University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)

This article is about the institute of higher education in Minnesota. For other schools named University of St. Thomas, see University of St. Thomas (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 44°56′24.92″N 93°11′36.33″W / 44.9402556°N 93.193425°W / 44.9402556; -93.193425

University of St. Thomas
Motto	Challenge Yourself Change Our World
Established	1885
Type	Private
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
Endowment	$557 million[1]
President	Father Dennis Dease
Academic staff	847
Admin. staff	1,109
Students	10,534
Undergraduates	6,176
Postgraduates	4,358
Location	St. Paul / Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Campus	Urban: 78 acres (32 ha)
Former names	College of St. Thomas
Colors	Purple & Gray
Athletics	NCAA Division III
Sports	11 men and 11 women varsity teams
Nickname	Tommies
Mascot	Tommie the Tomcat
Affiliations	MIAC ACCU ACTC ICUSTA
Website	www.stthomas.edu

The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a private, Catholic, liberal arts, and archdiocesan university located in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1885 as a Catholic seminary, it is named after Thomas Aquinas, the medieval Catholic theologian and philosopher who is the patron saint of students in the Roman Catholic Church. UST currently enrolls more than 10,000 students, making it Minnesota's largest private college or university.^[2] Father Dennis Dease became the 14th president in the history of the University in 1991.

History

Founded in 1885 by John Ireland, archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, St. Thomas began as an all-male, Catholic seminary.^[3] In 1894, St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary became a liberal arts college through a gift from local railroad tycoon James J. Hill, who provided funds to establish the St. Paul Seminary apart from the college.^[4] In 1903, the College of St. Thomas established a military program on campus, and it was officially termed a military school by the U.S. War Department in 1906. Initially, the school gave out two-year diplomas in commercial and classical programs before awarding its first academic degrees in 1915. In 1922, military training became optional.

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 the site to the O'Shaughnessey-Frey Library and O'Shaughnessey Education Center. Tom Town, made of 20 double-dwelling huts, 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. The school became co-educational in 1977 and although women were not allowed to enroll until then, female students from St. Catherine University often took classes at St. Thomas. Women were also present as instructors and administrators on campus but the staff, faculty, and administration has seen a vast increase in female employment since the move to co-education. In 1990, the College of St. Thomas became the University of St. Thomas^[5] and the following year, the university opened the Minneapolis campus. In 2001, UST reinstated its School of Law at its Minneapolis Campus; it had been shut down during the Great Depression. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the speaker at the Grand Opening.

Campuses

Saint Paul

Arched entryway to the St. Paul campus

The St. Paul campus is home to most undergraduate students. The main campus, built on a farm site once considered "far removed from town," is located where St. Paul's 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.^{[citation needed]} This tree-lined avenue includes the Governor's Mansion, F. Scott Fitzgerald's townhome, and James J. Hill's mansion.

Murray-Herrick Center

UST is currently in the middle of expanding the St. Paul campus. In 2005 a new apartment-style residence hall was built on an existing parking lot, and in 2006 McNeely Hall was built—a large classroom building for business that replaced the smaller building of the same name. 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.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, the designing of a new student center is currently in the works. 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.

Minneapolis

Downtown Minneapolis Campus

In fall 1992, the university opened a permanent, 150,000 square feet (14,000 m²) campus at 1000 LaSalle Ave. in Minneapolis. The first building, named Terrence Murphy Hall in May 2000, is headquarters to the university's Opus College of Business. Artist Mark Balma created one of the largest frescoes in the United States on the arched ceiling of its atrium.^{[citation needed]} The seven-panel, 1,904 square feet (176.9 m²) fresco was completed in the summer of 1994 and portrays the seven virtues discussed in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Minneapolis campus also holds St. Thomas' School of Education, the nationally recognized School of Law, and Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.

Gainey Conference Center (Owatonna)

Built in 1981, the Gainey Conference Center is a full-service conference and retreat facility located on 180 acres (73 ha) in Owatonna, Minnesota, just one hour south of the Twin Cities.^[6] It 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.^[7]

Bernardi (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 abroad, most notably the Catholic Studies Semester in Rome program for Catholic Studies majors, minors, and graduate students offered through the Catholic Studies Department.^[8] The University of St. 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".^{[citation needed]}

Organization

Presidents

1. Father Thomas O’Gorman (1885–1887)
2. Father Edward McSweeney (1887–1888)
3. Father James Keane (1888–1892)
4. Father James Byrne (1892–1899)
5. Father John Dolphin (1899–1903)
6. Father Humphrey Moynihan (1903–1921)
7. Father Thomas Cullen (1921–1927)
8. Father John P. Foley (1927–1928)
9. Father Matthew Schumacher (1928–1933)
10. Father James Moynihan (1933–1943)
11. Father Vincent Flynn (1944–1956)
12. Father James P. Shannon (1956–1966)
13. Monsignor Terrence Murphy (1966–1991)
14. Father Dennis Dease (1991–present)

Academics

Frey Science and Engineering Center

Each year the university awards almost 2,500 degrees including five different bachelor’s degrees (B.A., B.M., 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.

Schools and colleges

The university offers its degree programs through nine divisions. The College of Arts and Sciences includes undergraduate departments in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, plus a number of interdisciplinary programs. The Opus College of Business has seven departments offering graduate and undergraduate curricula including Executive Education and Professional Development at University of St. Thomas, and is one of six AACSB accredited business schools in Minnesota.^[9] St. Thomas also houses the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, which offers master’s- and doctoral-level degrees oriented to theological study and the practice of ministry. Other schools include the School of Education, the School of Engineering, and the School of Social Work. The Master of Social Work is offered as a joint degree program with the College of St. Catherine.

School of Law

Schools housed on the Minneapolis campus include the Graduate School of Professional Psychology, Undergraduate and Graduate Schools of Education, Graduate Programs in Software Engineering, and the School of Law, which was re-opened in 1999 after a 66-year hiatus.

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. This program allows students to take classes at one of the associated colleges for no additional cost. Other schools include Hamline University, College of St. Catherine, Macalester College, and Augsburg College.^[10]

Rankings

University rankings (overall)
National
Forbes[11]	319
U.S. News & World Report[12]	115
Washington Monthly[13]	101

Athletics

Tommie/Johnnie Football in 2005

St. Thomas's school colors are purple and gray, and the athletic teams are called the Tommies. The mascot for these teams is "Tommie" the tomcat. The name Tommy was changed to Tommie with an 'ie' when girls were accepted as full time students to be more inclusive of the women. UST is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), which performs at the NCAA Division III level. Since 1885 athletics have been present on St. Thomas' campus. The first sports teams that became popular were intramural. The top intramural baseball teams in the 1890s were the "Blues" and "Grays", which is where the Tommies' school colors come from. Varsity sports did not begin until 1904. UST celebrated its 100th year of varsity athletics in 2003-2004.^[14]

UST's longtime archrival is Saint John's University from Collegeville, Minnesota. St. Thomas leads the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in NCAA Division III Team Championships won with 10.^{[citation needed]} Recent national titles include men's basketball in 2011, men's baseball in 2009 and 2001, women's softball in 2004 and 2005, men's lacrosse in 2009 and 2010, and dance team in 2011, 2010, 2008 and 2006. St. Thomas also won national championships with women's basketball in 1991, men's cross country in 1984 and 1986, men's indoor track in 1985, and women's cross country in 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1987.

MIAC Basketball Finals versus Carleton in 2006

UST has signed a two-year deal with WCCO radio to broadcast Tommies football games.^[15]

Student life

Student housing

Cretin Hall, built in 1894

Undergraduate housing is found on the St. Paul Campus. Approximately 2,400 residents live in 10 traditional halls and apartments. Additionally, St. John Vianney College Seminary holds approximately 140 students. All traditional halls are single-sex, while apartment residences are co-ed by floor. Residence halls on campus are named after Archbishops of Minneapolis-St. Paul, such as William O. Brady, Austin Dowling, and John Ireland. The all-female traditional hall of John Paul II is named after the former Pope. Built in 1894, Cretin Hall is the oldest hall on campus and was designed (along with Loras and Grace halls) by Cass Gilbert.

Recently the department of residence life has purchased additional buildings on what they are calling 'mid-campus' in the area of land between Grand and Summit Avenues. They are housing men and women transfer students in one of two buildings, separated by gender. There is an apartment complex that is specifically designed for sophomores. Also, they house students in the residence above the Child Development Center, which is a day-care facility on campus.

Morrison Hall is connected to Koch Commons with a skyway

The University of St. Thomas offers special interest floors, or floors that are intended to house specific residents with similar interests or class standing. Almost one-third of all floors are First Year Experience floors, which consist of only freshmen. This practice attempts to create a cohesive community by placing students together that will have a similar experience. UST has also had a Catholic Women's floor, Catholic Men's floor, the Changing Faces of Minnesota floors, the Women in Math & Science floor, Substance Free floors, and will open their first Sophomore Experience floors in the fall of 2008.

Housing Policies
Most of the dorms have strict policies regarding guests within the residence hall. After 8 PM any guests (including students of other dorms) must be checked in by a member of that residence. Guests must leave the dorm by midnight on weekdays and 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights. As of the 2008/2009 school year, St. Thomas has initiated a check-out rule where guests must check out, otherwise the resident may face penalties or fines. The policies are largely in effect to instill Catholic values and keep members of the opposite gender from staying overnight in the same room, but the guest visitation policy also serves to help ensure campus safety. The campus is not dry: students over 21 years of age are allowed alcohol in the upper-class apartments.

Undergraduate Student Government

The on-campus student association is the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), formerly known as the ACC. The student government is made up of an executive board and general council. Each executive board member receives a stipend. The executive board consists of the president of the student body, executive vice president, vice president of financial affairs, vice president of academic affairs, vice president of administrative affairs and vice president of public relations. The general council consists of class presidents, class senators and representatives from various university organizations.

The student government oversees funding to all clubs on campus, approves new club requests, appoints students to various university committees and represents the student body to the administration. USG has its own offices located in the student center. Elections are held in the fall and spring every academic year.

Film and 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.
• Direct to video film Overnight Delivery starring Reese Witherspoon was shot on the St. Thomas campus in 1998.
• St. Thomas alumnus 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.^[16]

Notable faculty

• Eugene McCarthy, U.S. Senator and Representative
• Eoin McKiernan, early scholar in Irish Studies

Notable alumni

• Kristen Aldridge - Actress and host of ESPN sports-entertainment series "ESPN Road Trip"
• Larry Bond - Game designer and author
• Dan Buettner - Explorer, educator, author
• Robert Buss - Managing Director, Disciplined Growth Investors
• Dottie Cannon - Miss Minnesota USA 2006
• Michael Ciresi - Internationally prominent attorney
• Tom Dooher - President, Education Minnesota
• Vince Flynn - Author
• Timothy Flynn - Chairman, KPMG International
• Herb Franta - Professional football player
• Michael J. Hoffman - CEO, The Toro Company
• Miriam Johnson - actress, co-host of the Hometime PBS TV series; she received her degree in communication and theater from the University of St. Thomas ^[17][18]
• Abraham Kaplan - Philosopher
• John Kundla - First ever coach for the Minneapolis Lakers
• Jake Mauer - Professional baseball player and coach
• Jon A. Mikolyzk - PGA Professional
• T.D. Mischke - Radio talk show host
• Jim Oberstar - Former U.S. Congressman
• Gerald Rauenhorst - Founding chairman, Opus Corp.
• Chuck Reichow - Professional football player
• Patrick J. Ryan - Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Army
• John Schneider - General manager of the Seattle Seahawks
• Evan Schwartz - Author
• Ali Selim - Film director
• Joe Soucheray- Radio Talk Show Host
• Will Steger - Polar explorer
• Brittany Thelemann - Miss Minnesota USA 2011
• John Vachon - Photographer
• Roy Vassau - Professional football player
• Ann Winblad - Venture Capitalist

References

1. ^ "University of St. Thomas - Green Report Card 2011". Greenreportcard.org. 2010-03-31. http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2011/schools/university-of-st-thomas. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
2. ^ "University History". University of St. Thomas. http://www.stthomas.edu/aboutust/history/default.html. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 
3. ^ Jarchow 1973, p. 38.
4. ^ Jarchow 1973, pp. 39—40.
5. ^ Murphy 2001, pp. 7.
6. ^ "Welcome to the University of St. Thomas Daniel C. Gainey Conference Center". University of St. Thomas. http://www.stthomas.edu/gainey/. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
7. ^ "History of the Gainey Farm". University of St. Thomas. http://www.stthomas.edu/gainey/farmhistory/default.html. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
8. ^ "About Bernardi Campus". University of St. Thomas. http://www.stthomas.edu/rome/bernardicampus/default.html. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
9. ^ "St. Thomas' Opus College of Business receives AACSB accreditation : Opus College of Business : University of St. Thomas". Stthomas.edu. http://www.stthomas.edu/business/media/newsroom/pressreleases/20110105_aacsb.html?WT.ac=ocb4-Jan-2011.usthp&utm_source=ocb4-Jan-2011.usthp. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
10. ^ Murphy 2001, pp. 8, 33.
11. ^ "America's Best Colleges". Forbes. 2011. http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/. Retrieved October 6, 2011. 
12. ^ "National Universities Rankings". America's Best Colleges 2012. U.S. News & World Report. September 13, 2011. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges. Retrieved September 25, 2011. 
13. ^ "The Washington Monthly National University Rankings". The Washington Monthly. 2011. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2011/national_university_rank.php. Retrieved August 30, 2011. 
14. ^ "Traditions & Spirit". University of St. Thomas Athletics. http://www.stthomas.edu/athletics/spirit/default.html. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
15. ^ "WCCO Radio to broadcast St. Thomas football games". WCCO.com. WCCO. http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/05/11/wcco-radio-to-broadcast-st-thomas-football-games/#comment-144154. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
16. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308733/
17. ^ "Board of Directors: Biography: Miriam Johnson", Youth Performance Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota
18. ^ Miriam Johnson at the Internet Movie Database

Bibliography

• Jarchow, Merrill E. (1973). Private liberal arts colleges in Minnesota: their history and contributions. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society. http://books.google.com/books?id=C_pPIKcRXikC&pg=PA213&dq=minnesota+private+colleges+%22st.+thomas%22&hl=en&ei=lKjATsP1DsWSgQeOl5i3Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=minnesota%20private%20colleges%20%22st.%20thomas%22&f=false. 
• Murphy, Terrence J. (2001). A Catholic university: vision and opportunities. Collegeville: The Order of St. Benedict. http://books.google.com/books?id=zZq9cugG7E4C&pg=PA33&dq=minnesota+private+colleges+%22st.+thomas%22&hl=en&ei=lKjATsP1DsWSgQeOl5i3Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CF4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=minnesota%20private%20colleges%20%22st.%20thomas%22&f=false. 

External links

• Official website