MU_Magazine_SP12-final - Marian University

Celebrating 75 Years
Relentless: Marian University’s Rigorous
Academics Drive Growth by Ashley Petry
Above: The entire Marian College
faculty outside Allison Mansion
in 1937.
When the Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg, Indiana moved the college to Indianapolis in 1937, it
was housed within only one building, which is now known as Allison Mansion. The school had just
12 faculty members and 24 students—all women.
Those founding Sisters would hardly recognize Marian University today. It now has more than 200
faculty members and 2,700 full-time and part-time students, both men and women. The university
has five schools and an adult education program, and soon the College of Osteopathic Medicine;
it offers students 36 different majors, a wide range of minors and concentrations, and a liberal arts
foundation that gives students the tools needed to excel after graduation.
Many factors have contributed to Marian University’s growth in the past seven decades, but as
you’ll read in the following examples, one of the most important is the university’s relentless focus
on strengthening its academic offerings.
18 www.marian.edu