Providence College Informations

Providence College (Providence or PC) is a private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. With a 2012–2013 enrollment of 3,852 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the college specializes in academic programs in the liberal arts. It is the only college or university in North America administered by the Dominican Friars.

Founded in 1917, the college offers 49 majors and 34 minors and, beginning with the class of 2016, requires all its students to complete 16 credits in the Development of Western Civilization, which serves as a major part of the college's core curriculum (down from 20 credits previously).Fr. Brian Shanley has been the school's president since 2005.

In athletics, Providence College competes in the NCAA's Division I and is a founding member of the original Big East Conference and Hockey East. In December 2012, the college announced it and six other Catholic colleges would leave the original Big East Conference (which became the American Athletic Conference) to form a new basketball-centric Big East Conference.

In 1917, Providence College was founded as an all-male school through the efforts of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence and the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. The central figure in the college's incorporation was Matthew Harkins, Bishop of Providence, who sought an institution that would establish a center of advanced learning for the Catholic youth of Rhode Island.

Opening its doors at the corner of Eaton Street and River Avenue with only one building, Harkins Hall, the college under inaugural president Dennis Albert Casey, O.P. (1917–1921) began with 71 students and nine Dominican faculty members. Under second president William D. Noon, O.P. (1921–1927), the college added its first lay faculty member and opened its first dormitory, Guzman Hall (now known as Martin Hall). Under President Lorenzo C. McCarthy, O.P. (1927–1936), Providence College athletics soon received their moniker as the "Friars." With black and white as team colors, the school had early success in basketball, football, and baseball. In 1933, the school received regional accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The college conferred its first Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, and Master of Science degrees by 1935, which was also the year that the school's newspaper (The Cowl) was first published.

By 1939, Aquinas Hall dormitory had been built to accommodate more students enrolling in general studies, but with the impact of World War II upon enrollment, President John J. Dillon, O.P. (1936–1944) lobbied Rhode Island's congressional delegation to pressure the War Department to assign Providence College an Army Specialized Training Program unit. Unit #1188 arrived on campus in the Summer of 1943, allowing the college to continue operation. A class of approximately 380 soldiers-in-training studied engineering at Providence College for a year before going overseas.

Robert J. Slavin, O.P. served as president from 1947 to 1961. During his tenure in 1955, Providence acquired the House of Good Shepard property that pushed the original boundaries of campus to Huxley Avenue. Slavin also oversaw the establishment of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) on campus in 1951, and the Liberal Arts Honors Program in 1957.

The athletics program of the college gained acceptance into the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1948. Prior to the opening of Alumni Hall in 1955, the men's basketball team played in local Providence high schools. The college also hired Joe Mullaney as the men's basketball coach.

President Vincent C. Dore, O.P. (1961–1965) opened the doors of the college's graduate school as well as a new dormitory building, now called Meagher Hall. President William P. Haas, O.P. (1965–1971) opened Phillips Memorial Library in 1969.

In 1967, the college added its first lay faculty members in its Departments of Theology and Philosophy, as well as its first full-time female faculty member. Two years later, the student dress code was abolished. In 1970, the college decided to admit women starting with the 1971–1972 school year. The same year, the first female administrator was hired. By 1975, the first year women graduated after completing a four-year course of study, women had attained highly visible positions in school organizations. Anne Martha Frank was the first women to edit The Cowl, the school weekly newspaper. Patricia Slonina became the first woman editor of the literary magazine, The Alembic. Ana Margarita Cabrera was the first woman to edit the school yearbook, The Veritas.

Subsequent president Thomas R. Peterson, O.P. (1971–1985) instituted the Development of Western Civilization program, while in 1974, the college acquired the property of the former Charles V. Chapin Hospital on the other side of Huxley Avenue. The campus was then split in half by Huxley Avenue, providing an "Upper" campus (due to the uphill nature of the landscape on Smith Hill) and "Lower" campus (the new, flatter area of the College). In 1974, the School of Continuing Education awarded the college's first Associate's degree.

With men's basketball tickets becoming a hot commodity at the 2,600-seat Alumni Hall gymnasium, and with the opening of the Providence Civic Center in 1972, the Friars moved downtown in time for their Final Four appearance behind Providence natives Ernie DiGregorio and Marvin Barnes. Two years later, the men's hockey team played their first season in the new home on campus, as Schneider Arena opened in 1974 with Ron Wilson leading the way.

In the early morning hours of December 13, 1977, a dormitory fire killed ten female residents of Aquinas Hall. Meanwhile, the demographics of the student body continued to change, as women outnumbered men in incoming classes and non-Rhode Island students soon outnumbered in-state students. In 1984, Peterson also opened St. Thomas Aquinas Priory at the entrance of campus to accommodate the growing number of Dominican brethren living on campus.

John F. Cunningham, O.P. (1985–1994) succeeded Peterson as president in 1985 and saw the Friars men's hockey team win the inaugural Hockey East Championship the same year over rival Boston College and reach the championship game of the NCAA Tournament to lose 2–1 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Men's basketball again took center stage on the Providence campus, as coach Rick Pitino and senior Billy Donovan took the Friars to their second Final Four appearance in the 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Cunningham used the exposure and fundraising opportunities to build two apartment-style residence halls on campus, Davis and Bedford Halls, providing an alternative to dormitory and off-campus housing for upperclassmen.

Philip A. Smith, O.P. (1994–2005) succeeded Cunningham in 1994 and oversaw the new influence of women's athletics at Providence, as several alumni and then-current students won the gold medal for women's ice hockey as part of the U.S. national team in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

By 2001, a new on-campus chapel was built, St. Dominic Chapel, followed three years later by the construction of two other major buildings on "Lower" campus: Suites Hall, a suite-style residence hall to provide added upperclassmen housing, and the Smith Center for the Arts. Elected in 2005, President Brian J. Shanley, O.P. (2005–present) has overseen the construction of the Concannon Fitness Center in 2007 as part of an overall renovation to Alumni Hall, as well as renovation and expansion of the Slavin Center in 2009. In 2012, a groundbreaking was held for the Ruane Center for the Humanities.

Shanley also removed the college's SAT requirement for admissions in addition to transferring a significant portion of the school's scholarship funds to need-based aid, in order to give more diverse students the opportunity to afford the college. In 2008, Shanley oversaw the founding of the Providence College School of Business (PCSB), creating separate Schools of Arts and Sciences and Professional Studies.

The college celebrated its Centennial in 2017.

Complete article available at this page.