The history of Mount Aloysius College
This is a Catholic, privately owned college situated in Cresson, Pennsylvania, USA. This college awards bachelors’, associates’ and degrees of masters in arts and sciences field. A distinct group of sisters from Sisters of Mercy founded this college in 1853. This was during the construction of St. Aloysius Academy. In 1939, the same academy became Mt. Aloysius Junior College. Fifty-two years later, the junior college became a fully-fledged college, while maintaining the name, Mount Aloysius College. This was after revising its charter to confer bachelor degrees (Peterson’s, 2009). The college’s location is on a 193-acre campus in a rural region of the Allegheny Mountains west central of the city. This paper looks at the historical background of Mount Aloysius College as well as the college’s traditions.
Historically, the college establishment was in accordance to Religious Sisters of Mercy who continue to sponsor the college. Catherine McAuley established the spiritual Sisters of Mercy in the city of Dublin in 1831 as a group with zeal to serve God. This college has its roots to the community of sisters sent in 1843 to Pittsburgh. These sisters were always on the transit leaving their influence in regions like Chicago in 1845 before settling in Loretto in 1848. The first move in the establishment of this college was constructing a school in a shop on St. Mary’s Street in Loretto. This school was the forerunner of the St. Aloysius Academy. The college moved to its current position in 1897- 44 years later after its inception. The establishment of Mount Aloysius Junior College in 1939 was because of Sister M. de Sales Farley’s initiative. The college ever since has had a number of amendments in the programs run within the college. These include the 1991 amendment to incorporate a bachelor’s degree and the 2000 amendment, which focuses on offering master’s degrees in arts and sciences fields (Rogers, 2009).
Currently, the college specializes in both graduate and undergraduate education. Since the establishment of this college, the school has had approximately 13,000 students as the college’s graduates (Rogers, 2009). Currently, the college focuses on small classroom size, offering a highly stratified environment. Enrollment of students in this college considers a large number of students from the Pennsylvanian commonwealth. However, this does not restrict students from other countries. A number of countries have their representation on campus, including the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey and New York among other countries. Something striking since the founding of this college is that a majority of students, about 71%, are women. Today, there are about 2,000 students enrolled in Mount Aloysius College.
Sisters of Mercy who founded this college have many colleges under the emblem of Mercy College in the entire nation. Mount Aloysius College is one of the sixteen colleges within the wider realm of Mercy Colleges countrywide. The college has a strong foundation not only in the curriculum of Mercy College but also evaluation of ethical issues (Princeton Review, 2004). It establishes a sound character regular with the conventional, ancient Greek morals like ritual sacrifice. The college tradition sees social development as a crucial element of an absolute laissez-faire arts education, comprising the significant capability to relate collaboratively with people.
In this college, recognition of the student activities playing a vital role in the entire campus educational curriculum is imperative. The college has approximately 100 recognized unions, sets, tribute societies, and intramural activities for sports. All these programs point to the fact that students in the college are pre-occupied with many activities that help them remain academically focused (Princeton Review, 2004).
Historically, the campus has 12 buildings on the 193-acre piece of land. The main structure of the college dates back to 1897 and serves vital functions in the college. The building houses admissions, fiscal assistance, security, and offices for academics. The structure has the college president’s office, classrooms, nursing facilities and the art gallery for Wolf-Kuhn. The major hub on campus is the Cosgrave Center that functions as the Student Union. Among other facilities in the building are the dining hall, snack bar, care center, recreational rooms, career services, the bookstore, and conference rooms. The main arena for athletics holds approximately 2,000 seating capacity. This functions as a home for all Mounties fans (Kasar & Clark, 2000).
One of the historic facilities in this college is the Alumni Hall that functions as a multipurpose room for the college drama, music festivals and a variety of other performing arts events. In recent years, the college set up a construction project aimed at constructing a new residence hall. The structure opened in 2009, and it hosts more than 100 sophomore students. The structure is also a home to a huge multipurpose room. Operations of this college spread over a period of 12 months, and it opens its structures to the outside society.
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools certifies the Mount Aloysius College. The Pennsylvania Department of Education endorses it (Princeton Review, 2004). Since the college has nursing programs and studies, the accreditation emerges from the college’s professional accrediting bodies. This comprises of the Commission on Accreditation in Physical therapy Education, the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, and the American Association of Medical Assistants.
In 1995, the college opened a new library and era, exemplifying elevated admission to information for the college population. The college acknowledges the financial implication of attaining a liberal arts education. The college is on the frontline in helping the student to apply government loans and the internal college merit scholarships. Since the foundation of this college, it focuses on preparing students for job opportunities after their graduation. This accomplishment is through realization of a wider and liberal arts education. Apart from learners receiving formidable preparations for a specific career, each student in this college gets a basis in the humanities, sciences, and arts through the main curriculum. Key focus of the college is on the specialized courses in every program of study. This has an ultimate implication that the Mount Aloysius College values academics prior to any other additional program in the students’ coexistence in the college (Rogers, 2009). The college has a vital off-campus program, which considers training since most of the college’s study activities call for credit-yielding practicum. In this regard, students work and get guidance at local and provincial hospitals.
References
Peterson’s. (2009). Colleges in the Middle Atlantic States. New York: Peterson’s
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GSuRA5UT32kC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage &q&f=false
Rogers, P. (2009). Encyclopedia of Distance Learning. Pennsylvania: Idea Group Inc (IGI)
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sC9Le3jIwzIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepa ge&q&f=false
Jack Kasar, E. Nelson Clark .(2000).Developing Professional Behaviors .New York:SLACK Incorporated http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WrPiVD39XBwC&printsec=frontcover
Princeton Review. (2004). Complete Book of Colleges, 2005. Framingham: The Princeton Review
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GL5ke9BNA_oC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&d q=Complete+Book+of+Colleges&source=bl&ots=McldFFG7rN&sig=bu2Dzb CHl5rKMx5QyshClkkd- I0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZXeDUILuAoSThgfW8IDQAg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA
