St. Edward's University is Austin's premier private university.

A vibrant and diverse community of learners, St. Edward's University provides higher education opportunities to students of all ages and of varied cultural, religious, educational, and economic backgrounds. The university offers a liberal arts education emphasizing critical thinking and ethical reasoning. Students enjoy the advantages of small classes and personal attention coupled with cutting-edge technology, excellent internships, and service-learning opportunities. St. Edward's encourages service and an international perspective; it also helps students clarify their personal values and encourages them to recognize their responsibilities to the world community. Through creative and convenient programs, students build a foundation for lifelong learning and achievement.

Our goal is for St. Edward's to become recognized as one of the best small, private universities in the nation.

In 1999, St. Edward's University, under the leadership of President George E. Martin and the Board of Trustees, identified seven strategic priorities to achieve its goal. These include objectives for enrollment growth, faculty and staff recruitment and retention, curricular and co-curricular program development, facility and technology development, financial management, endowment growth, and marketing.

Progress on the priorities began immediately. Enrollment has grown from 3,669 in Fall 1999 to 4,450 in Fall 2003, yet St. Edward's still offers a low 14:1 student-faculty ratio in the Undergraduate College. New academic programs have been added, including undergraduate majors in bioinformatics, entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, and graphic design, as well as graduate programs in computer information systems, organizational leadership and ethics, counseling, and liberal arts. In Fall 2002, the university's six-course Cultural Foundations program was lauded as "exemplary" by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which cited "strong leadership, dynamic faculty [and] utmost care for student learning." Fund raising and the university endowment have grown steadily each year.

Exciting new buildings, such as the award-winning Trustee Hall and the John Brooks Williams Natural Sciences Center, are changing the way students live and learn on campus. Walks to and from most buildings are now typically five or fewer minutes, ensuring a pedestrian-friendly campus for current and future generations. Get all the details and learn about upcoming projects.

Every member of the St. Edward's community plays a crucial role in achieving this goal.

Our focus is providing high-quality educational experiences for St. Edward's students. We pursue excellence in all areas of the university, from academics, facilities, and services to programs, events, and community relations. Employees can contribute by listening, thinking, sharing energy and ideas, and encouraging creativity within the culture of the institution.

St. Edward's University traces its rich history to a chance shipboard meeting of two priests.

Father Edward Sorin, superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross, was bound for France and Rome in 1869 when he met Bishop Claude M. Dubuis of Galveston, bound for Vatican I. Father Sorin had already founded the University of Notre Dame in 1842. Bishop Dubuis offered Father Sorin's congregation two diocesan schools in Brownsville and Galveston. Three years later, when the bishop learned of Mrs. Mary Doyle's intention to leave most of her 498-acre South Austin farm to establish a Catholic "educational institution," he invited Father Sorin to Texas.

St. Edward's Academy - named in honor of Father Sorin's patron saint, Edward the Confessor and King - opened in 1878. Three farm boys made up the initial student body. They met for classes in a makeshift building on the old Doyle homestead almost a mile east of the present campus. By 1881, the school was boarding students. In 1884, Father P.J. Franciscus, president, changed the name to St. Edward's College, assembled a faculty, set forth a syllabus of studies and increased enrollment. In 1885, he secured a college charter. That same year, Father Peter J. Hurth assumed the presidency. His era saw the first school newspaper published, organization of baseball and football teams, and approval to erect Main Building. Nicholas J. Clayton of Galveston - one of the state's first professional architects - designed Main Building, a source of pride in the Holy Cross community and a grand structure for the early Southwest. It housed classrooms, offices, a dormitory, chapel, library, and dining hall. In 1893, Old Main was outfitted with electric lights and steam heat.

The institution shows strength in adversity.

In Spring 1903, a mysterious fire destroyed all of Main Building except the main entrance and massive front doors, the circular walls of the back stairwell, and the stone columns on the northwest corner. During the fire, a student named Tom Kelly heroically raced to the top floor to save his roommate, Francis Huck, who was in bed with the mumps.

A crew immediately began to rebuild the structure. Supervised by Clayton, reconstruction was completed in Fall 1903. Several fire safety features were added, including concrete floors, interior brick partitions, and iron and steel structural supports for the stairways and roof.

In 1922, the campus was hit by a tornado. Flying debris splintered Holy Cross Hall, which was then a dormitory. It also obliterated a gymnasium, leveled the school's power plant, and made a ruin of its natatorium (the site of the present-day bookstore). One student, Andy McGrory, was killed in the storm. Despite their grief and the destruction, faculty members and students resumed classes the next day and repairs commenced.

St. Edward's becomes a university and embraces opportunities for growth.

When St. Edward's received its university charter in 1925, most of the 13 personnel were Holy Cross priests, but there were five laymen on the staff. Growth was slow well into the 1940s; however, the university underwent substantial expansion following World War II. It purchased war surplus classrooms to supplement permanent structures, hired additional lay personnel, initiated a building program and began the 1946 school year offering courses in business administration, arts and letters, engineering, and science. Two presidents, Brother Elmo Bransby and Brother Raymond Fleck, transformed the hilltop during the next 20 years by tripling enrollment, faculty, and material assets.

The modern hilltop takes shape.

In 1966, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Monroe, Michigan were invited to the St. Edward's University campus to staff Maryhill College for women as a coordinate institution. By 1970, Maryhill was absorbed and St. Edward's became coeducational.

Since 1966, there have been significant changes in the campus, student enrollment, and academic programs. The vigorous growth was due, in part, to innovative academic programs designed to meet the changing needs of students and the professional population in Austin.

In the 1970s, New College, which enables adults to complete their college degrees, began. Also, St. Edward's became the first of four U.S. institutions to take part in the College Assistance Migrant Program. CAMP, as it is commonly known, has served more than 2,000 students in its 30 years at St. Edward's. And ours is the nation's longest continually operating CAMP program.

In the 1980s, the university added BBA and MBA programs, a Master of Arts in Human Services degree, and a professionally oriented theater arts curriculum. In 1984, Dr. Patricia Hayes became the first woman president and only the second layperson to lead St. Edward's University. Two years later, the Recreation and Convocation Center was built and Main Building was renovated. In 1990, enrollment reached 3,000. The 1990s also ushered in a revised undergraduate curriculum, capital and technological improvements, and completion of a successful Second Century Capital Campaign.

George E. Martin, Ph.D., began his tenure as the university's 23rd president on July 1, 1999. In September, the Robert and Pearle Ragsdale Center, a 57,000-square-foot facility for students, was dedicated. President Martin led the university community to develop the strategic priorities and campus master plan.

The university's ambitious but attainable objectives are transforming the academic program and the campus. Your contributions to these efforts will help St. Edward's achieve its goal to be recognized as one of the best small, private universities in the nation.