Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
Motto	Virtus cum Scientia (Virtue and Knowledge United)
Established	1840
Type	private liberal arts women's college
Religious affiliation	Catholic Church (Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods)
Endowment	$9.5 million (2013)[1]
President	Dottie L. King, Phd.
Students	1,703
Undergraduates	1,577
Postgraduates	126
Location	Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, IN, USA
Campus	suburban: 67 acres (0.27 km2)
Athletics	four USCAA and IHSA teams, called Pomeroys
Colors	Light Blue and White
Mascot	in honor of Sister Mary Joseph Pomeroy, SP (SMWC, B.A. 1921)
Website	www.smwc.edu

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC), the nation's oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women, was founded in 1840 by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Today, the distance and graduate programs serve both women and men, while the undergraduate campus program maintains its historic commitment to women. The College continues to be sponsored by the Sisters of Providence.

Often referred to as "The Woods," SMWC is a Roman Catholic, four-year liberal arts women's college located in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, in the U.S. state of Indiana, northwest of Terre Haute, between the Wabash River and the Illinois state line.

The College is known for the Mari Hulman George School of Equine Studies, which houses 50 horses on campus, as well as its pre-professional programs such as pre-veterinarian, pre-law, pre-medicine, pre-dentistry and several niche programs in leadership development, art therapy and music therapy.

History

The College was founded as an academy for young women in 1841 by a French nun, Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, who located at the site in October 1840. Saint Mother Theodore Guerin was canonized on October 15, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI, and became Indiana's first saint.^[2] Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is the nation's oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women and one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States.

In 1840, six Sisters of Providence left their convent in Ruillé-sur-Loir, France, on a journey to the wilderness of Indiana. Mother Theodore Guerin led the sisters on their journey.^[3]

Mother Theodore was not the first to step forward when the Bishop of Vincennes asked the Sisters of Providence to establish an academy for young women in Indiana. Although she had been decorated by the French Board of Education for being a highly gifted and efficient teacher, Mother Theodore felt unworthy of the task of founding an institution of learning, but her superiors convinced Mother Theodore to accept the assignment.^[4] Mother Theodore and five other nuns arrived on October 22, 1840, more than three months after leaving France.^[5] In 1846, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was granted the first charter for the higher education of women in the state of Indiana. SMWC conferred its first bachelor of arts degree in 1899.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was the first women's college to offer journalism courses and the first to offer degree work in secondary education, home economic, and secretarial science. SMWC now offers associate and bachelor degrees in over 30 majors on campus and through the Woods Online program (formerly known as the Woods External Degree Program) as well as Masters in Art Therapy, Education, Leadership Development, and Music Therapy.

The college's faculty consists of both women and men; lay and clergy. Both men and women can attend the graduate programs which began in 1984. Men were admitted into the distance program in 2006. Men are allowed to attend regular classes for undergraduate studies, but may not receive a "campus" degree.

Dr. David G. Behrs resigned as president of the college in July 2010 and Dr. Dottie King was named interim president until a new president could be chosen. It was announced on February 25, 2011, that Dr. King was voted unanimously as the 16th president of the college by the board of trustees.

Academics

For six consecutive years, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College has been ranked as one of the Best Regional Colleges in the Midwest according to the U.S. News & World Report's 2013 Best Colleges guidebook.^[6] Ranked 27 among the 72 top Midwest colleges, SMWC was recognized for having one of the highest percentages of classes under 20 students at 91 percent, an average graduation rate of 52 percent, and 40 percent of the freshmen were in the top 25 percent of their high school class.

The curriculum of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is based on a traditional liberal arts education; therefore, all campus students are required to complete an extensive curriculum of general studies in addition to their major(s) and/or minor(s). The required courses include but are not limited to: Theology, Philosophy, French or Spanish, History, Math, Biology or Chemistry, Psychology, Sociology, English, Physical Fitness, Statistics, Art and Music.

Majors include 3+1 Business, Leadership Development, Accounting, Art and Design, Biology, Business Administration, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Education majors (7), English, Equine Studies, Equine Business Management, Equine Training and Instruction, Equine Assisted Therapy, History/Political Science/Pre-Law, Human Resource Management, Human Services, Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, Marketing, Mathematics, Medical Technology, Music, Music Therapy, Art Therapy, Pre-Professional Studies, and Psychology.

SMWC is a member of the College Consortium of Western Indiana. This membership allows students who are full-time at their home institution to take one class at the other member institutions of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Indiana State University without additional tuition.

Accreditation

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is accredited through the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and approved for teacher training by the Indiana Department of Education and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Additionally, many individual programs of various departments are certified by their professional associations.

Programs of various departments are certified by their professional associations, including American Art Therapy Association, American Bar Association, American Music Therapy Association, Institute for the Certification of Computer Professionals (ICCP), National Association of Schools of Music, and Society for Human Resource Management.

Military

From 2010 to 2013, SMWC has been named a Military Friendly School by Victory Media, a media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life. The 2013 Military Friendly Schools list ^[7] honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are embracing America's military service members, veterans and spouses, ensuring their success in higher education. The 1,739 institutions on the list exhibit leading practices in the recruitment and retention of students with military experience.

SMWC provides scholarships for up to 50 percent of the cost of tuition and fees that exceed the standard education benefit. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs will match the amount of the scholarship - completely covering tuition for qualified veterans.

Athletics

Saint Mary-of-the- Woods College is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).^[8] The basketball, softball, equestrian, and soccer teams of SMWC bear the title of "Pomeroys." The name was chosen in memory of Mary Joseph Pomeroy, SP, an alumna and faculty member at SMWC who advocated athletics and physical fitness. In his inaugural speech in October, 2007, Dr. David Behrs mentioned the possible addition of golf, volleyball, and cross-country teams to SMWC as well as the construction of a new sports facility. In 2008, Golf was added to the SMWC athletic program and in 2009, Cross Country team kicked off their first season.

The SMWC softball team won four consecutive USCAA National Softball Championships (2002–2005). The team completed the 2006 season with a 30-21 record and a second place finish in the USCAA National Invitational Tournament.^[9] The SMWC Equestrian Team competes throughout the year in both Western and English, traveling to about 20 shows per season. SMWC has been the site for regional horse shows, managed by the SMWC equestrian team members. In 2007, the SMWC Western Team was named IHSA Reserve National Champions. In 2009, the Pomeroy soccer team experienced a "Cinderella" season, in which they entered the USCAA National Championship Tournament as the 8th seed (the lowest seed) and advanced all the way to the national championship before being defeated by Marygrove College. Just days before the soccer team brought home the silver cup from Burlington, Vermont, the first-year cross-country squad won the USCAA National Championship in New Hampshire. The following year, 2010, the soccer team again reached the USCAA National Championships, losing in the first round to eventual USCAA champs, Maine-Fort Kent. The Pomeroys rebounded in the consolation round with a decisive victory over New Hampshire Technical Institute. This victory capped off the first winning record in SMWC soccer history. Also in fall 2010, the cross-country team won a second USCAA National Championship.

USCAA National Championships

National Champions

Softball (8) - 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008

Cross Country (2) - 2009, 2010

National Runners-Up

Softball (3) - 2010, 2011, 2012

Soccer (1) - 2009

Cross Country (1) - 2012

Traditions

Virtus cum Scientia

These words, translated as “Virtue with Knowledge United,” appear on the SMWC seal and is the College motto.

College coat of arms

The College's coat of arms is a shield divided vertically in halves. The left field is blue, showing in the center a poplar tree on a hill or terrace in natural colors, with the first letter of the name of Mary; these latter devices are in gold. The right field is gold, and shows three eaglets with open wings in blue and beak and talons in red. The right half of the shield shows the arms of Madame du Roscoat, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence at Ruille-sur-Loire, France. The three eaglets are emblematic of the Holy Trinity, the motto of the du Roscoat family being “Trino Soli sit honor et gloria” (“To the Triune God alone honor and glory”).

The left field is charged with devices symbolic or significant of some fact connected with the history of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. The rayed star, charged with the letter “M” in blue, is an emblem of Mary, Mother of God, the Stella Matutina, under whose protection Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, represented by a tree, places all its hopes for growth and life. The Latin crosses are emblems of Redemption and Catholicity. The crest is the count’s coronet of the du Roscoat family and the motto, “Virtus cum Scientia,” is the one chosen by Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence in America.

The Ring

Worn by SMWC graduates, the Ring was designed in 1922 by students Margaret Williams Mead ’22 and Dorothy Helm Geisel ’23 and was first given in 1922 to seniors. The oak leaves are symbolic of knowledge gained at SMWC, and the insignia is carved in black onyx.

Notable alumnae

• Amalia Küssner Coudert, painter and miniaturist
• Mari Hulman George, chair of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Sister Jeanne Knoerle, author and educator, president of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College 1968-1983
• Marta Linares, First Lady of Panama (2009- )
• Caroline Myss, mystic and medical intuitive
• Sister Alexa Suelzer, theologian, author and educator known for Old Testament criticism

References

External links

• Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
• Official athletics website
• Campus map
• Sisters of Providence

Further reading

1. ^{New President} "Saint Mary of the Woods names Behrs as 15th President". Saint Mary of the Woods College News and Events. Retrieved 2007-01-23. 
2. ^endowment "2005 NACUBO endowment study" (PDF). National Association of College and University Business Officers. Retrieved 2006-02-25. 
3. ^{History of the Sisters of Providence} History of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods by Sister Eugenia Logan, S.P. Moore-Langan Printing Company.  |accessdate= requires |url= (help)
4. ^IHSA "Intercollegiate Horse Show Association". Retrieved 2007-11-09.