Academics
There are presently four schools of study at Saint Mary's: the School of Liberal Arts, the School of Science, the School of Economics and Business Administration (SEBA), and the School of Education. Saint Mary's College prides itself on being a liberal arts institution, and the majority of undergraduate students are in the School of Liberal Arts. However, the most popular major is Business Administration. This is followed by Communication, English, Psychology, and Accounting.
The average class size is 20, with a student faculty ratio of 14:1. 91% of classes are taught by full-time faculty, of which 95% hold the highest degree in their fields. There are over 40 academic programs, with an option to create your own major. The School of Science has in the past few years grown as a result of a new science building, Brousseau Hall, which has made the college more appealing to students wishing to major in the life sciences.
As a reflection of the school's liberal arts tradition, most students are allowed to take a broad array of courses to fulfill the college's general education requirement. Two courses in humanities, one each in math and science, two in social sciences, two in religious studies, foreign language as needed, and a diversity course are required of almost all students. However, aside from a common lower division religious studies course (introduction to biblical literature), students can take a variety of different courses to fulfill these requirements (for example, a course on U.S. History and a course on Psychology would satisfy the social science requirement). Freshmen and sophomore students who are undecided about their major often take advantage of the wide degree of flexibility offered in the general education requirements.
The school also has graduate programs in fine arts, psychology, kinesiology, education, leadership and business. One of the most successful of these programs is the MFA program in writing. The school also once had the Graduate Liberal Studies program, which was discontinued in the early 2000s. Significant graduate business programs include the Executive MBA, the oldest of its kind in Northern California and one of the oldest in the world; the Trans-Global Executive MBA, including immersion experiences in two continents and a Social Service Management project in a developing country; and the Masters of Science in Financial Analysis and Investment Management, taught in downtown San Francisco.
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—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)
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—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)