Mount Saint Mary College - History

History

The Sisters of Saint Dominic of Newburgh founded Greater Mount Saint Mary Academy in 1927. Initially, the college was a Normal and Teacher Training School for the members of the religious community. In 1959, the college charter was amended by the Board of Regents of the State of New York to accept lay students.

Four German-speaking sisters of St. Dominic first arrived in New York City in 1853. They left the security of their convent of the Holy Cross in Regensburg, Germany to start a school in Pennsylvania. Plans went awry and the sisters opened a school on Second Street in lower Manhattan. Thirty years later, in 1883 at the request of the pastor of St. Mary's Church in Newburgh, a small group of sisters from the Second Street Convent opened Mount Saint Mary Academy off Gidney Avenue on property that had once belonged to the prosperous Harvey Weed family.

S. R. Van Duzer, a wealthy wholesale drug company owner, moved into A. Gerald Hull's Villa on the southeast side of the Thomas Powell estate in 1853. VanDuzer changed the name from Hull's Villa to Rozenhof, and began the arduous task of enlarging the house and transforming the property into a magnificent garden. VanDuzer died in 1903; his wife six-months later. The property remained in the VanDuzer family until the death, in 1913, of the VanDuzer's daughter, Katherine VanDuzer Burton. Although the family was offered a grand sum for the property by the proprietors of a tuberculosis sanatorium, the VanDuzers instead turned to their neighbors, the Dominican sisters on Gidney Avenue, and asked what price they might be able to pay for the property. Even though their offer of $65,000 was less than half of what the VanDuzers had been offered by the eager sanitarium bidders, Rozenhof, the carriage house, the ice house and a hothouse were sold to the sisters.

The Dominican Sisters' reputation for academic excellence became legendary. They had outgrown the existing facilities on their property. The new Academy, called Greater Mount Saint Mary, opened in 1927 and served as a high school. A storehouse was rebuilt as the Casa San Jose and it served as the elementary school.

Because the Dominican Sisters were involved in education in Newburgh and throughout the New York-New Jersey area, even as far away as Puerto Rico, the demand for a teacher training program was evident. The New York State Education Department certified the Mount Saint Mary Normal and Training School in 1930. In 1934, the Commissioner of Education granted full approval to the program and Mount received the authority to issue teacher's certificates at the conclusion of the three-year program. The Casa San Jose had served the sisters well, but a new facility was needed to meet the demands accredited by the Middle States Commission on Elementary Education, continues to provide a stellar education for students in the region.

In January 1955, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York granted the Mount a provisional charter to grant the degree of Associate in Arts upon the completion of the registered three-year curriculum. The Board of Regents voted to amend the college's charter on October 3, 1959. The Mount was now a four-year liberal arts college and opened its door to the first class of lay women in 1960. In June 1962, the Mount granted its first bachelor's degree, a Bachelor of Science in Education.

In 1963, Aquinas Hall, named after Saint Thomas Aquinas, opened. This three-story building becomes the centerpiece of the college's academic life. Guzman Hall opens this same year. It was originally the residence hall for the young Dominican novices. The first graduating class in 1964 consisted of 32 graduates. In May 1968, the college received full accreditation from the Middle States Association and in the spring of that year the first and only male student begins taking classes at the new co-ed Mount Saint Mary College. In 1970, 58 male students were enrolled at the college. In 1984, the college's first master's degree program was introduced leading to a Master of Science in Special Education.

Alice Curtis Desmond bequeathed her Balmville estate to the Mount in 1991. Both the Center for Community Education Service and Learning Is Forever Enriching (LIFE) program offices are located at the Mount's Desmond Campus.

The William and Elaine Kaplan Recreation Center, home of many of the college's Blue Knights teams, opened in 1992. After four decades, the building known as the Jewish Community Center, situated between the Kaplan Recreation Center and the College Courts, continued the legacy of community and learning when it was dedicated as Hudson Hall in 1999. This academic facility provided needed classroom and office space, and housed an auditorium, a cafeteria and the McTigue Art Gallery, named in honor of Rev. Joseph McTigue, O.P..

The demand for student housing was at an all-time high when Sakac Hall, named in honor of Sr. Ann Sakac, President of Mount Saint Mary College, opened its doors to freshman women in 2003. A new and improved Guzman Hall opened in the fall of 2004. The once humble chapel that was part of Guzman Hall was transformed into a special house of prayer. Founders Chapel, named in honor of the Dominican Sisters who founded the college, and Guzman Hall were both re-dedicated on the same day in 2004.

In 2007, the Kaplan Family Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology opened as an addition to Aquinas Hall. The college publicly announced the Answering the Call campaign to raise $10 million toward this project. The center provided state-of-the-art biology, chemistry and computer labs and a Nursing Learning Resource Center on the second floor of Aquinas Hall. The MST Center also featured a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) atrium, a Career Center, and the Jazzman’s Café.

In 2008, the college completed a $30 million renovation project on the College Courts, townhouse style apartments on the north side of campus for the upperclassmen.

On June 30, 2008 Sister Ann Sakac retired after 31 years as president of Mount Saint Mary College. Father Kevin E. Mackin, OFM, began his tenure as the fifth president of Mount Saint Mary College on July 1, and was inaugurated on October 17, 2008.