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Former names | Saint Raphael's Seminary/Academy (1839–1850) Mount St. Bernard's College and Seminary (1850–1873) St. Joseph's College (1873–1914) Dubuque College (1914–1920) Columbia College (1920–1939) |
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Motto | Pro Deo Et Patria |
Motto in English | For God And Country |
Type | Private college |
Established | 1839 |
Founder | Bishop Mathias Loras |
Religious affiliation | Archdiocese of Dubuque |
Academic affiliations | Space-grant |
Endowment | $41.6 million (2019) [1] |
Chancellor | Archbishop Thomas Zinkula |
President | James E. Collins |
Administrative staff | 172 |
Students | 1,600 [2] |
Location | , Iowa , U.S. 42°30′18″N90°40′48″W / 42.50500°N 90.68000°W |
Loras College Historic District | |
NRHP reference No. | 100005277 [3] |
Added to NRHP | June 19, 2020 |
Campus | Urban [4] , 64 acres (26 ha) |
Colors | Purple and Vegas Gold |
Nickname | Duhawks |
Sporting affiliations | |
Mascot | Dewey |
Website | loras.edu |
Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It is one of four four-year post-secondary institutions in the City of Dubuque, one of four Catholic colleges in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, and one of six Catholic colleges in the state of Iowa. The campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Loras College Historic District in 2020. [3]
Loras College, a liberal arts college, was founded in 1839 by Mathias Loras, first bishop of Dubuque, who established Saint Raphael's Seminary to educate young men for the priesthood with the expressed intention of also providing an opportunity for higher education to the citizens of the area. Loras later became president of the college. His statue on campus was removed on September 8, 2020 after it was discovered he was a slave owner from 1836 to 1852. [5] The college has functioned under several different names: Saint Raphael's Seminary and later Saint Raphael's Academy (1839–1850), Mount St. Bernard's College and Seminary (1850–1873), St. Joseph's College (1873–1914), Dubuque College (1914–1920), and Columbia College (1920–1939). [6] The present name was adopted during the school's centennial in 1939. That same year, the national Catholic honor society, Delta Epsilon Sigma was founded at the college, by Father Fitzgerald. From the time of its founding, the college has devoted its faculty and facilities to an undergraduate program; it conferred the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees.
In 1963, when The Catholic University of America decided to discontinue its branch program of graduate study on the Loras campus, Loras College, realizing the growing need in the locale for study beyond the baccalaureate degree, initiated its Graduate Division offering the Master of Arts degree in some fields.
The College became coeducational in the fall of 1971. In 1973, the Associate of Arts and the Associate of Science degrees were introduced. The Division of Community Education was initiated in 1975.
Both the Undergraduate College and the Graduate Division of Loras College are accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The teacher education program, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, is accredited by the Iowa Department of Education. The undergraduate teacher education program is also accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The American Chemical Society has approved the undergraduate chemistry program. The Council of Social Work Education has accredited the social work major at the baccalaureate level.
Loras offers 49 majors, 11 stand-alone minors, and nine pre-professional programs for undergraduates. Undergraduates can also participate in summer classes, internships, field experience, study abroad, and other programs.
For graduate programs, Loras offers a Master of Arts in clinical or general psychology, school counseling, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Education, and a master's degree Business Administration with a focus on business analytics. [7]
Loras' athletic teams are known as the Duhawks, a name bestowed upon the football team by a Detroit Free Press scribe in 1924 converging Dubuque and Hawks. The school fields 23 men's and women's varsity teams in the NCAA Division III. They are a member of the American Rivers Conference (ARC). Loras’ colors are Purple, Rah Rah Gold, and Metallic Gold. The men's soccer team has advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four five times since 2007, and once to the NCAA Division III Championship game in 2015. Denise Udelhofen ('90) serves as the director of athletics for the Duhawks and is assisted by head men's soccer coach and director of soccer operations, Dan Rothert ('96). Jim Naprstek ('13) serves as the director of athletic communications for the Duhawks after his hiring in March 2014.
Sport | Season | Facilities |
---|---|---|
Baseball | Spring | Petrakis Park |
Men's Basketball | Winter | AWC / Lillis Court |
Women's Basketball | Winter | AWC / Lillis Court |
Men's Golf | Fall, spring | The Meadows / Thunder Hills |
Women's Golf | Fall, spring | The Meadows / Thunder Hills |
Cross Country | Fall | Dubuque Soccer Complex |
Football | Fall | Rock Bowl / Biere Field |
Men's Soccer | Fall | Rock Bowl / Biere Field |
Women's Soccer | Fall | Rock Bowl / Biere Field |
Women's Lacrosse | Spring | Rock Bowl / Biere Field |
Softball | Spring | Faber-Clark Field |
Swimming & Diving | Winter | San Jose Pool |
Men's Tennis | Fall, spring | Tucker Tennis Courts |
Women's Tennis | Fall, spring | Tucker Tennis Courts |
Track & Field | Winter, spring | Graber Sports Center / Rock Bowl |
Men's Volleyball | Spring | Lillis Court |
Women's Volleyball | Fall | Lillis Court |
Wrestling | Winter | Graber Sports Complex / AWC |
Loras sits on a 65-acre (260,000 m2) campus located atop several hills in Dubuque. The grounds are bounded by Loras Boulevard on the south, Kirkwood Street on the north, Henion Street on the east, and Alta Vista Street on the west. The campus is surrounded by residential neighborhoods on all sides, some of which are among the most historic in the city. The college consists of 23 buildings, two athletic fields, a stadium, and five tennis courts. Because of its high location, several of the buildings provide excellent views of Downtown Dubuque and the Mississippi River.
Some of the more notable buildings include:
The college has been expanded over the years. The Alumni Campus Center was built in 1992, and added a new library in 2001. The Academic Resource Center contains a collection of approximately 355,000 items and 11,000 magazine subscriptions. In addition to its broad general collection, the library contains a rich heritage in its special collections of rare books, as well as the photographs and manuscripts in the Center for Dubuque History located in the lower level of the library. The library is also an official document depository for both the United States government and the state of Iowa. The previous library, Wahlert Memorial Library, was remodeled into classroom space.
The college has purchased Cox Street which runs through campus from the city of Dubuque for $50,000. The school has since shut the street down and replaced it with a pedestrian friendly walk way to improve pedestrian safety and help upgrade the area aesthetically. In 2015, a school spirit shop, The Duhawk Shop, and Einstein Bros. Bagels opened at the corner of Loras Boulevard and the new Loras Parkway.
St. Pius X Seminary is run under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The seminary prepares Minor (College) Seminarians for the priesthood, specifically preparing candidates for entrance into Major Seminary & Theological studies. Through Loras, the seminary provides full training in Philosophical studies, while giving students the necessary religious studies courses required for entrance into Major Seminary. The seminary has operated under various names and conditions at Loras College since 1839 until adopting its present name in 1954. St. Pius X has prepared countless Seminarians across Iowa & surrounding states for the priesthood, counting over 30 Bishops as alumni. Currently, the seminary is housed at the Vianney House and serves Seminarians of the Archdiocese of Dubuque and the Diocese of Des Moines. The current rector of St. Pius X Seminary is Fr. David Schatz and the spiritual director is Fr. Tom McDermott.
The college is located west of downtown Dubuque and served by The Jule transit system. The Blue Route, Orange Route and AM Commuter East Route stop on Loras Boulevard at the south edge of campus. [8] Lamers Bus Lines stops outside Keane Hall providing intercity bus service towards Madison and Milwaukee. [9]
Loras College currently counts over 30 bishops as alumni. Notable graduates and faculty of Loras College include:
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region locally known as the Tri-State Area. It serves as the main commercial, industrial, educational, and cultural center for the area. Geographically, it is part of the Driftless Area, a portion of North America that escaped all three phases of the Wisconsin Glaciation.
John Joseph Keane was an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa from 1900 to 1911. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia from 1878 to 1888.
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Mathias Loras was a French Catholic priest in the United States who served as the first Bishop of Dubuque, in what would become the state of Iowa. He was the first president of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, from 1830 to 1832, and is the founder of what is now known as Loras College in Dubuque.
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John Hennessy was a 19th-century Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop and archbishop in the United States. He served as bishop and then the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, from 1866 to 1900.
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Loras Joseph Watters was an American bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dubuque from 1965 to 1969, and as the fifth Bishop of Winona from 1969 to 1986.
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Edward Aloysius Fitzgerald was an American bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dubuque from 1946 to 1949, and as the fourth Bishop of Winona from 1949 to 1969.
St. Pius X Seminary is associated with Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, and run under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The seminary prepares Minor (College) Seminarians for the priesthood, specifically preparing candidates for entrance into Major Seminary & Theological studies. Through Loras, the seminary provides full training in Philosophical studies, while giving students the necessary religious studies courses required for entrance into Major Seminary. Founded in 1839 by Bishop Mathias Loras as St. Raphael Seminary, the seminary has operated under various names and conditions at Loras College until adopting its present name in 1954. St. Pius X has prepared countless Seminarians across Iowa & surrounding states for the priesthood, counting over 30 Bishops as alumni. Currently, the seminary is housed at the Vianney House and serves Seminarians of the Archdiocese of Dubuque and the Diocese of Des Moines. The current rector of St. Pius X Seminary is Fr. David Schatz and the spiritual director is Fr. Tom McDermott.
Mount Saint Bernard Seminary and Barn are historic buildings located south of Dubuque, Iowa, United States. Bishop Mathias Loras, the first Bishop of Dubuque, founded the a Catholic institution of higher education in his residence in 1839. St. Raphael's Seminary, primarily for the education of priests, was probably the first college established in what would become the State of Iowa. The Brothers of Christian Instruction, a French teaching order recruited to the diocese of Loras, contributed their services to the seminary. The school was expanded in 1850 when he began the construction of three new buildings on Table Mound that he named Mount St. Bernard College and Seminary. The Rev. Andrew Trevis, who was later influential in the development of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, was the rector at the time the building was constructed. The three-story limestone combination Federal and Greek Revival structure was designed by local architect Hugh V. Gildea. It was built for $10,000, which was a lot of money for the diocese at that time. It is unknown when the frame, gable-roofed barn with a stone foundation was built.