History
In 1916, on the same campus at 5600 Main Street as St. Teresa's Academy, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet founded the College of Saint Teresa. St. Teresa's College was founded as a two-year college for women only. The first graduates of St. Teresa's College received their degrees in 1918.
In 1939, Kansas City Bishop Edwin O’Hara announced that St. Teresa's junior college would be expanded to a full four-year college, and the college would be housed in its own building on the campus. In 1940 ground was broken for Donnelly Hall, and it opened for classes in 1941. The first four-year graduating class received their degrees in 1942. In 1948 the college established a department of nursing, offering both a three-year diploma and a four-year bachelor of nursing degree.
In May 1961, Sister Mary Daniel Tammany, president of the College of St. Teresa, announced the purchase of 49 acres of land for a new campus at 119th and Wornall Road in the Red Bridge neighborhood near the southern edge of Kansas City, Missouri. At the groundbreaking for the first building on the new campus, the announcement was made that the college would be renamed Avila College, still in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. In 1969 Avila began admitting male students, and in 1978 the college began offering graduate programs in business, education and psychology. Avila College became Avila University in July 2002.
Read more about this topic: Avila University
Famous quotes containing the word history:
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—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“I feel as tall as you.”
—Ellis Meredith, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 14, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.”
—Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)