Former names | Christian Brothers College (1871–1990) |
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Motto | Virtus et Scientia(Latin) |
Motto in English | Virtue & Knowledge |
Type | Private university |
Established | 1871 |
Founder | Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools |
Accreditation | SACS |
Religious affiliation | Catholic Church (De La Salle Christian Brothers) |
Academic affiliations | |
Endowment | $35,000,000 [1] |
President | Brother Chris Englert, FSC |
Academic staff | Full-time - 85 Part-time - 123 (Spring 2024) [2] |
Students | 920 (Fall 2023) |
Location | , United States 35°07′39″N89°58′56″W / 35.1274°N 89.9823°W |
Campus | Urban, 76 acres (310,000 m2) |
Colors | Red and Gray |
Nickname | Buccaneers & Lady Buccaneers |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference |
Mascot | The Buccaneer |
Website | www |
Christian Brothers University is a private Catholic university in Memphis, Tennessee. It was founded in 1871 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, a Catholic teaching order.
Founded on November 19, 1871, it was established by members of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Catholic religious order founded by St. John Baptist de la Salle, the patron saint of teachers. At foundation the educational institution was named Christian Brothers College which was changed to Christian Brothers University when the school became a university in June 1990. [3]
Christian Brothers awarded the first post-secondary degree in the city in 1875. [4] LeMoyne College (one of the two constituent parts of present-day LeMoyne-Owen College) has a founding year of 1871, but it was an elementary and secondary school at the time. The city's largest university, the University of Memphis, was not founded until 1912. Although Rhodes College was founded in 1848, it did not move from Clarksville, Tennessee to Memphis until 1925.
Brother Maurelian was appointed the first president. His three terms as president totalled 31 years.
In 2023, the university publicly acknowledged severe financial challenges. By the end of 2024, the university projects a deficit of between $5 and $7 million. It has declared financial exigency and begun plans to make significant budget cuts, including the potential firing of tenured faculty and closure of academic programs. [5]
In December of 2023, the university announced that it was firing 28 faculty members at the end of the academic year and dropping programs including Chemistry, Cultural Studies, Ecology, Engineering Physics, English, History, History Education, Liberal Studies, Physics, Politics and Law, and Political Science; as well as Master of Education. Art Therapy and Philosophy concentrations will also be cut. [6]
The university has four schools:
The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The entire university is currently on probation due to a number of major shortfalls including financial struggles and student recruitment and retention issues (https://www.cbu.edu/about/accreditation/).
The university's Gadomski School of Engineering has four engineering programs, including Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, that are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).
In 2023, the physician's assistant program was accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) but lost its accreditation in 2023 after being placed on probation in 2021. [7]
The university's teacher education programs are accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The education programs received 21 AFIs and 3 stipulations in the most recent accreditation visit in 2022. The advanced programs (MSEL/ leadership and Reading Specialist) are currently on probation with an additional review scheduled for 2024. [8]
As a member of the Lasallian Consortium, [9] i.e. the seven Lasallian universities in the United States, CBU offers study abroad semesters in Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, and Spain. [10]
Christian Brothers University is located on a 75-acre (300,000 m2) wooded campus in the heart of Midtown, Memphis, four miles (6 km) east of Downtown. It is across from the Memphis Fairgrounds, home of the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, and diagonally positioned from the Cooper-Young Neighborhood.
The first building on campus, Kenrick Hall, constructed in 1939 as the original Christian Brothers High School, was demolished in 2015 to make room for the Rosa Deal School of Arts, set to open in January 2017. In 2021, CBU installed a manufactured building, which houses the nursing program. The campus includes the Rosa Deal School of Arts, Cooper Wilson Sciences Building, and the Benilde Hall Engineering Lab, which is currently being expanded, as well as sports facilities for basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, and softball.
The university's architecture follows the Georgian style popular at the time of the campus' relocation to East Parkway. Arch-covered walkways traverse the main campus, allowing students and faculty to get to most buildings shielded from the weather. The campus is enclosed by an iron fence with brick accents with entrances on East Parkway South, Central Avenue, and Avery Avenue. Security gates have been added to facilities on the northside of the campus in 2023.
CBU is an NCAA Division II program and a member of the Gulf South Conference. Buccaneer teams include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. Lady Buccaneer teams include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, STUNT, tennis, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field and volleyball.
The Lady Buccaneers and Buccaneers have won multiple conference and national championships, including the 2002 Division II women's soccer championship [11] and the 2008 GSC men's basketball championship. [12] The Men's Soccer Team won back-to-back conference titles under coach Clint Browne during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament in 2011, and most recently won the Gulf South Conference Tournament title in 2022 under coach Enda Crehan and advanced to the NCAA National Tournament.
21% of male students and 24% of female students are members of fraternities and sororities [13]
Campus Greek councils include the Interfraternity Council (IFC), the Panhellenic Council (NPC), and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC).
IFC fraternities | Panhellenic sororities |
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Sigma Alpha Epsilon (ΣΑΕ): 1989–present | Alpha Sigma Alpha (ΑΣΑ): 1986–1992 |
Pi Kappa Phi (ΠΚΦ): 1983-2001 | Alpha Sigma Tau (ΑΣΤ): 2005–2012 |
Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ): 1979–present | Alpha Xi Delta (ΑΞΔ): 1994–present |
Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ): 1996–2022 | Zeta Tau Alpha (ΖΤΑ): 1985–present |
NPHC fraternities | NPHC sororities |
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Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ): 1977–present | Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΑΚΑ): 1978–present |
Phi Beta Sigma (ΦΒΣ): 1996–present | Delta Sigma Theta (ΔΣΘ): 1998–present |
Kappa Alpha Psi (ΚΑΨ): 1999–present | Sigma Gamma Rho (ΣΓΡ): 2001–present |
Professional fraternities |
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Delta Sigma Pi (ΔΣΠ): 1964–present |
Theta Tau (ΘΤ): 2015–present |
Local and non-traditional fraternities and sororities |
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Gamma Theta Phi (ΓΘΦ / Gamma): 1964–1997 |
Knights of Columbus (K of C): 1972–1988 |
Chapters of a number of honor societies exist at CBU to recognize excellence in academia and leadership. Active honor societies and their specialties include: Alpha Chi (general academic), Beta Beta Beta (biology), the Order of Omega (fraternity and sorority members), Phi Alpha Theta (history), Psi Chi (psychology), Sigma Tau Delta (English), Alpha Psi Omega (theatre), and Tau Beta Pi (engineering). [14]
Professional organizations include: American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical Engineers, Society of Physics Students, and the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society. [14]
Cape Breton University (CBU) is a public university located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the only post-secondary degree-granting institution within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and on Cape Breton Island. The university is enabled by the Cape Breton University Act passed by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. Prior to this, CBU was enabled by the University College of Cape Breton Act (amended). The University College of Cape Breton's Coat of Arms were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on May 27, 1995.
University of Northwestern (UNW) is a private Christian university in Roseville, Minnesota.
De La Salle University, also referred to as DLSU, De La Salle or La Salle, is a private, Catholic coeducational research university run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools with main campus in Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila, Philippines. It was established by the Christian Brothers in 1911 as De La Salle College (DLSC) in Nozaleda Street, Paco, Manila with Blimond Pierre Eilenbecker, FSC serving as director, and is the first De La Salle school in the Philippines. The college was granted university status on February 19, 1975, and is the oldest constituent of De La Salle Philippines (DLSP), a network of 16 educational institutions, established in 2006 replacing the De La Salle University System.
Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs with a total student count at under 4,000 as of 2018.
The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students.
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Union University is a private Baptist university in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville. The university is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. It is a union of several different schools: West Tennessee College, formerly known as Jackson Male Academy; Union University of Murfreesboro; Southwestern Baptist University; and Hall-Moody Junior College of Martin, Tennessee.
Berry College is a private university in the Mount Berry community adjacent to Rome, Georgia. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Berry College was founded on values based on Christian principles in 1902 by Martha Berry.
Trine University is a private university in Angola, Indiana, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, with education centers in Detroit, Phoenix and Reston, Virginia. It was founded in 1884 and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
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Canale Arena is the on-campus athletic facility for Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee.
Archbishop Rummel High School is a Catholic, Lasallian secondary school for boys located in Metairie, a community in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. The school is named after Archbishop Joseph Rummel, a former Archbishop in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Brother Michael J. McGinniss, F.S.C., Ph.D., a De La Salle Christian Brother, was the 28th president of La Salle University in Philadelphia, U.S. McGinniss became president on July 1, 1999. He had been a member of La Salle University's Religion department and was president of Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee from 1994 to 1999.
The Universidad de La Salle is a private, Catholic and Lasallian institution of higher education run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Bogotá, D.C., Cundinamarca, Colombia. It was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1964. It has 4 locations: 3 in Bogotá DC- one in the downtown area, in Chapinero, and in the northern section of city. There is also a campus in El Yopal, Casanare in the East of the Country. This campus is the seat where the La Salle has developed the most innovative social and educational projects for young farmers, victims of violence in Colombia.
Saint Paul's School is a private all-boys Lasallian high school, located in Covington, Louisiana just to the north of New Orleans, United States. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, the school is run by the Christian Brothers and is one of the 1,000 Lasallian schools in more than 80 countries. It is part of 300 years of history originating from the founding of the Christian Brother Schools by Saint Jean Baptiste de La Salle. In 2015 and 2021, the United States Department of Education recognized St. Paul's as a Blue Ribbon School.
La Salle High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Union Gap, Washington. It is the only Catholic high school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Yakima. The school's motto, Signum Fidei, is shared with other Lasallian schools around the world.
The Christian Brothers University Buccaneers and Lady Buccaneers are the athletic teams that represent Christian Brothers University, located in Memphis, Tennessee, in intercollegiate sports at the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Buccaneers have primarily competed in the Gulf South Conference since the 1996–97 academic year.
Ohio Valley University was a private Christian college located between Parkersburg and Vienna in West Virginia. Founded in 1958, the school integrated education with teachings of the Christian faith. The college was physically located on two separate campuses totalling 267 acres (108 ha). At one time, OVU offered bachelor's degrees in more than 30 different subject areas, but scaled back its academic options as enrollment numbers and financial stability dropped significantly. The college was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, and was placed under academic probation in 2020 by the Higher Learning Commission due to ongoing long-term financial struggles. In December 2021, the OVU Board of Directors voted to close the college after the Fall 2021 semester. The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission voted to revoke OVU's authority to grant degrees shortly thereafter. Seniors were allowed to finish their degrees without the loss of any credit hours in the spring semester of 2022 at several other institutions of higher education related to Churches of Christ through "teach out" agreements.