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| Motto | Virtus cum Scientia(Virtue and Knowledge United) |
|---|---|
| Type | Privateliberal arts college |
| Established | 1840; 186 years ago (1840) |
Religious affiliation | Catholic Church (Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods) |
| President | Brennan Randolph |
| Students | 1,159 (fall 2024)[1] |
| Undergraduates | 858 (fall 2024) |
| Postgraduates | 301 (fall 2024) |
| Location | , Indiana ,U.S. 39°30′31″N87°27′59″W / 39.5087°N 87.4665°W /39.5087; -87.4665 |
| Campus | Rural, 67 acres (27 ha) |
| Colors | Pomeroy Blue & White |
| Nickname | Pomeroys |
Sporting affiliations | NAIA –River States IHSA |
| Mascot | Onyx |
| Website | smwc |
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Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) is aprivate Catholicliberal arts college inSaint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, United States. Originally a college exclusively for women, it is now coeducational. It is the oldest Catholic college in Indiana and is known for theMari Hulman George School of Equine Studies.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was founded as an academy for young women by SaintMother Theodore Guerin, who reached the site on October 22, 1840, after three months of travel. She led fiveSisters of Providence, who had traveled from their convent inRuillé-sur-Loir, France.
Mother Theodore had not been the first to step forward when the Bishop ofVincennes 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 as a highly gifted and efficient teacher, Mother Theodore felt unworthy of the task of founding an institution of learning. Her superiors convinced her to accept the assignment.[2][3] Saint MotherTheodore Guerin wascanonized on October 15, 2006, byPope Benedict XVI, and is Indiana's first saint.[4]
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. It was the first women's college to offer journalism courses and the first to offer degree work in secondary education, home economics, and secretarial science. As the careers open to women expanded, the college expanded into areas such as business, computer information systems, equine studies, psychology and nursing. SMWC now offers associate and bachelor's degrees in over 30 majors on campus and online. In 2015, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College announced that the board of trustees voted unanimously to become fully coeducational at its May 1, 2015 meeting.[5]
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is recognized as a pioneer in the area of distance education. In 1973, the college introduced one of the first independent study programs in the nation, the Women's External Degree (WED) program. This program served adult women who needed flexible schedules to earn a degree while balancing important family and job responsibilities. In 2005, the college expanded access to its undergraduate distance and adult programs to men, while maintaining its longstanding mission for the advancement of women's education. Today, through the renamed Woods Online program, women and men can earn a college degree in a wide variety of majors. In August 2012, theIndianapolis Business Journal recognized SMWC as having one of the largest online degree programs in the state. More than 800 are currently enrolled in the program from 33 states and all across the globe, including England, Greece,Hong Kong andJamaica. In 2015, all programs, including the campus-based resident undergraduate degree program, were opened to both men and women.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College also offers three master's degree programs, open to both women and men, in the hybrid format. In 2000, the college created the Master of Arts in Art Therapy (MAAT) program, designed for persons who use or plan to use art in therapy or art as therapy, and the Master of Arts in Music Therapy (MAMT) program, which welcomes qualified music therapists seeking an advanced understanding of the therapeutic uses of music. In 2007, the college introduced the Master of Leadership Development (MLD) program. This program explores culture and creativity, leadership identity, ethical decision-making and critical analysis of research. All three master's degree programs use distance learning and intensive campus-based residencies.
"Virtus cum Scientia," translated as "Virtue with Knowledge United," appears on the SMWC seal and/or 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-Loir, France. The three eaglets are emblematic of theHoly 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. TheLatin 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 inAmerica.
The curriculum of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is based on a traditionalliberal arts education. All campus students are required to complete an extensive curriculum of general studies in addition to their major(s) and/or minor(s).
SMWC is a member of theCollege Consortium of Western Indiana. This membership allows students who are full-time at their home institution to take one class at other member institutionsRose–Hulman Institute of Technology andIndiana State University (both in nearbyTerre Haute,Indiana) without additional tuition.
The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (SMWC) athletic teams are called the Pomeroys, and the college is a member of theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Since the 2021–22 academic year, its teams compete primarily in theRiver States Conference (RSC). The school is also a member of theUnited States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and theIntercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).[6] SMWC athletes make up nearly 30 percent of all campus students.
SMWC competes in 16 intercollegiate varsity teams: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, soccer, sprint football, track & field and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, soccer, softball, track & field and volleyball; as well as hunt seat. SMWC addedsprint football, a weight-restricted form of American football that is not governed by the NAIA, the USCAA, or theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), in 2022. It is one of six charter members of the Midwest Sprint Football League.[7]
The Crosstown Classic is a hometown rivalry winter basketball game between SMWC andRose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This annual competition has resulted in a 13–7 record favoring the Pomeroys. Prior to 2016, the game was known as the "Clabber Girl Classic", named for the famed Clabber Girl trophy presented by the Clabber Girl ofHulman and Company. The college announced a partnership with local automotive retailer Dorsett Automotive, changing the name to the "Dorsett Automotive Crosstown Classic".[8]
The SMWC softball team boasts 12 National Championships including four consecutive USCAA National Softball Championships (2002–2005). 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 eighth 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. Also in fall 2010, the cross-country team won a second USCAA National Championship.
National champions
Softball (12) - 1997¹, 2000¹, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019[9]
Women's Cross Country (3) - 2009, 2010, 2019[10]
Men's Golf (2) - 2018, 2019[11]
National runners-up
Softball (7) - 1997¹, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017
Women's Soccer (1) - 2009[12]
Women's Cross Country (1) - 2012[10]
Men's Golf (1) - 2017[11]
Women's Basketball (1) - 2000[13]
Volleyball (4) - 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018[14]
¹NSCAA
On October 7, 2020, SMWC announced that they had been accepted as members of theNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and would become provisional members of theRiver States Conference (RSC) starting July 1, 2021. The college will be eligible for postseason competition during the 2020–2021 academic year and is scheduled to become full members of the NAIA on July 1, 2022.[15]
The department currently offers seven non-scholarship club sport options; Competitive Cheer, Cycling, Dance, eSports, Powerlifting, Rowing, and Tennis. Each sport is guided by a head coach or instructor and some clubs may require try-outs for participation while others may have open membership.[16]
Intramurals offer both competitive and non-competitive options through both the fall and spring semesters. Students are able to participate in "one-off" events on and off-campus and "season-long" team events including laser tag, mini-golf, cornhole,pickleball, basketball, volleyball, kickball, home run derby, capture the flag, video game tournaments, and bowling.
In addition to other structures, the campus includes six historic buildings owned by the college that date from 1913 to 1969: Guerin Hall (1913), Conservatory of Music (1913), Le Fer Hall (1924), Owens Hall (1960), Rooney Library (1964), and Hulman Hall (1969). The campus's 67 acres (27 hectares) are also home to the motherhouse of the Sisters of Providence of Saint-Mary-of-the Woods, whose buildings date from the 19th and 20th Centuries.[17]
TheIndianapolis architectural firm of D. A. Bohlen, Architect, and its successors, D. A. Bohlen and Son; Bohlen and Burns; andBohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates, completed "more than sixty projects" for the Sisters of Providence, including all six of the historic buildings.[18] More than twenty of the firm's projects, includingFoley Hall (1860, 1897) at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. Foley Hall was demolished in 1989.[19][20]
Campus architects retained its pastoral setting, while a "French influence reminiscent ofGeorges-Eugène Haussmann" is visible in the "straight walkways and open views".[17] The historic buildings on campus were representative of popular architectural styles at the time of their construction. From 1894 until the 1970s, three generations of the Joseph Bisch family supervised maintenance of the campus.[17]
Anne Therese Guérin Hall, designed by Oscar D. Bohlen in aRenaissance Revival style, is named in honor of the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Construction for the four-story brick building began in 1911; it was dedicated on October 12, 1913. Guerin Hall was the college's first residence for students. Its lower floor contained offices, classrooms, and a chapel, while its upper floors offered semi-private rooms, a new trend in student housing at that time.[21] The ornate front entrance features heavily carvedCorinthian capitals on pilasters, made of Indiana limestone. Guerin Hall surrounds an open courtyard and a veranda extends across the front of the building.[22]
Saint Cecilia Conservatory of Music was designed by Oscar D. Bohlen and constructed between 1911 and 1913, the same time as Guerin Hall. The Conservatory is located "on the site of the second Saint Mary-of-the-Woods village church and cemetery."[23] The three-story, ItalianRenaissance Revival-style Conservatory was constructed of light brick andBedford limestone. It hasIonic details andBeaux-Arts influences.[23] The Conservatory was dedicated along with Guerin Hall on October 12, 1913, and contained music studios, practice rooms, classrooms, and offices.[24] Cecilian Auditorium, which "seats up to 720 people on the main floor and balcony", provides a theatrical space that includes a proscenium stage and theatrical lighting.[25]
Le Fer Hall, named in honor of Sisters Saint Francis Xavier and Mary Joseph Le Fer, two of Saint Mother Théodore Guérin's companions, serves as a residence hall for students. The Indianapolis architectural firm of D. A. Bohlen and Son designed the four-story, French Renaissance Revival-style building. Construction began in 1921. The yellow brick residence hall contains classical balustrades on its stone and decorative metal balconies; its twin towers and tile roof reflects theSpanish Revival architectural style.[26] Le Fer Hall's main floor includes classrooms, offices, and a social hall/ballroom; rooms for students were on the upper floors.[27] Residence hall rooms contain large windows and hardwood floors; more than 75 percent of them are suites with a connecting bathrooms.[citation needed]
Robert Bohlen, the last of D. A. Bohlen's descendants, designed Owens Hall in 1960 as anovitiate building for the Sisters of Providence.[28] Its modern design includes "spandrel panels of brushed aluminum" between the windows of its "vertical central bay".[29]
The Mary and Andy Rooney Library, a contemporary structure built at a cost of $1.28 million, was designed in 1961 by Indianapolis architects August C. Bohlen and Melvin B. G. Meyer of Bohlen and Burns. This modern interpretation of aClassical-style building includes an offset entrance with a vertical bay.[30][31]
Mary Fendrich Hulman Hall, was designed by Melvin B. G. Meyers, president of Bohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates, in aMid-century modern style. Its design is similar to Owens Hall and Rooney Library. The building's vertical design includes "spandrel panels and use of aluminum." The exterior's rough-cut stone in spandrel panels is classically inspired.[32]
Les Bois (The Woods in French) was erected in the summer of 2021 following a large influx of on-campus students. It has a modern apartment design, with two bedrooms that fit two people each, a living room, and a kitchen.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is accredited through theHigher Learning Commission of theNorth Central Association of Colleges and Schools and approved for teacher training by theIndiana Department of Education and theNational 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, includingAmerican Art Therapy Association,American Bar Association, American Music Therapy Association, Institute for the Certification of Computer Professionals (ICCP),National Association of Schools of Music, andSociety for Human Resource Management.
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