by Patrick Flattery, Vice President of Finance - The College of St ...

Dear friend of the College:
Our 94th year was a time of fulfillment and of anticipation at The College of
St. Scholastica.
The achievements of 2005-2006 are many.
The College enrolled its fourth consecutive record freshman class and our
largest overall student body, 10 percent of whose members are international and
domestic students of color.
The average ACT scores of traditional undergraduates increased slightly, and the
number of traditional undergraduates on the Duluth campus rose. More than half of
undergraduates lived on campus, nearly 300 of them in the new Kerst and Scanlon
Halls, which were completed on time and on budget.
We graduated a record number of students, awarding 780 baccalaureate and
master’s degrees at our commencement ceremonies. We are turning over about
25 percent of our student body each year, exactly as we should be. Our four-year
graduation rate is a powerful marketing advantage, one we will continue to
publicize to our benefit.
The financial state of the College is good. Our budget crossed the $50 million mark
for the first time, and our endowment, although small when compared to our private
college peers, hit a record $24 million.
The Imagine Tomorrow campaign closed in on its goal of $31 million. See the report on the facing page from chair Karen
Alworth, whose strong leadership has been crucial to this effort.
Working with the faculty, the new Vice President for Academic Affairs reorganized the academic side of the house from
four divisions to seven schools, each headed by a dean who has increased authority for decision-making and increased
responsibility for results.
In Extended Studies, we finalized plans to open a campus in Rochester – which successfully launched in September 2006 –
to complement our sites in St. Paul, St. Cloud, Brainerd, and here in Duluth. With our experience of excellence in health
care education, Rochester is a great fit.
We named our new Braegelman Catholic Studies program, which was endowed by the Benedictine Sisters. The Sisters
chose to honor Sister Athanasius Braegelman, who was president of the College from 1942 to 1954, and her sister, Sister
Bernice Braegelman, who taught religion here for 30 years.
We also reached out to engage other faith traditions in a conversation about life’s most important questions, through the
Interreligious Forum. The inaugural event was a public lecture by the provocative and original scholar, Karen Armstrong.
These latter initiatives arise from our conviction that education of the intellect is important but is not enough. Our mission
statement says we provide intellectual and moral preparation for responsible living and meaningful work. We are a
community of conscience, as well as a community of inquiry. If we graduate bright students who are morally rudderless,
we have failed.
As we look forward, our vision is to strengthen further our residential campus here in Duluth and to provide quality
programming for working adults at our extended sites. We are in the early stages of planning an expansion and major
renovation of our Science Center. We need more classrooms, laboratories and faculty offices. We also need to renovate our
existing labs, since they are approaching their 40th birthday.
In the end, of course, all the building and the fundraising and the growth are about realizing our mission and vision. Our
real “business” is the transmission of knowledge and wisdom to future generations. We want to prepare informed citizens,
successful professionals, and people of integrity and moral imagination.
Thank you for your support in bringing the St. Scholastica experience to an ever larger community. We know that thoughtful
leaders, sharpened and sensitized by the liberal arts and shaped by the Benedictine heritage and the Catholic tradition, can,
indeed, touch the world.
Larry Goodwin
President