AVE MARIA UNIVERSITY PLANNED NEAR NAPLES, FL
Former Domino’s Pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan has announced plans for a new Catholic university east of Naples, Florida with a new town to support it. Ave Maria University is intended to be an academic center of international scope founded on Catholic beliefs and committed to a Division I-caliber athletics program. Monaghan, who has committed $200 million to the project, is chairman of the Ave Maria Foundation and founder of Ave Maria College (MI) and Ave Maria School of Law (MI). The college is expected to move to Florida, but no plans have been announced for moving the law school. A seven-acre interim campus is expected to be ready this fall, with the full 750-acre campus completed no later than the fall of 2006. Monaghan announced that his goal “is nothing less than to build the finest Catholic university that we can build.”
LEGION OF CHRIST PLANS UNIVERSITY IN CALIFORNIA
The Legion of Christ, an order of 510 priests that already operates 11 universities worldwide, has accepted an invitation from Bishop William Weigand to establish a new Catholic university in the Sacramento, California area. The order is considering a downtown graduate school for the new University of Sacramento with a core campus nearby, possibly at the abandoned Mather Air Force Base. The order is still shopping for property, and no opening date has been announced.
SOUTHERN CATHOLIC COLLEGE (GA) DELAYS OPENING TO 2004
Due to a failure to meet fundraising goals, founders of the new Southern Catholic College (GA) outside Atlanta have delayed its projected opening date this fall to 2004. Board chairman Thomas Clements said the founders deemed it more important to “achieve the quality student life experience that was planned” than to compromise to meet their target date. The college had already received numerous applications for the fall.
BENEDICTINE (IL), SPRINGFIELD (IL) PLAN MERGER
Benedictine University (IL) and Springfield College (IL) are seeking approval from accrediting agencies and state and federal authorities to complete a planned merger that would allow Springfield, a two-year college, to offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees available at Benedictine. Both institutions would retain their names despite the formal merger.
(This article courtesy of the Cardinal Newman Society and the Catholic Higher Education Alert email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.cardinalnewmansociety.org or email info@cardinalnewmansociety.org.)
