Blue and Gold
Nickname: Fighting Saints

Mount Senario College (MSC or Mt. Senario) was a private non-profit college located in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Superior.

Contents

[edit] Early History

The College began in 1930, when summer extension courses were conducted in Ladysmith for the Servants of Mary (Servite Sisters) by Eau Claire State Teachers College. In 1952, courses were expanded to a junior college affiliated with the College of St. Scholastica.

Ten years later, the Servants of Mary established Mount Senario College as a four-year college. Enrollment was open to the public and emphasis was placed on teacher training. The college was named after the birthplace of the Servite Order, Monte Senario, near Florence, Italy. In 1963, the College was granted approval for certification of elementary teachers by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and approval for secondary certification was received in 1965.

Mount Senario College became a non-sectarian institution in 1972, when a plan for the reorganization of Mount Senario College was adopted by the Board of Trustees, and approved by the Servants of Mary. The College was granted academic accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1975. Mount Senario had twenty-eight satellite locations serving students mostly in the areas Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Business Administration and Liberal Arts.

[edit] Main campus

Main campus consisted of two major buildings. The largest building was the college, consisting of college administration, library, bookstore, cafeteria, lecture hall, several classrooms, chemistry laboratory, biology laboratory and physics laboratory. Adjacent to the college building was the dormitory.

[edit] Fine Arts campus

The Fine Arts campus was located half mile east of the main campus, on the corner of Wisconsin Highway 27 and College Avenue, consisting of one building. Originally in 1959, a new building was erected for the Our Lady of Sorrows High School and the school became Servite High. The facility was closed in 1967 and the building became the Fine Arts Center for Mount Senario College.[1] This building housed MSC's music and art programs. The college used the gymnasium as a multi-functional space for basketball games, musical concerts and other large public gatherings.

[edit] Later History

Mount Senario closed on August 31, 2002 from financial trouble. Although the college was in poor financial health, some attributed the closing to the events of September 11, 2001 because the college had students activated by the United States National Guard. Mismanagement and corruption involving the school president lead to the schools final closing. The city of Ladysmith offered some financial assistance (purchasing the athletic fields); however, it was not enough to save "The Mount."

Official student transcripts became the responsibility of the State of Wisconsin Educational Approval Board in August 2003 by court action. The transcript responsibility was transferred in December 2005 to The Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

[edit] Athletics

The school colors were blue and gold. The athletic teams were named the Fighting Saints. At the time the school suspended all athletics in December 2001, the school was a member of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

[edit] Since closing

For the 2006-2007 school year, part of the former campus was operated as Concordia Preparatory School, a private Christian high school. That institution also faced financial problems and has closed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School, Ladysmith, Wisconsin