What to know about Cardinal Stritch, the private Milwaukee university closing in May
Cardinal Stritch University has billed itself as one of the largest Franciscan institutions of higher education in North America. That will come to an end late in May as the university announced Monday that is is permanently closing.
Here's what you need to know about the history of the school.
Cardinal Stritch was founded in 1937 as St. Clare College
In 1849, a small group of lay Franciscans left Bavaria to become missionaries to German immigrants in Wisconsin at the request of Archbishop J. Martin Henni, the first archbishop of Milwaukee. Women from the group organized a religious congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Sisters founded St. Clare College on Milwaukee's south side in 1937, at the urging of Milwaukee Archbishop Samuel Alphonsius Stritch. The archbishop served Milwaukee from 1930 to 1939, then was assigned as archbishop to Chicago.
In 1946, Pope Pius XII elevated Stritch to Cardinal of Chicago, and in his honor, the Sisters renamed the south side Milwaukee school Cardinal Stritch College. The cardinal died in 1958 at the age of 70.
The college began teaching lay women in 1953, and established its first graduate program three years later.
In 1962, the college moved to its current location in Fox Point, in northern Milwaukee County.
In 1970, men were allowed to enroll for the first time, and in 1997, the school became Cardinal Stritch University by offering its first doctorate program, in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service. The program, not surprisingly, encompassed the Franciscan approach to combining leadership and service.
More: Stunned Cardinal Stritch underclass students not sure where they are headed next
Cardinal Stritch kept a strong link to St. Francis of Assisi
From the beginning, the school's mission has been for students, faculty and staff to model the virtues and values of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi.
The four core Franciscan values are: showing compassion, making peace, creating a caring community, and reverencing all of creation.
One way the university has maintained focus on its mission is by maintaining an Office of Mission Integration. The office is responsible for exploring how the school engages its Catholic, Franciscan identity in all facets with programming for students, staff and faculty. It includes ministry and scholarship programs, and pilgrimages to Rome and Assisi.
Cardinal Stritch's enrollment had dropped in recent years
Nearly 2,400 students were enrolled in 2018-19, but that dropped to 1,400 by fall 2021, according to federal education data.
Cardinal Stritch is known for serving a diverse population. About a quarter of students are Black or Hispanic, and a third of undergraduates received Pell grants, which are awarded to those with the most financial need. It also attracted a number of international students. About 70% of the school's alumni base lives in Wisconsin, according to data from the school.
The private school offered 60 academic programs, as well as athletics and clubs
The school offered more than 60 academic programs, the most popular in business and education.
On its website, the school offered a wide range of clubs, from community building to social activism to leadership. It also offered six men's sports and seven women's sports. The school's nickname is the Wolves.
Most Cardinal Stritch alumni live and work in Wisconsin
The university has wanted to send two messages: That it has global reach, but continues to impact its home community in a way the Sisters who founded the school imagined.
To that end, it claims more than 40,000 alumni worldwide. It also says about two-thirds of its alumni continue to live and work in Wisconsin.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cardinal Stritch University: 5 facts about closing Milwaukee school
