The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota (SMUMN) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Catholic university with its primary campuses in Winona and

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, United States. It comprises an undergraduate residential college in Winona; graduate and professional programs in Winona, the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

, and Rochester; and course delivery sites in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

as well as

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

.About SMU
/ref> The institution was founded in 1912 and is associated with the

Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic Church, Catholic Laity, lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in Kingdom of Franc ...

, also known as the De La Salle Brothers.

History

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Patrick Richard Heffron founded "Saint Mary's College" in 1912, a

men's college In higher education, a men's college is an undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institution whose students are exclusively men. Many are liberal arts colleges. Around the world In North America United States In the United States, co-educ ...

operated by the Winona Diocese. Heffron Hall, a residential hall was built in 1920, and named after Bishop Heffron. By 1925 it became a four-year liberal arts college. In 1933, it was taken over by the

De La Salle Christian Brothers The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle ( ...

, a

religious order A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their Organizational founder, ...

whose main

charism In Christianity, a spiritual gift or charism (plural: charisms or charismata; in Greek language, Greek singular: wikt:χάρισμα, χάρισμα ''charisma'', plural: χαρίσματα ''charismata'') is an extraordinary power given by the ...

is teaching. It became a co-educational university in 1969 and later purchased the campus and buildings of the former College of Saint Teresa, a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male st ...

in Winona that ceased operations in 1989. In recent years, portions of the Saint Teresa campus were sold to

Winona State University Winona State University is a public university in Winona, Minnesota, United States. It was founded as First State Normal School of Minnesota in 1858 and is the oldest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It was the fi ...

and Winona Cotter High School. During the 1980s the main Winona campus underwent vigorous growth. Constructed during this decade were the Ice Arena (1986), Performance Center, including Figliulo Recital Hall and Joseph Page Theatre (1987), Brother Charles Hall science addition (1987), Gilmore Creek Residence (1989), and Christian Brothers Residence (1989). More recent additions include McEnery Center (1993), Gostomski Fieldhouse and Jul Gernes Pool (1994), pedestrian plaza (1994), Pines Hall residence (1995), Hendrickson Center (1996), The Heights (1997), Oscar and Mary Jane Straub Clocktower and Court (1999), Hillside Hall residence (2001), ice arena addition (2004) a soccer field / track complex in 2008, Brother Leopold Hall (2012, which includes an outdoor recreation center donated by the Winona ski club), and the new freshmen residence hall Brother William completed in 2019. During the summer of 2021, the old Adducci science building was renovated and renamed Aquinas Hall, which includes a new facility for the University's nursing program. Beginning in 1985, then-president Louis DeThomasis launched a series of new, non-traditional graduate and professional programs. The Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs, using a variety of course delivery methods and locations, is now one of Minnesota's largest graduate schools. SGPP programs are delivered at the Twin Cities campus, Rochester center, Apple Valley center, Minnetonka center, Oakdale center, and at locations around Minnesota and Wisconsin. The university has a partnership with Catholic College of Mandeville, Jamaica. In 2011, the Twin Cities campus added Harrington Mansion and Saint Mary's Event Center to its expanding facilities on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

in Minneapolis. In 1995, Saint Mary's College was renamed Saint Mary's University of Minnesota to reflect the expanded role of graduate and professional programming, and to distinguish Saint Mary's from schools with similar names.

Presidents

Academics

300px, St. Mary's University of Winona Saint Mary's University offers a wide range of degrees. The university offers bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees for both traditional and non-traditional students. In addition to the degrees, Saint Mary's also offers teaching licensures, certifications, and pre-professional programs. Both undergraduate and graduate programs offer online learning. Men study for the priesthood at the adjacent Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary, owned and operated by the Diocese of Winona.

Changes in 2022

Due to financial difficulties and low undergraduate enrollment, in May 2022, the university announced plans to phase out 11 majors including English, history, theatre, music, art, and theology. The president of the university, James P. Burns, said about the decision, "In particular, what we looked at is the majors that we are phasing out are those that really were low enrolled and also didn't hold great promise in terms of what many families and students want, which is marketable skills and jobs after college."

Athletics

The university's sports teams are nicknamed the ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

s'' (previously the ''Redmen'' until 1988) and compete as a member of the

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC ) is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division III, Division III. All 13 of the mem ...

(MIAC). There are 21

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

varsity sports teams at Saint Mary's. The Saint Mary's fastpitch softball team won the 2000 NCAA Division III National Title. That title was the university's first and so far only national team title. In 1955, the college administration elected to discontinue

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

as a sport at the university. A task force was formed in 2005 to study the feasibility of adding football, but the proposal was rejected in 2006 by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees. There is an on-campus cross country ski and running trail in the bluffs and valleys of the campus. Athletic facilities are being renovated and expanded. Upgrades were recently made to basketball, baseball and softball. A challenging disc golf course was installed in the bluffs and valleys around campus in 2007. A outdoor track and soccer complex, and a high-and-low ropes course, were added in 2008. Saint Mary's has long had a friendly crosstown rivalry in non-conference athletics with NCAA Division II member

Notable alumni

Anthony Adducci Anthony J. Adducci (August 14, 1937 – September 19, 2006) was a pioneer of the medical device industry in Minnesota. He is best known for co-founding Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc., the company that manufactured the world's first lithium battery-powe ...

, pioneer of the medical device industry in Minnesota; is best known for co-founding

Guidant Guidant Corporation, part of Boston Scientific and Abbott Labs, designs and manufactures artificial cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, stents, and other cardiovascular medical products. Their company headquarters i ...

, the company that manufactured the world's first lithium battery powered artificial pacemaker *

Michael Anthony Bilandic Michael Anthony Bilandic (February 13, 1923January 15, 2002) was an American Democratic politician, judge, and attorney who served as the 49th mayor of Chicago from 1976 to 1979, after the death of his predecessor, Richard J. Daley. Bilandic ...

, former mayor of Chicago and chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court * Frank Billock, NFL player * Bernard Carey, politician who served as Cook County state's attorney and a judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County * Fritz Cronin, NFL player *

Sean Duffy Sean Patrick Duffy (born October 3, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, former prosecutor, and former television personality who has served as the 20th United States Secretary of Transportation, United States secretary of transportation sinc ...

, 20th

United States Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

, former congressman from

Wisconsin's 7th congressional district Wisconsin's 7th congressional district is a congressional district of the United States House of Representatives in northwestern and central Wisconsin; it is the largest congressional district in the state geographically, covering 20 counties (i ...

* Mike Johanns, former

secretary of agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments The department includes several organiz ...

of the United States, former governor of Nebraska, former United States senator * George Kenning, business consultant * Mike Leaf, college basketball coach * John McDonough, hockey executive * James Miller, member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and murder victim * Jerome J. Workman, Jr., prolific author and editor of scientific reference works on the subject of spectroscopy * Tom Younghans,

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player

References

External links

*
Athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's University Of Minnesota Lasallian colleges and universities Universities and colleges established in 1912 Education in Winona County, Minnesota Buildings and structures in Winona, Minnesota Tourist attractions in Winona County, Minnesota Catholic universities and colleges in Minnesota Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities 1912 establishments in Minnesota