The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico) is a private Roman Catholic university with its main campus in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It provides courses leading to Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate degrees in education, business administration, the sciences, and arts and humanities. It also has campuses in Arecibo and Mayagüez, as well as a satellite extension in Coamo. It is also home to a School of Law and a

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

. The university also founded a medical school, Escuela de Medicina de Ponce, in 1977, but in 1980 became an independent entity that eventually became the Ponce Health Sciences University. The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico was founded in 1948 as Universidad Católica de Santa Maria, but its name was changed to

Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico) is a private Roman Catholic university with its main campus in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It provides courses leading to Bachelor's, Master's and Do ...

with the graduation of its first class in 1950.Cristobal Colón. ''A mis amigos de la Universidad Católica.'' Publicaciones Puertorriqueñas, Inc. 1993. Page 8. On 25 January 1991, the name was changed again to its current name, after Pope John Paul II bestowed the title of pontifical on the university.

History

The university was founded in spring of 1948 by James E. McManus, C.S.S.R., Bishop of the Diocese of Ponce, and James Peter Davis, Bishop of the Diocese of San Juan. It was founded as the Catholic University of Santa Maria. "The name Santa Maria was chosen to honor the Mother of God and to implore her protection and help." Its first president was Monseñor Vicente Murga. The original campus consisted of a few classrooms provided by the

Capuchin Friars The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM) ...

(OFM) and the Sisters of Saint Joseph, catholic clergymen and nuns, respectively, in the

Colegio San Conrado Colegio San Conrado is a private Catholic school in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1948 by the Capuchin Friars The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within t ...

in Ponce, a catholic primary educational school. During 1949, the university acquired from the Government of Puerto Rico (administered by Autoridad de Tierras). This plot of land was located south of the city center proper and was, at the time, part of the ''Ingenio La Reparada'' sugar cane plantation, and being used to feed

Central Mercedita Hacienda Mercedita was a sugarcane plantation in Ponce, Puerto Rico, founded in 1861, by Juan Serrallés Colón. Today Hacienda Mercedita no longer grows sugarcane and its lands are instead used for growing mangoes, grasses, landscape plants ...

sugar mill. The University has been accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional educational accreditation, accreditation of public and priva ...

since 1953.

Presidents

* Jorge Iván Vélez Arocho (2010–present) * Marcelina Velez de Santiago (2006 - 2010) * Jose Alberto MoralesFrancisco Lluch Mora. ''Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce y Otras Noticias Relativas a su Desarrollo Urbano, Demográfico y Cultural (Siglos XVI-XIX).'' San Juan, Puerto Rico: Plaza Mayor. 2001. p. 7. (2001 - 2006) * Tossello Giangiacono (1984 - 2001) * Jaime B. Fuster (1981 - 1984)Cristóbal Colón. ''A mis amigos de la Universidad Católica.'' Ponce, Puerto Rico: Publicaciones Puertorriqueñas. 1993. p. 9. * Francisco Carreras (1969 - 1981) * Theodore McCarrick (1965 - 1969) * John F. Mueller (1961 - 1965) * Thomas Stanley (1956 - 1961) * William Ferree (1953 - 1956) * Vicente Murga (1948 - 1953)

Schools

In 1961, the university started the School of Law providing graduate law studies and student exchange programs with other law schools in the United States and in Spain. The school has been host to famous and respected Puerto Rican law professors, including former Puerto Rico governor Rafael Hernández Colón. In 1976, the university started the School of Medicine as a graduate medical education program, which, when reorganized, became an independent private institution now known as the Ponce Health Sciences University. In 2009, the university opened a

. In 2011, the university announced it was engaging in a $20 million expansion plan that would result in the creation of three new schools over a ten-year period. The three new schools were reported to be a School of Graphical Design, a School of Fashion, and a School of Cinematic Arts.

Campuses

Aside from its main campus in Ponce, specifically on barrio

Canas Urbano Canas Urbano is one of the 31 barrio of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, Portugués Urbano, and San Antón, Canas Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now ...

, on Avenida Las Americas ( PR-163), the university has two additional campuses: the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo in Arecibo and the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in Mayagüez. It also has a satellite extension in Coamo. The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture is also a separate campus and is located across from Plaza Las Delicias at the historic

Forteza Building Forteza is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Barbie Forteza (born 1997), Filipina actress *Francisco Forteza (1892-1967), Uruguayan political figure *Francisco Forteza (son) (1928-2005), Uruguayan political figure * Lorena Forte ...

in downtown Ponce.

Student life

Notable alumni

Imna Arroyo Imna Arroyo is a Puerto Rican artist. Her work is centered on printmaking and painting, particularly around the theme of "energia de mujeres", or "women's energy". Early life and education Arroyo was born in 1951 in Guayama, Puerto Rico and a ...

Javier Culson Javier Culson Pérez (born 25 July 1984) is a Puerto Rican athlete and Olympiad bronze medalist who specialises in the 400-metre hurdles. After becoming involved with the discipline in his late teen years, he entered the podium in some regiona ...

''Men's 400m Hurdles.''
Olympic Games 27 July – 12 August: Official London 2012 website. Retrieved 25 September 2018. *

Juan H. Cintrón García Juan Herminio Cintrón García (11 March 1919 – 22 September 2012) was a Puerto Rican politician and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1968 to 1972. Under his administration the city of Ponce saw the construction of the Coliseo Juan "Pachí ...

* Juan Miguel Betancourt * Julio Brady * Lymari Nadal * Rafael Cordero Santiago * Luisa R. Seijo Maldonado *

Wichie Torres Wichie Torres (29 March 1952 – 7 February 2020) was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter. He was an exponent of the costumbrismo movement. He is also the first person in the Central America and Caribbean region to have ever undergone two indep ...

''Archived''
on 2010-January-11 at the WayBack Machine from the original a

Puerto Rico Fine Arts Galery. 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico Universities and colleges in Puerto Rico Pontifical universities Catholic universities and colleges in Puerto Rico Educational institutions established in 1948 Liga Atletica Interuniversitaria de Puerto Rico Universities and colleges in Ponce, Puerto Rico 1948 establishments in Puerto Rico Education in Ponce, Puerto Rico