College of St. Joseph - History

History

After years of educating their members within the walls of the motherhouse on Convent Avenue in Rutland, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rutland purchased the campus of Rutland Junior College to establish a training center for their young novices and continue their education in the sisters’ normal school. In 1956, a core group of courageous women led by Sister Mary Matthew McDevitt, the college’s first president, formed St. Joseph’s Teacher’s College. To foster the growth of the fledgling college she formed an affiliation with Catholic University of America.

In 1960 the college was approved by the State of Vermont to confer the Bachelor of Science in education and the name of the college was changed to College of St. Joseph the Provider. That year the first graduation was held and three sisters received their bachelor of science in education.

For 12 years the college served only members of the congregation. In 1962, because of a teacher shortage, the congregation decided to admit lay women interested in Elementary Education. Nine brave lay women enrolled in the fall of 1962. A double trailer was purchased in 1964 and placed near the school building as a residence hall for 8 freshmen. In May 1965, the first lay students, Michelle Anne Ford and Marita Lillian Peters, graduated from the college in a ceremony held in the Mount St. Joseph Academy auditorium.

In fall 1965, Sister Mary Imelda Welch became the second president of the College. The rapid growth of the College resulted in a critical need for both dormitory and classroom space. In 1967 the first dormitory, Roncalli Hall, was completed. The following year, St. Joseph Hall was completed with 8 classrooms, 2 science laboratories, a language laboratory and an auditorium/gymnasium. Continued growth resulted in the need for a second dormitory and in 1969 Medaille Hall was completed. In the late sixties, the college attained candidacy in the New England Association of Schools and College, Inc., New England’s regional accrediting body.

Under Sr. Imelda’s administration, the College became co-ed in the fall of 1971 and enrolled six male students. She also introduced men’s basketball to student services in 1972 and moved the educational programs forward to include programs in special education, early childhood education, library science and the master’s degree in education. In 1972, CSJP became a full member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc.

On June 1, 1974 Sr. Mary Polworth, a Burlington, Vermont native and former executive vice-president of CSJP, became the third president. Her focus was on promoting the college within the community to increase its visibility. Under her administration, academic programs in business administration, human services, and liberal studies were added to the CSJP curriculum. In addition, the women’s basketball team, called the Saintinettes made its official debut in November 1974. By fall of 1976 about half of the faculty were Sisters of St. Joseph, half were lay faculty and there were two priests on the staff. Tuition, room and board that year totaled $3,000.

In 1983, the board of trustees appointed the first lay president in the history of the college, Frank Miglorie. Miglorie had served as a full-time faculty member at the college for nine years and as its Academic Dean for four years under Sr. Mary Polworth. The board also made another significant change in 1983 when it changed the name of the college to College of St. Joseph. From the eighties through the nineties, under Miglorie’s leadership, the college’s curriculum expanded to include 32 majors at the undergraduate and graduate level with special emphasis on programs for adult learners and graduate students. Campus expansion was also a priority.

In 1987, St. Joseph Hall underwent a major redesign changing it from a one-story modern structure to two-story traditional building. In May 1993, the Campaign for CSJ was launched. This was an ambitious 5-year capital campaign that transformed the campus with the addition of two new buildings and the relocation of the library. The first phase of the Campaign included the construction of the CSJ Athletic Center which was completed in 1995. In 1998 Tuttle Hall Student Center was completed.

The turn of the new century saw refinement of the curriculum and the introduction of new programs. These efforts to strengthen CSJ were enhanced by growth in the endowment and the creation of strategic alliances with organizations such as Vermont Department of Corrections, the American Red Cross, and Stafford Technical Center. In addition, efforts also focused on continuing to improve the campus and student services as evidenced by the construction of Giorgetti Library which opened in January 2006 thereby completing a ten-year, $8,000,000 expansion program called ACCESS XXI.

As the College of St. Joseph moved into the start of the next fifty years of its history, several new programs were added in response to state and national needs – undergraduate and graduate programs in alcohol and substance abuse counseling and an undergraduate program in criminal justice. Additionally, the college has formed an alliance with Vermont Student Assistance Corporation and the Vermont Department for Children and Families to offer a unique program to assist foster youth transition to college. Since the fall of 2008, the CSJ STEPS program (Students Taking an Effective Path to Success) provides year-round housing and support services for foster youth wanting to complete their college education at CSJ. This program is unique in New England and one of a very few in the U.S. that seeks to make a higher education possible for former foster children. Our program has already attracted attention from other states also trying to solve the problem of enabling former foster children to earn a college degree and become productive citizens and realize their true potential.

The College of St. Joseph continues to seek national recognition as a New England Catholic College that transforms its students into leaders who are competent, caring and service-oriented persons and professionals.