article

Salve Regina University is a university in Newport, Rhode Island. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, the university is a co-ed, private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of Rhode Island in 1934. In 1947 the university acquired Ochre Court and welcomed its first class of 58 students. By a 1991 amendment to the Charter the name was changed to Salve Regina University.

General Information

The undergraduate academic programs are based on the liberal arts, offering concentrations in the arts and sciences and in pre-professional and professional programs. The university offers Associate, Baccalaureate, and Master's degrees, the Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study, and the Ph.D. in Humanities. Salve Regina enrolls 2,500 men and women from 37 states and 17 nations. 2000 are undergraduates and 500 are graduate students. Currently 44 undergraduate Majors, 13 graduate and undergraduate certificate programs, 7 Master's degree programs, and Ph.D. in humanities are offered.

All students are required to perform 10 hours of community service in their freshman year and are encouraged to volunteer throughout their college years.

History

Salve Regina in Latin means "Hail, Holy Queen". Salve was chartered by the State of Rhode Island in 1934. In 1947 the university was gifted Ochre Court by Robert Goelet and welcomed its first class of 58 students. The students lived and took classes in this building. A small group of Sisters of Mercy resided on a separate floor. Slowly, the university expanded to the 21 historical buildings and 23 modern building that make up the current 75 acre campus. Enrolled students number over 2,500 and the staff numbers 550.

The school became Co-educational in 1973 and added Graduate programs in 1975. To recognize the changes in technology, the school added Distance Learning/Extension programs in 1985. University status achieved in 1991 changing the school name from Salve Regina College to Salve Regina University. The Ph.D. Program was accredited in 1995.

Pell Center of International Relations and Public Policy is established by an Act of Congress in 1996 and is located at Salve Regina.

Campus

Salve Regina is located in the Ochre Point area of Newport which is part of Newport's National Historic District. Newport is world-famous for its opulent "cottages", such as Belcourt Castle, The Breakers and Marble House. The campus is considered one of the most beautiful in America, and the University has been praised for its restoration efforts.

Its 75-acre campus borders the famed Cliff Walk and has unparallel views of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a safe, secure active campus life and is within walking distance of Newport Harbor, beaches and other tourist attractions.

Ochre Court
The main administration offices are housed in the former summer "cottage" of Ogden Goelet, Ochre Court. The ballroom has been turned into a small chapel used by the University. The building was used in the beginning scenes of the movie True Lies. The interior scenes were filmed at nearby Rosecliff, on Bellevue Avenue.

Ochre Court was built in 1892 for banker and developer Ogden Goelet and his wife Mary Wilson Goelet by the architect Richard Morris Hunt. The estate grounds were designed by the Olmsted Brothers. The exterior is a gothic-style limestone palace that borrows heavily from the detail of the great Middle Ages Chateaux of Frances Loire Valley. It includes Louis XIII style including high roofs, turrents, gargoyles and tall chimneys. The 50-room building is also remarkable for its sweeping ocean views. The estate was the summer cottage for the eight week Newport's summer season only. It required 27 servants, 12 gardeners and 8 grooms and coachmen to run it during the season.

March of 1947, Robert Goelet son of Ogden Goelet, donated this 50 room mansion to the Diocese of Providence, who then gave it to the Sisters of Mercy, for the establishment of the school.

The entire college was housed in this building for the first few years of its existence. The eight faculty members were nuns who lived in the mansion's servants quarters. The original 58 women students lived on the third floor and took classes on the second floor. Students ate, studied and used the library on the first floor. They bought books in the mansion's basement. During this time, the library held about 2,000 books, which had been gathered during the 30's and 40's prior to the college having a home. The library in Ochre Court was run by Sister Mary Catherine Durkin from 1947-1950 followed by Sister Marie Therese Lebeau who ran the college's library 1950-1971, during which time the library moved to McAuley.

McAuley Hall
In December of 1955, Vinland Estate was donated to Salve Regina by Florence Burden. The estate includes the main structure (a mansion with about 50 rooms) and a great number of outbuildings including a gatehouse, carriage house and potting shed. The Vinland mansion was renamed McAuley Hall, after Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy order. The library was then moved from Ochre Court into McAuley Hall, which is where it was able to grow in terms of volumes and staff. The library was housed on the first and second floors of McAuley, along with faculty offices on the second floor and student residences on the third floor. The library remained in McAuley Hall until the building could hold no more. All the available space had been used and there was a need for an updated information system. It was not the type of building that could be massively renovated due to its historic nature. There was an obvious need to create a modern building to house the library and its collections. Thus McKillop Library was conceived, planned, and built. The main building is now used for faculty offices, student meetings and limited classes.

McKillop Library
Built in 1991, the library includes over 150,000 equivalent volumes, Macintosh and Pentium PC labs and research technology equipped with national and international databases and Internet and World Wide Web connections. Labs include multi-media options, and a Multi-media Center allows production of interactive presentations.

Carey Mansion
The Carey Mansion (Cecilia Hall) was used for the exterior shots of Collinwood in the TV series Dark Shadows The Carey Mansion is leased by the University from Martin Carey, and it remains one of the largest mansions to be still be owned by an individual rather than the university or the historical society. Cecilia Hall refers to the music chamber in the mansion; used for musical practice and performance. St. Cecilia is the patron of musicians. The former stables of Carey Mansion are used as a dormitory known as Seaview.

Watts Sherman
The house was built in 1876 by William Watts Sherman and his first wife Annie Derby Rodgers Wetmore. Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in a Shingle style. Richardson is known for designing the Trinity Church in Copley Square, Boston.

The William Watts Sherman House is generally regarded as a stepping-off point for what later ecame known as the Shingle Style in American architecture. It features a masonry stone first floor with small half-timbered panels, textured stucco, and diamond-panel windows above. It is known for its massive chimneys and unifying broad gable roof with weathered wood shingles. It borrows from English Queen Anne country house style with combined elements that include medieval European, Renaissance English and Colonial American items. The interior is has rooms clustered about a spacious central stair hall. Renderings were done by Stanford White.

In 1949, a Baptist Church acquired the house and turned it into a nursing home "Baptist Home of Rhode Island" An utilitarian annex was added onto the house in 1969. Salve acquired the property in 1982. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is a 19th century America's architectural landmarks.

Wakehurst
Wakehurst was conceptualized in 1882 and built between 1884 and 1887. It was designed to replicate Wakehurst Place, an Elizabethan manor house built in Sussex, England in 1570, that still stands today. Charles Eamer Kempe drew the original plans. Dudley Newton supervised the construction including the assembly of certain rooms that were created and built in England. The building of these rooms, the English Jacobean Long Hall, Dutch Renaissance den, and Bruges dining room, introduced the concept of the "museum room." The dining room was also the first actual neoclassical room by Robert Adam to be imported to America. The grounds of Wakehurst were created by landscape designer Ernest Bowditch. It mimics an English country estate with footpaths winding a large variety of trees and end at formal gardens.

The university purchased Wakehurst in 1972.

Satellite Campus

Additional satellite locations include St. Mary Academy Bay-View, East Providence, R.I., Kent County Memorial Hospital, Newport Hospital, and Women & Infants Hospital

Campus Heritage Preservation Plan
Salve Regina University was the first New England institution to ever receive a Getty Grant Program award to develop a Campus Heritage Preservation Plan, Salve Regina University. The Campus Heritage Preservation Plan includes a detailed review of 21 buildings which comprise seven contiguous 19th century estates that distinguish Salve Regina's historic campus. The plan includes full existing conditions reports, restorative plans and, where appropriate, comprehensive recommendations and plans for adaptive reuse. The plan has been integrated as the key component of several classes in the Cultural and Historic Preservation Program, as well as affording students countless opportunities for independent study.

In addition to the Getty Grant Program, Salve Regina's efforts have resulted in awards from Newport Historical Society, White House Millennium Council and National Trust for Historic Preservation's Save America's Treasures Program, Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Preservation Society of Newport County, and The Victorian Society.

The Annual Salve Regina University Conference on Cultural and Historic Preservation is attended by a national audience.

Cultural and Historic Preservation major

The university also has a major in cultural and historic preservation, which combines architectural history, archeology and preservation planning. James Garmond is the archeologist and anthropologist who runs the program. The campus is used throughout this discipline.

The program is housed in Wetmore, the former stables of Chateau-sur-Mer, the grand estate built on Bellevue Avenue for a China trade merchant in the mid-1800s. The university raised $6 million to convert the 15,000-square-foot building into art studios, historic preservation labs and classrooms

Athletics/Sports

Salve Regina competes on the NCAA Division III level and is a member of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). The University offers 20 varsity sports for men and women including football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, equestrian, men's and women's soccer, golf, ice hockey, field hockey, sailing, softball, men's and women's tennis, track and field and men's and women's lacrosse.

Athletic/Wellness Center is located on campus. It has varsity and intramural sports as well as health and fitness programs. Student-athletes have the opportunity to occasionally compete at historic Newport athletic sites such as Cardines Field, home to one of the longest-running amateur baseball leagues in the country or the clay courts Newport Casino of Tennis Hall of Fame.

Financial Aid

Salve Regina offers scholarships, loans and part-time work-study employment to full-time students and to part-time students accepted as degree candidates. Students with superior academic credentials may be considered for a number of academic scholarship programs provided by the University. Academic scholarships are awarded to incoming freshmen based on rank in class and SAT or ACT scores, renewable as long as students maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Partial scholarships are awarded annually to five sophomores and five juniors with the highest GPA's in their classes. The University offers 11 endowed scholarships and participates in state and federal loan and scholarship programs including the Army ROTC program, as well as a number of private philanthropic programs.

Admissions

Admissions is selective with an average combined SAT score of 1082. Of the 569 freshmen, a third of them ranked in the top fifth of their high school classes.

University strongly recommends that students accomplish the following 16 units in their secondary schooling: four in English, three in mathematics (algebra and geometry), two in laboratory science, two in foreign language, one in history and four in electives. Students who have not completed the recommended units may have to take additional coursework.

Salve Regina follows a rolling admissions policy but has a priority deadline of March 1st.

Mission Statement

Mission Statement

''As a community that welcomes people of all beliefs, Salve Regina University, a Catholic institution founded by the Sisters of Mercy, seeks wisdom and promotes universal justice.

The university through teaching and research prepares men and women for responsible lives by imparting and expanding knowledge, developing skills, and cultivating enduring values. Through liberal arts and professional programs, students develop their abilities for thinking clearly and creatively, enhance their capacity for sound judgment, and prepare for the challenge of learning throughout their lives. In keeping with the traditions of the Sisters of Mercy, and recognizing that all people are stewards of God’s creation, the university encourages students to work for a world that is harmonious, just, and merciful.''

Source: http://www.salve.edu/about/mission.cfm

Mission Integration

Salve Regina's mission preserves the university's Catholic identity, and the traditions of the Sisters of Mercy and their belief in the value of education. The integration of the mission's basic principles into the academic curriculum, student-centered programs, and institutional operations supports not only the core values of mercy, but also the shared vision of graduating men and women who positively impact the intellectual, spiritual and cultural lives of their respective communities.

Source: http://www.salve.edu/missionint/index.cfm See also the strategic planning document "Enduring Power of a Shared Vision" *

Accreditation and Memberships

The university is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. through its Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. Accreditation of an institution of higher education by the New England Association indicates that it meets or exceeds criteria for the assessment of institutional quality periodically applied through a peer review process.

The art program is among just 10 at liberal arts universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission (NLNAC) accredits the Nursing Program which is also approved by the Rhode Island Board of Nurses Registration and Nursing Education. The Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary, and Special Education programs are interstate-approved. Students completing these programs qualify for certification in approximately 45 states. The Social Work Department offers a baccalaureate program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. The Visual Arts programs are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. The Business Studies program is accredited by the International Association for Collegiate Business Education. The Masters program in Rehabilitative Counseling is accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE).

Other Membership:

American Council on Education, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of College and Universities, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers, College Entrance Examination Board, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, National Association of College Admission Counselors, National Catholic Educational Association, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Council of Independent Colleges, Council on Rehabilitation Education, Mercy Higher Education Colloquium, Association of Mercy Colleges, Council on Social Work Education

News

His Holiness the Dalai Lama visits Salve Regina **

A nun in high places; Sister Therese Antone *

External links

Richard Morris Hunt | Universities and colleges in Rhode Island | Roman Catholic universities and colleges in the United States | Newport County, Rhode Island | Landmarks in Rhode Island | National Historic Landmarks of the United States

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Salve Regina University".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world