Saint Mary's College (Indiana)

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Saint Mary's College is a private Catholic liberal arts college founded in 1844 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. It is located in Notre Dame, unincorporated St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States - as are the University of Notre Dame and Holy Cross College - and is outside the city of South Bend. The name of the school refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saint Mary's has been educating women for more than 150 years and is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women. It was the first school to offer graduate degrees in Theology for women. Known as The Nation's Premier Catholic Women's College, Saint Mary’s College consistently ranks at the top of its category in the U.S. News and World Report annual survey of American colleges and universities (as of 2007, the college has earned the #1 spot 12 out of the last 13 years). The college combines a strong liberal arts program with a spiritual foundation and a dedicated alumnae family.

[edit] Heritage

In 1843, four Sisters of the Holy Cross came from Le Mans, France, to share in the apostolate of education with the priests and brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who had been sent by the bishop of Vincennes to open a college in northern Indiana. In 1844, the sisters opened their first school in Bertrand, Michigan, a few miles from Notre Dame du Lac; it was a boarding academy with pre-collegiate grades. In 1855 the school moved to its present site and grew to become Saint Mary’s College.

Eleven presidents took the school from a small finishing school ministering to orphans, to a college offering five bachelor’s degrees. There are approximately 18,000 living alumnae. Proposals to merge with University of Notre Dame (the College's brother school, located across the street) in the 1970s were rejected, and Notre Dame became coeducational on its own.

[edit] Saint Mary's in the Media

Talk show host and Notre Dame alum Regis Philbin has spoken of Saint Mary's from time to time; his Live with Regis and Kelly co-host, Kelly Ripa, filmed a promotion for the College in which she is given a tour of the campus. In addition, the relationship between Saint Mary's and Notre Dame students is analyzed in Kevin Coyne's 1996 book, Domers: A Year at Notre Dame. Saint Mary's is also mentioned in the novelization of the 1993 Sean Astin film Rudy.

Student life at Saint Mary's was examined (and lampooned) by 1999 alumna Mary Beth Ellis in her 2006 college memoir, Drink to the Lasses.

[edit] Academics

In 2004-5 the average salary of full professors was $69,600; of associate professors $55,900 and of assistant professors, $46,900.

• 11:1 student/faculty ratio
• 97% of regular full-time faculty have their Ph.D. or terminal degree in their field
• Liberal Arts program (Humanistic Studies)
• Degree programs in:
  • Bachelor of Arts
  • Bachelor of Business Administration
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts
  • Bachelor of Music
  • Bachelor of Science
• Over 30 major areas of study
• Opportunity for self-designed majors
• Minors available in over 40 areas of study
• Health Professional programs offered in Nursing and Biology/Pre-Occupational Therapy

[edit] Special Programs

• A Notre Dame Co-Exchange program where students can take up to two classes per semester on the University of Notre Dame campus
• A Co-Operative Engineering Program with the University of Notre Dame
• International Study programs to Australia, France, Ireland, Rome, South Africa, Spain, or a Semester Around the World
• A program that allows students to create their own major.
• Each varsity sport has its own Academic Advisor
• Opportunities for internships and volunteer service.

[edit] Graduation rate

The ten-year average graduation rate of first-time degree-seeking students is 74%. Saint Mary's current student population comprises approximately 1500 women from 47 states and territories and 12 foreign countries. Multicultural and international students represent 9% of the student body. Most students are Roman Catholic.

[edit] Financial aid

In 2004-2005, over 90% of Saint Mary’s students received nearly $26 million in financial aid in the form of scholarship, grants, loan and work opportunities; of these funds, over $11 million were from Saint Mary’s in grants and scholarships.

[edit] Intercollegiate athletics and recreation program

The College, an National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III school, and a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, sponsors nine varsity teams: tennis, volleyball, soccer, basketball, swimming and diving, golf, softball and cross-country.

Saint Mary’s women also may participate in the intramural program and/or clubs in a variety of sports. Our club sports program offers recreational opportunities through competition and instruction. The clubs are open to all Saint Mary's students, although membership requirements vary with each club. Many offerings are coeducational with the University of Notre Dame. Saint Mary's sponsored clubs are cheerleading, dance, lacrosse, and triathlon teams. Other clubs co-sponsored with the University of Notre Dame are equestrian, figure skating, gymnastics, skiing, water polo, field hockey, ice hockey, Ultimate, and cycling.

Angela Athletic Facility expands opportunities for campus-wide recreation activities. Indoor facilities include basketball and racquetball courts, and a fitness center with treadmills, stairmasters, spin bikes, and many cybex weight machines. Outdoor facilities include a new six-court outdoor tennis facility, softball and soccer fields, volleyball and basketball courts, areas for cross country skiing, and a beautiful nature trail for hiking or jogging.

[edit] SMC Belles

The Saint Mary's College athletic mascots are the Belles. In 1975, Saint Mary's began to form intercollegiate varsity sports. They did not, however, begin 'playing' until 1977 when the Tennis team played to an 8-1 NAIA match victory. It was there that the College competitors unveiled new team t-shirts with "Belles" emblazoned across the front.

[edit] SMC Women's Choir

The Saint Mary's College Women's Choir, a select 40-voice ensemble under the direction of Nancy Menk, regularly commissions and performs new works for women's voices. An outgrowth of this emphasis is the publication of the Saint Mary's College Choral Series, a collection of new works for women's voices, published by earthsongs of Corvallis, Oregon. The Choir has performed throughout the United States and has appeared before state and division conventions of the Music Educators National Conference and the American Choral Directors Association. In February 2005, the Choir appeared before the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Los Angeles, performing in the Wilshire Christian Church and the new Walt Disney Concert Hall. Each November the Choir hosts the annual Saint Mary's College High School Women's Choir Festival, in which 20 choirs from neighboring states perform for each other and a panel of commentators. The Choir tours nationally every other year, and regularly performs with the University of Notre Dame Glee Club in joint performances of major works with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. They have appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1999 and 2001, and returned there in November 2005 to perform music by Gwyneth Walker for women's voices and orchestra. The Women's Choir has recorded four compact discs on the ProOrgano label: Ave, Ave!, recorded in 1997, Amazing Day!, recorded in 2002, Anima Mea!, recorded in 2004 and Across the Bar, recorded in 2007.

[edit] Campus and buildings

The 278-acre campus features buildings in a variety of architectural styles. Highlights include the award winning Angela Athletic Facility designed by Helmut Jahn, Cushwa-Leighton Library, the Moreau Center for the Arts, the Church of Loretto and the newly constructed Student Center and Noble Dining Hall.

[edit] Saint Mary's College campus

With its 57 acres of landscaped campus along the St. Joseph River, located within the 278 acres owned by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Saint Mary's College enjoys natural and cultivated beauty and the ideal quiet setting for a college.

[edit] Academic/Administrative Facilities

[edit] Angela Athletic Facility

The award-winning recreation and athletic facility houses tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts in a gym area with seating for 2,000. Racquetball courts and space for gymnastics and for fencing are adjacent to the main gym. Architect Helmut Jahn designed the building.

[edit] Cushwa-Leighton Library

Designed by architect Evans Woollen, the library presents a contemporary treatment of a traditional Gothic building, echoing the shape and color of the surrounding buildings. A 77,000 square foot building with a seating capacity of 540, the library provides access to more than 225,000 books and audiovisual materials and over 700 current print periodical subscriptions. The library also subscribes to over 200 electronic periodical titles and numerous electronic indexes to journal articles.

[edit] Havican Hall

Built as a model "campus school" to service neighboring parishes, Havican Hall now provides classrooms, high tech classrooms, study areas, and faculty offices for Nursing, and the Center for Women's InterCultural Leadershop (CWIL). It also houses the Early Childhood Development Center, a progressive childcare facility where many Saint Mary's students study, work, and volunteer.

[edit] Notable presidents and professors

Mother M. Pauline O'Neill, CSC 1895-1931

Sister Irma Burns, CSC 1931-1934

Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, CSC 1934-1961

Sister Maria Renata Daily, CSC 1961-1965

Sister Mary Grace Kos, CSC 1965-1967

Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh, CSC 1898-1982

Monsignor John J. McGrath, CSC 1968-1970

Dr. Edward L. Henry 1972-1974

Dr. John M. Duggan 1975-1985

Dr. William A. Hickey 1986-1997

Dr. Marilou Eldred 1997-2004

Dr. Carol Ann Mooney 2004 - present

[edit] Notable alumnae

• Martha Louise Black, the second woman ever elected to the Canadian House of Commons (1935)
• Donna M. Christian-Christensen, non-voting delegate from the United States Virgin Islands in the U.S. House of Representatives (1997-present)
• The Honorable Denise L. Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

The Honorable Elizabeth B. Lacy, Senior Justice, Supreme Court of Virginia

• Mary Daly, feminist theologian, famous author, teacher at Boston College (1966-1999)
• Catherine Hicks, actress (7th Heaven)
• Eddie Bernice Johnson (1955), Texas Representative in the U.S. Congress House of Representatives (1991-present)
• Ann Leonard, author
• Anne Meagher Northup, Kentucky Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives (1997-2007)
• June Petersen - mother of William Petersen, "Gil Grissom" on CSI
• Mary Ellen "Ella" Quinlan, mother of playwright Eugene O'Neill (and basis for Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night) and wife of actor James O'Neill.
• Adriana Trigiani, New York Times best-selling author (Big Stone Gap and Lucia, Lucia).
• Leslie Wilson (1976), Director of Communication, Advocacy, and Program Support for Save the Children in Afghanistan

[edit] External links and references

• Official website
• Official athletics website
• Campus map
• Inaugural Address of President Carol Ann Mooney
• Drink to the Lasses