History
La Roche College was founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Divine Providence as a private college for religious sisters. It was named in honor of Marie de la Roche, the first superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence. The first president of the college was Sister Annunciata Sohl, and served until 1968. The College had begun to admit its first lay students by 1965. The College continued to grow, and two years later, La Roche expanded beyond its leased space to construct the first College building, the John J. Wright Library.
La Roche encountered financial difficulties soon after its founding. Although closing the College was considered, Sister de la Salle Mahler, president from 1969-1975, carried on. The Board amended its charter in 1970 to establish La Roche as an independent, coeducational Catholic institution, while also diversifying course offerings through an affiliation with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. This partnership made available several new areas of study, including graphic and interior design, which count among the College's strongest programs today.
An enrollment boom made the construction of two new residence halls necessary in the mid-1970s. Under College President Sister Mary Joan Coultas (1975-80), the College launched its first capital campaign in 1979, garnering enough to construct the Palumbo Science Center, which opened in 1980. During Sister Margaret Huber's eleven-year tenure as president beginning in 1981, the College continued to grow, marking its 25th anniversary in 1987 with the dedication of the $2.5 million Zappala College Center. The Magdalen Chapel was added in 1990, and 1993 the college opened the Kerr Fitness and Sports Center.
La Roche's sixth president, Monsignor William A. Kerr, was appointed in 1992 and focused his leadership on raising the College's visibility, while broadening academic, cultural and athletic programs. In 2004, the La Roche College Board of Trustees elected the College's seventh president, Sister Candace Introcaso, Ph.D.
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