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St. Catherine University

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Color image of Derham Hall at St. Catherine University, July 26, 2009.

Derham Hall at St. Catherine University, July 26, 2009.

St. Catherine’s University is a prestigious women’s university in St. Paul. Since opening in 1905, it has grown to include a student body of over 5,000, graduate programs, a Minneapolis campus, and an extensive physical plant. The school’s inclusive atmosphere and diverse curriculum have made it one of the premier institutions of higher education in the United States.

The College of St. Catherine opened its doors in 1905 to a handful of women students. All of them were housed and taught in a single building in what would become the Highland Park area of St. Paul.

The school reached its first milestone in 1916 when it received full accreditation from the North Central Association (NCA). It did so despite its lack of the $500,000 endowment then required by the NCA. College dean (later president) Sister Antonia McHugh persuaded NCA officials to accept the contributed services of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who had founded and staffed the college, in place of a cash endowment. Sister Antonia showed her leadership during the building of the 800-seat Our Lady of Victory Chapel, one of Minnesota’s architectural jewels.

In 1937, the school became the first Catholic college or university to be awarded with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), the country’s most prestigious honor society. It was only the third institution in Minnesota to acquire one (the University of Minnesota and Carleton College being the first). St. Catherine’s earned inclusion in PBK through its outstanding faculty and its commitment to the liberal arts.

By the early 1930s, college enrollment had grown to nearly 600. Faculty held degrees from prestigious schools across the United States and Europe. Together, they implemented a curriculum featuring a full range of majors in the liberal arts and sciences. Career-oriented fields of study such as nursing, occupational and physical therapy, library science, business, and education all required a solid core of liberal arts training—a provision that continues to lend distinction to St. Catherine’s degrees in all fields.

The college gained more recognition in the late 1930s when it was the only Catholic college among the twenty-two schools selected for the University of Chicago’s cooperative study to evaluate general education. Later in the decade, it also was the only Catholic college among the thirty-four selected by the American Council of Education to evaluate teacher education.

The student body began to diversify in 1918, when two students from France enrolled. Students from across Europe, South and Central America, Asia, and the Middle East followed. In 1942, the college offered Japanese American women a chance to attend classes and avoid being sent to internment camps. In later decades, the college’s ambiance attracted women from Ethiopian, Hmong, and other immigrant groups.

Outreach to non-traditional students expanded in 1979 with the introduction of Weekend College. It was Minnesota’s first baccalaureate program held in a weekend format for adult women (with no formal education beyond high school). At the time, 93 percent of adult women in the state were eligible. Curricular innovations included the Area Studies program, begun in the 1950s with funding from the Hill Family Foundation.

In 1953, in collaboration with Hamline, Macalester, St. Thomas, and Augsburg, St. Catherine began offering interdisciplinary study of Russia, the Near East, East Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Faculty further extended college outreach by offering an Area Studies lecture series on KTCA-TV beginning in 1957.

St. Mary’s Junior College, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1962, became the Minneapolis campus of St. Catherine’s in the mid-1980s.The new site enriched the curriculum with an array of two-year health-related programs. It also introduced innovative adaptations to the education of hearing-impaired students.

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  • Bibliography
  • Related Resources

Coburn, Carol K., and Martha Smith. Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture and American Life, 1836–1920. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

Hurley, Sr. Helen Angela. On Good Ground: The Story of the Sisters of St. Joseph in St. Paul. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1951.

Jarchow, Merrill E. Private Liberal Arts Colleges in Minnesota: Their History and Contributions. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1973.

Kennelly, Karen. “An Immigrant Drama: The College of St. Catherine and Phi Beta Kappa.” U.S. Catholic Historian 28 no. 3 (Summer 2010): 43–63.

——— . “The Dynamic Sister Antonia and the College of St. Catherine.” Ramsey County History 14, no. 1 (Fall/Winter 1978): 3–18.

Ryan, Rosalie, and John Christine Wolkerstorfer. More Than A Dream: Eighty-Five Years At The College of St. Catherine. St. Paul: College of St. Catherine, 1992.

Schier, Tracy, and Cynthia Russett. Catholic Women’s Colleges in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Related Images

Color image of Derham Hall at St. Catherine University, July 26, 2009.
Color image of Derham Hall at St. Catherine University, July 26, 2009.
Black and white photograph of St. Catherine’s College, class of 1908, on the steps of Derham Hall.
Black and white photograph of St. Catherine’s College, class of 1908, on the steps of Derham Hall.
Black and white photograph of students of St. Catherine’s College outside Derham Hall, 1909–1910.
Black and white photograph of students of St. Catherine’s College outside Derham Hall, 1909–1910.
Black and white photograph of Derham Hall at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, 1915. Photographed by Charles P. Gibson.
Black and white photograph of Derham Hall at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, 1915. Photographed by Charles P. Gibson.
Black and white aerial view of the campus of St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, ca. 1927.
Black and white aerial view of the campus of St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, ca. 1927.
Black and white photograph of Jeanne D’Arc Auditorium at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, 1927.
Black and white photograph of Jeanne D’Arc Auditorium at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul, 1927.
Black and white photograph of Sister Antonia McHugh, St. Catherine College’s first dean and first president, 1936.
Black and white photograph of Sister Antonia McHugh, St. Catherine College’s first dean and first president, 1936.
Black and white photograph of the Visual Arts building at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, ca. 1970. Photographed by Alan Ominsky.
Black and white photograph of the Visual Arts building at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, ca. 1970. Photographed by Alan Ominsky.
Color image of Our Lady of Victory Chapel at St. Catherine University, 2009.
Color image of Our Lady of Victory Chapel at St. Catherine University, 2009.

Turning Point

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet found the College of St. Catherine in 1905.

Chronology

1902

Rosemont farmer Hugh Derham sets aside a donation of $20,000 to be used to found a Catholic college for women.

1905

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, under the leadership of Mother Seraphine Ireland, found the College of St. Catherine. They name it for Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth century Egyptian saint and scholar martyred for her Christian faith.

1905

Classes begin in Derham Hall in January for high school boarding students and lower-division college students.

1913

The college confers its first Bachelor of Arts degrees in the spring.

1914

Mother Antonia McHugh begins her tenure as dean.

1917

St. Catherine earns full accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

1929

Mother McHugh becomes the college’s first president.

1937

St. Catherine becomes the first Catholic college or university in the United States, and the third Minnesota institution, to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

1963

St. Catherine receives a $1 million Ford Foundation challenge grant, launches its first capital campaign, and raises $2 million.

1970

The college completes a Fine Arts complex for art, music, and theatre.

1979

Weekend College becomes the first baccalaureate program in Minnesota for nontraditional women students.

1982

A masters program in theology offers St. Catherine’s first graduate-level degree.

1986

St. Mary’s Junior College becomes the Minneapolis Campus of the College of St. Catherine. Originally founded as St. Mary’s School of Nursing in 1887, the campus links St. Catherine to the oldest healthcare educator in Minnesota.

2005

St. Catherine celebrates 100 years of educating women to lead and influence.

2007

St. Catherine launches the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health, which aims to reshape the education of healthcare professionals at all degree levels.

2009

St. Catherine University becomes Minnesota’s newest university, with four schools, three colleges, and 5,000 students—2,000 in the college for women. It confers associate, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees.