The College of Saint Mary Magdalen - History

History

Catholic laymen Francis Boucher, John Meehan and Peter Sampo founded Magdalen College in 1973, responding to the Second Vatican Council's call for the education of lay Catholic leaders, and with the encouragement of the Bishop of Manchester, Ernest John Primeau. The college was chartered by the State of New Hampshire August 22, 1973, and enrolled its first students in September 1974.

From 1974 to 1991, the college operated at its original campus, a former motel building in Bedford, New Hampshire. In 1979, there were 70 students and 20 alumni.

Under the presidency of co-founder John Meehan, the college followed a policy of standing in loco parentis and closely supervised students' dress, manners, and behavior in order to maintain a moral atmosphere.

In 1988, there were 39 students. New Hampshire state education officials questioned the college's financial stability. A benefactor's support enabled the college to continue operation. Within three years, Magdalen College had purchased and developed a new campus property.

The college relocated to its current site in Warner, New Hampshire, in 1991.

From 2007 to 2011, the college owned the Durward's Glen retreat house in Baraboo, Wisconsin, formerly a novitiate for the Order of St. Camillus, and operated it as a site for retreats, religious events, and educational programs.

In 2008-10 the college underwent a process of reform to shed its image of severity; the Student Handbook was revised and the college's policy on dating was reversed (it had previously prohibited dating).

In October 2010, the college was renamed The College of Saint Mary Magdalen. It modified its curriculum to include studies of ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and post-Modern culture, and a four-year cycle of music and art courses.

In 2011, the students and faculty of the Erasmus Institute of Liberal Arts, founded by Magdalen's first president Peter V. Sampo, joined the college, bringing with them the institute's four-year liberal arts curriculum inspired by educators Donald and Louise Cowan. However, by the end of the first semester of having two programs, the Great Books and the Cowan, it became clear that the dual program approach "would not work". The Cowan Program faculty and parts of the program itself would be merged with the Great Books Program, and the remaining Cowan students would be grandfathered in and allowed to continue according to the Cowan Program. The curriculum merger lead to the introduction of concentrations and the optional study of Greek into the Great Books Program.