Ave Maria University
Encyclopedia
Ave Maria University or AMU is a private Catholic
university
in southwest Florida
, United States
, founded in 2003. The university moved to its permanent campus, situated in the planned town of Ave Maria
, 17 miles (27.4 km) east of Naples, Florida
, in August 2007. Ave Maria University shares its history with the former Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan
, which was founded in 1998 and closed in 2007.
Tom Monaghan
, Ave Maria's founder, has been criticized in the press for proposing that contraceptives, abortion, and pornography be banned from the university and the town itself. In 2007, Monaghan drew criticism from Catholics both inside and outside the university when he removed theologian Joseph Fessio
as provost
.
The current enrollment of Ave Maria University is 1,200 students, 679 undergraduates and 146 graduate students on the main campus as well as 375 postgrades law students at the Ave Maria School of Law
. The university also has a satellite campus
in Nicaragua
called the Ave Maria University-Latin American Campus. The Ave Maria University fields athletic teams known as the Gyrenes. It is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
(NAIA) and competes within The Sun Conference.
owner and founder Monaghan on March 19, 1998, occupying two former elementary school
buildings in Ypsilanti, Michigan
near the campus of Eastern Michigan University
.
Monaghan's goal was to create a Roman Catholic university faithful to the magisterium
of the Catholic Church. His original vision was a Catholic college providing a liberal arts education in a Catholic environment and constructing a full college campus on his 280 acres (1.1 km²) property in nearby Ann Arbor
, known as Domino's Farms. The Ann Arbor campus also included plans for 25-story crucifix
, a size about half the height of the Washington Monument
.
After being denied zoning approval by Ann Arbor Township
to build a larger campus near Domino's Farms, Monaghan decided to move the college to Florida. While occupying an interim campus in Naples, Florida, he focused efforts on constructing a new campus and planned community
nearby known as Ave Maria, Florida
. While the infrastructure of the new campus and town were being completed in early 2007, the Ypsilanti campus was also closing at the end of the 2006–2007 academic year. Monaghan planned to move most of the staff transferred to the Florida location. The Michigan location remained open until students graduated or transferred, leaving just three students for the final year and a number of the remaining staff.
After failing to secure the zoning rights in Ann Arbor, Monaghan initiated the founding of Ave Maria University with a donation of $250 million. The Barron Collier family donated the land in southwest Florida for the campus, joining Monaghan in the enterprise as 50% partner. In August 2003, the University opened an interim campus in The Vineyards in Naples, Florida, enrolling some 100 undergraduate students, 75 of whom were freshmen.
The university moved from the temporary facility to the new campus in 2007. In its first year at the new campus the university enrolled about 450 undergraduates and 150 graduate students. Bishop Frank Dewane, the local Catholic ordinary, formally dedicated the university in 2008.
Monaghan expects to continue expanding the university and hopes to one day have an enrollment over 5,000, Division I athletics and an academic reputation as "a Catholic Ivy,". In 2011, James Towey
, former Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
and former President of Saint Vincent College, was named the president of Ave Maria University after a unanimous vote by the AMU Board of Trustees. He also assumed the role of CEO, in the place of Monaghan, who remains the Chancellor.
branch in Florida, challenged the legality of the restriction of sales of contraceptives. He said, "This is not just about the sale of contraceptives in the local pharmacy, it is about whether in an incorporated town there will be a fusion of religion and government." An opinion column in The Wall Street Journal
quoted an Ave Maria faculty member who exaggeratedly called it a "Catholic Jonestown
". Frances Kissling of Catholics for Choice compared Monaghan's civic vision to Islamic fundamentalism
, and called it "un-American". In response, Monaghan announced a milder form of civic planning in which the town could mostly grow on its own, except that it would not have sex shop
s or strip club
s, and store owners would be asked rather than ordered not to sell contraceptives or porn. Contraception and porn would still be banned from the university.
degrees. Undergraduate majors include: Biology
and Chemistry
, Business Administration, Physics
, Classics
and Early Christian Literature, Economics
, History
, Literature
, Mathematics
, Music
with a concentration in Sacred Music, Philosophy
, Politics
, as well as Theology
and Psychology
. Graduate programs include M.A. and Ph.D. studies in Theology and a Master of Theological Studies for non-traditional students. The university also offers an undergraduate Pre-Theologate program, which prepares men for the seminary, paralleled by a religious discernment program for women. Undergraduate students must complete all courses in the core curriculum, with more than 10 required courses, including a full year of Latin, courses in philosophy, theology, literature, science, math, history and political science. The philosophical emphasis of the school is Thomistic
.
is a fully American Bar Association
-accredited Catholic law school
, located on a campus in Naples, Florida. It has a current enrollment of 375 students and offers a Juris Doctor
(J.D.) program that complements a traditional legal education based on the Socratic Method
with an emphasis on how the law intersects with the Catholic intellectual tradition and natural law
philosophy.
(SACS) declared that Ave Maria had obtained "accredited membership" status. This allows the university to award bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees accredited by the SACS. The university had previously received full accreditation from the American Academy for Liberal Education
(AALE) in June 2008. On October 7, 2011, the local ordinary, Bishop Frank Joseph Dewane
, formally recognized the institution as a Catholic university pursuant to the code of canon law.
, about an hour's drive from Vienna, and also in San Marcos, Nicaragua. Classes are in English. The Austria program requires an additional $1,750 beyond regular tuition, along with the added expense of airfare and ground transportation, while the Nicaragua program requires no additional tuition.
To be eligible for the program, students must have spent at least one semester at Ave Maria University, be in good academic standing, and have no major infractions on their student life record.
The new campus is located in the new town of Ave Maria, Florida, which continues to expand 17 miles (27.4 km) east of Naples in rural Collier County, Florida
. The town site occupies about 5000 acres (20.2 km²), of which nearly 20 percent are designated for the campus. The Ave Maria Oratory, a large Gothic-inspired
structure that serves as the parish church and university chapel and is located at the center of town. Several more master-planned communities
are under construction or planned in the immediately surrounding area, north and south of the campus. Managed wetlands lie north and west of the campus. Wildlife preservation and restoration projects have also been instituted on the site, to preserve a degree of its natural state.
Mass is offered in the Ave Maria Oratory, the landmark building on campus, which is located in the heart of the new town.
The parish serves the town and the university. Traditional liturgical actions are encouraged, including kneeling for communion, the use of Latin, the daily praying of the Angelus (especially at lunch and dinner time, when the Angelus bell is rung at noon and 6pm), the use of incense, and male-only altar servers at Mass. The chaplaincy has issued directives regarding the use of Latin, of the ad orientem posture (the priest facing the altar, the same direction as the congregation), and kneeling for communion. Other Masses are said in English with the priest facing the people.
There are various campus organizations including: Students for Life (Pro-life organization), Knights of Columbus
, Sodalitas Pontificis Sancti Gregorii Magni – educates student body about the liturgy, Faith in Action – teaching the faith. Works with youth, Immokalee Outreach Club – help Immokalee
residents in need, Operation Prayer Packages – Students pray for and send packages to troops overseas, St. Thomas More Debate Society, and Big Brothers Big Sisters among others. The university also offers intramural and club sport programs.
(NAIA) and competes within The Sun Conference for most sports, with football competing as independent NAIA team
and women's rowing beginning competition in the Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association (FIRA). In 2011, it became the first college in southwestern Florida to field a football team.
Men's sports
Women's sports
, S.J.
, was dismissed by Monaghan for undisclosed reasons. In a formal statement, Monaghan, in his role as chancellor, stated that the dismissal was because of "irreconcilable differences over administrative policies and practices." Immediately, the school's first-ever student protests were mounted in support of Fessio. Outside observers were critical: editor Philip F. Lawler of the conservative Catholic World News
said the firing was "institutional suicide", that if a respected theologian such as Fessio could be fired then no others would want to fill the position. Monaghan reinstated Fessio the next day as theologian-in-residence, though as of the 2009–2010 school year, he no longer resides at Ave Maria. Fessio said he was fired because of a conversation he had with Academic Vice President Jack Sites about administrative policies harming the university's finances. He said his firing was "another mistake in a long series of unwise decisions" but that he would continue to guide students to AMU. The provost position remains vacant.
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in southwest Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, founded in 2003. The university moved to its permanent campus, situated in the planned town of Ave Maria
Ave Maria, Florida
Ave Maria, Florida, United States is a planned college town currently under development in Collier County, near Immokalee and Naples. It is an unincorporated community, founded in 2005 by a partnership consisting of the Barron Collier Cos., a large diversified private company, and the Ave Maria...
, 17 miles (27.4 km) east of Naples, Florida
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...
, in August 2007. Ave Maria University shares its history with the former Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
, which was founded in 1998 and closed in 2007.
Tom Monaghan
Tom Monaghan
Thomas Stephen "Tom" Monaghan is an entrepreneur and Catholic philanthropist and activist who founded Domino's Pizza in 1960. He owned the Detroit Tigers from 1983-1992....
, Ave Maria's founder, has been criticized in the press for proposing that contraceptives, abortion, and pornography be banned from the university and the town itself. In 2007, Monaghan drew criticism from Catholics both inside and outside the university when he removed theologian Joseph Fessio
Joseph Fessio
Joseph Fessio, is a Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit order and the founder and editor of Ignatius Press. He was the founding provost of Ave Maria University until March 2007.- Education :...
as provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
.
The current enrollment of Ave Maria University is 1,200 students, 679 undergraduates and 146 graduate students on the main campus as well as 375 postgrades law students at the Ave Maria School of Law
Ave Maria School of Law
The Ave Maria School of Law, founded in 1999, is a fully ABA accredited Roman Catholic law school, located in Naples, Florida. In the 2009-2010 academic year, there were over 375 students enrolled from a variety of states, countries, and undergraduate institutions...
. The university also has a satellite campus
Satellite campus
A satellite campus or branch campus is a campus of a college or university that is physically detached from the main university or college area, and is often smaller than the main campus of an institution....
in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
called the Ave Maria University-Latin American Campus. The Ave Maria University fields athletic teams known as the Gyrenes. It is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
(NAIA) and competes within The Sun Conference.
Ave Maria College
Ave Maria College was founded by Catholic philanthropist and former Domino's PizzaDomino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza, Inc. is an international pizza delivery corporation headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States and has over 9,000 corporate and franchised stores in 60 countries and all 50 U.S....
owner and founder Monaghan on March 19, 1998, occupying two former elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
buildings in Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
near the campus of Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
.
Monaghan's goal was to create a Roman Catholic university faithful to the magisterium
Magisterium
In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome , who has authority over the bishops,...
of the Catholic Church. His original vision was a Catholic college providing a liberal arts education in a Catholic environment and constructing a full college campus on his 280 acres (1.1 km²) property in nearby Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
, known as Domino's Farms. The Ann Arbor campus also included plans for 25-story crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
, a size about half the height of the Washington Monument
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington...
.
After being denied zoning approval by Ann Arbor Township
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
to build a larger campus near Domino's Farms, Monaghan decided to move the college to Florida. While occupying an interim campus in Naples, Florida, he focused efforts on constructing a new campus and planned community
Planned community
A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since...
nearby known as Ave Maria, Florida
Ave Maria, Florida
Ave Maria, Florida, United States is a planned college town currently under development in Collier County, near Immokalee and Naples. It is an unincorporated community, founded in 2005 by a partnership consisting of the Barron Collier Cos., a large diversified private company, and the Ave Maria...
. While the infrastructure of the new campus and town were being completed in early 2007, the Ypsilanti campus was also closing at the end of the 2006–2007 academic year. Monaghan planned to move most of the staff transferred to the Florida location. The Michigan location remained open until students graduated or transferred, leaving just three students for the final year and a number of the remaining staff.
After failing to secure the zoning rights in Ann Arbor, Monaghan initiated the founding of Ave Maria University with a donation of $250 million. The Barron Collier family donated the land in southwest Florida for the campus, joining Monaghan in the enterprise as 50% partner. In August 2003, the University opened an interim campus in The Vineyards in Naples, Florida, enrolling some 100 undergraduate students, 75 of whom were freshmen.
The university moved from the temporary facility to the new campus in 2007. In its first year at the new campus the university enrolled about 450 undergraduates and 150 graduate students. Bishop Frank Dewane, the local Catholic ordinary, formally dedicated the university in 2008.
Monaghan expects to continue expanding the university and hopes to one day have an enrollment over 5,000, Division I athletics and an academic reputation as "a Catholic Ivy,". In 2011, James Towey
Jim Towey
Jim Towey served as Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and as Assistant to President George W. Bush from 2002 to May 2006. He served as president of Saint Vincent College, a small Catholic university in Latrobe, Pennsylvania from 2006 until stepping down on...
, former Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, formerly the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is an office within the White House Office that is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.-Under George W. Bush:OFBCI was...
and former President of Saint Vincent College, was named the president of Ave Maria University after a unanimous vote by the AMU Board of Trustees. He also assumed the role of CEO, in the place of Monaghan, who remains the Chancellor.
Founder's goals
In a May 2004 speech, Monaghan expressed his wish to have the new town and university campus be free from pre-marital sex, contraceptives, abortion, pornography and gay rights. This elicited sharply critical statements from the international press, who saw such proposed restrictions as violations of civil liberties. Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
branch in Florida, challenged the legality of the restriction of sales of contraceptives. He said, "This is not just about the sale of contraceptives in the local pharmacy, it is about whether in an incorporated town there will be a fusion of religion and government." An opinion column in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
quoted an Ave Maria faculty member who exaggeratedly called it a "Catholic Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
". Frances Kissling of Catholics for Choice compared Monaghan's civic vision to Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
, and called it "un-American". In response, Monaghan announced a milder form of civic planning in which the town could mostly grow on its own, except that it would not have sex shop
Sex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
s or strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s, and store owners would be asked rather than ordered not to sell contraceptives or porn. Contraception and porn would still be banned from the university.
Academics
Ave Maria University currently offers twelve undergraduate and three graduateGraduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
degrees. Undergraduate majors include: Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, Business Administration, Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and Early Christian Literature, Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, Literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, Music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
with a concentration in Sacred Music, Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, Politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, as well as Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. Graduate programs include M.A. and Ph.D. studies in Theology and a Master of Theological Studies for non-traditional students. The university also offers an undergraduate Pre-Theologate program, which prepares men for the seminary, paralleled by a religious discernment program for women. Undergraduate students must complete all courses in the core curriculum, with more than 10 required courses, including a full year of Latin, courses in philosophy, theology, literature, science, math, history and political science. The philosophical emphasis of the school is Thomistic
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
.
Law school
Although controlled by a board that is independent of AMU, the law school is closely allied with AMU. Ave Maria School of LawAve Maria School of Law
The Ave Maria School of Law, founded in 1999, is a fully ABA accredited Roman Catholic law school, located in Naples, Florida. In the 2009-2010 academic year, there were over 375 students enrolled from a variety of states, countries, and undergraduate institutions...
is a fully American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
-accredited Catholic law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
, located on a campus in Naples, Florida. It has a current enrollment of 375 students and offers a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
(J.D.) program that complements a traditional legal education based on the Socratic Method
Socratic method
The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas...
with an emphasis on how the law intersects with the Catholic intellectual tradition and natural law
Natural law
Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...
philosophy.
Accreditation
In June 2010, the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and SchoolsSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...
(SACS) declared that Ave Maria had obtained "accredited membership" status. This allows the university to award bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees accredited by the SACS. The university had previously received full accreditation from the American Academy for Liberal Education
American Academy for Liberal Education
The American Academy for Liberal Education is a United States educational accreditation organization.- Accreditation :AALE provides two types of accreditation for higher education institutions that offer general education programs in the liberal arts...
(AALE) in June 2008. On October 7, 2011, the local ordinary, Bishop Frank Joseph Dewane
Frank Joseph Dewane
Frank Joseph Dewane is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the second and current Bishop of Venice in Florida.-Biography:...
, formally recognized the institution as a Catholic university pursuant to the code of canon law.
Study abroad
Ave Maria University has a study abroad program in two locations: the alpine village of Gaming, AustriaGaming, Austria
Gaming is a small village within the district of Scheibbs in Lower Austria. It is known primarily for an old Carthusian monestary existing within its borders...
, about an hour's drive from Vienna, and also in San Marcos, Nicaragua. Classes are in English. The Austria program requires an additional $1,750 beyond regular tuition, along with the added expense of airfare and ground transportation, while the Nicaragua program requires no additional tuition.
To be eligible for the program, students must have spent at least one semester at Ave Maria University, be in good academic standing, and have no major infractions on their student life record.
Campus
Collier County, Florida
Collier County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 251,377. The U.S. Census Bureau 2007 estimate for the county is 315,839...
. The town site occupies about 5000 acres (20.2 km²), of which nearly 20 percent are designated for the campus. The Ave Maria Oratory, a large Gothic-inspired
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
structure that serves as the parish church and university chapel and is located at the center of town. Several more master-planned communities
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
are under construction or planned in the immediately surrounding area, north and south of the campus. Managed wetlands lie north and west of the campus. Wildlife preservation and restoration projects have also been instituted on the site, to preserve a degree of its natural state.
Recognition
Ave Maria University won the 2007 'Digie Award' (Commercial Real Estate Digital Innovation Award). The $24 million Oratory won the 2008 TCA Achievement Award as well as an award from the American Institute of Steel Construction.Student life
Dormitories are organized into small, same-gender communities. Quiet hours (9–9 on weekdays, 11–10 on weekends) are enforced by residence assistants and adjusted by residence directors. Members of the opposite sex are not permitted in the dorm rooms at any time (with the exception of "open hall" parties which occur approximately once a semester) and must be escorted through the halls. In each dormitory, there are designated common areas where members of the opposite sex are allowed during certain hours of the day. Chapels are located in each of the three dorms and contain an altar for Holy Mass and tabernacles housing the Eucharist perpetually. Members of the clergy, who live on campus, assist in maintaining spiritual life. Televisions are only permitted in common areas, though students are allowed to use their computers to play videos in the dorms and common rooms. Social life on campus includes intramural sports, drama productions, talent shows, excursions, dances and many other events. Students are encouraged to organize and participate in social and recreational activities. Drinking is only permitted in private quarters, or where deemed appropriate by the residence director(s). Men and women are encouraged to dress in modest attire and to avoid sexually suggestive or revealing attire.Liturgy
The parish serves the town and the university. Traditional liturgical actions are encouraged, including kneeling for communion, the use of Latin, the daily praying of the Angelus (especially at lunch and dinner time, when the Angelus bell is rung at noon and 6pm), the use of incense, and male-only altar servers at Mass. The chaplaincy has issued directives regarding the use of Latin, of the ad orientem posture (the priest facing the altar, the same direction as the congregation), and kneeling for communion. Other Masses are said in English with the priest facing the people.
Student organizations
Ave Maria's official news publication is The Angelus News. Students independently publish Renew, in conjunction with the Ave Maria student government.There are various campus organizations including: Students for Life (Pro-life organization), Knights of Columbus
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....
, Sodalitas Pontificis Sancti Gregorii Magni – educates student body about the liturgy, Faith in Action – teaching the faith. Works with youth, Immokalee Outreach Club – help Immokalee
Immokalee, Florida
Immokalee is a census-designated place in Collier County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,763 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area. The settlement was originally known as Gopher Ridge...
residents in need, Operation Prayer Packages – Students pray for and send packages to troops overseas, St. Thomas More Debate Society, and Big Brothers Big Sisters among others. The university also offers intramural and club sport programs.
Athletics
The Ave Maria University Gyrenes are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Ave Maria University, the university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate AthleticsNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
(NAIA) and competes within The Sun Conference for most sports, with football competing as independent NAIA team
NAIA independent football schools
NAIA independent schools are 4-year institutional members of the NAIA that play college football independent of any formal conference affiliation...
and women's rowing beginning competition in the Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association (FIRA). In 2011, it became the first college in southwestern Florida to field a football team.
Men's sports
- BaseballCollege baseballCollege baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
- BasketballCollege basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
- Cross countryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- FootballCollege footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- SoccerCollege soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
(indoor) - Track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
(outdoor)
Women's sports
- BasketballCollege basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
- CheerleadingCheerleadingCheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
and DanceCompetitive danceCompetitive dance is a popular, widespread activity in which competitors perform dances in any of several permitted dance styles—such as acro, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, and tap—before a common group of judges... - Cross countryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- LacrosseCollege lacrosseCollege lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...
(2011–12) - RowingRowing (sport)Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
- SoccerCollege soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
- SoftballCollege softballCollege softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is normally played by men.As with other intercollegiate...
- SwimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
(2011–12) - TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- Track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
(indoor) - Track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
(outdoor) - VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
Controversy
On March 21, 2007, the provost of the university, Fr. Joseph FessioJoseph Fessio
Joseph Fessio, is a Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit order and the founder and editor of Ignatius Press. He was the founding provost of Ave Maria University until March 2007.- Education :...
, S.J.
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, was dismissed by Monaghan for undisclosed reasons. In a formal statement, Monaghan, in his role as chancellor, stated that the dismissal was because of "irreconcilable differences over administrative policies and practices." Immediately, the school's first-ever student protests were mounted in support of Fessio. Outside observers were critical: editor Philip F. Lawler of the conservative Catholic World News
Catholic World News
Catholic World News is an online independent news service founded in 1996 by Philip F. Lawler, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, providing news concerning the Roman Catholic Church...
said the firing was "institutional suicide", that if a respected theologian such as Fessio could be fired then no others would want to fill the position. Monaghan reinstated Fessio the next day as theologian-in-residence, though as of the 2009–2010 school year, he no longer resides at Ave Maria. Fessio said he was fired because of a conversation he had with Academic Vice President Jack Sites about administrative policies harming the university's finances. He said his firing was "another mistake in a long series of unwise decisions" but that he would continue to guide students to AMU. The provost position remains vacant.