Saint Anselm College
Encyclopedia
Saint Anselm College is a nationally ranked, private, Benedictine
, Catholic liberal arts college
in Goffstown, New Hampshire
. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey
in Newark, New Jersey
, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire
, the college is the third-oldest Catholic college in New England
. Named after Saint Anselm of Canterbury
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
from 1093 to 1109, the college continues to have a fully functioning and independent Benedictine
abbey
attached to it - Saint Anselm Abbey
. According to the college, the student body is selected not only for their academic abilities but also for their personal character. The college's academic curriculum requires several philosophy
and theology
courses and the completion of a two-year nationally recognized humanities program entitled "Portraits of Human Greatness." The administration's commitment to an anti grade inflation
policy helped the college receive national media attention from the Fox News Channel
in 2006, as well as a Tier 1 ranking from U.S. News and World Report in 2010. In 2011, Forbes Magazine ranked Saint Anselm as the 85th best college in the nation as well as the 40th in the Northeast. Offering 38 majors, as well as 23 minors, the college does not allow double majors. Student to faculty ratio is 11:1, as most classes never have over 18 students; 95% of professors hold terminal degrees.
Since the 1950s, the college has played an important role in the "first in the nation" New Hampshire primary
, and has served as the national stage for many future presidents, candidates, and supporters. Presidents John F. Kennedy
and Richard Nixon
each delivered important policy speeches while at the college. The college has been home to several national presidential debates
which have attracted extensive media attention. Alumni Hall has become a familiar backdrop for the national media when reporting from the college in 2004, 2008 and most recently for the 2012 election cycle. The New Hampshire Institute of Politics, attached to the college, has released several national polls and held hundreds of campaign events throughout the last decade. The Washington Post
recently referred to Saint Anselm College as "the Benedictine college with a box seat on America's most riveting political theater".
There are over 80 student organizations on campus. Established in 1989, the Meelia Center for Community Service allows students to assist the community through either a service learning component available in several courses, or volunteering with the center on their free time. In addition to community service, many students play sports at the intramural, club or NCAA Division II, Northeast Ten Conference
and Eastern College Athletic Conference
levels.
The college is home to approximately 2,000 students from 31 states and 12 countries; of these students, 88% live in on-campus housing. In 2009, a multimillion dollar campaign renovated the convent (renamed Joseph Hall) and constructed a new gymnasium with a floor to ceiling glass facade. There are also plans to build a new dormitory, which will be situated at the lower entrance of campus near Brady Hall. On June 13th, 2011, the college hosted the first Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire with CNN
, WMUR, and the New Hampshire Union Leader
; on January 7th, 2012, the college will host a second nationally televised debate with ABC.
, Denis Mary Bradley
, invited the Benedictine monks of St. Mary's Abbey
in Newark, New Jersey
, to form a college and preparatory school in his diocese
. The monks that came to Manchester from Saint Mary's were primarily of German descent. This is due to the fact that Manchester
was heavily populated with French Canadian and Irish mill working immigrants. Until the monks from Saint Mary's arrived, Bishop Bradley was unable to find a suitable religious community that would not stir up ethnic tensions. The monks accepted, and founded the third Catholic college in New England. A six-year curriculum
in philosophy
and theology
was developed. In 1892, as Alumni Hall neared completion, a fire destroyed the college on a cold winter night in February. The fire was most likely caused from a ember from the heating stove's gate as it was not closed properly. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt because of the fire. The monks were forced to rebuild the college, spending considerably less money on the construction, as they had received only $55,000 from the Insurance Commissioner
of the State of New Hampshire. To save money, many bricks were salvaged from the previous structure and pieces of granite were cut from large granite rocks still visible on the current quad. In 1893, the current building that remains the center of campus was completed; the fire delayed the first academic semester by one year. The monks rebuilt the college, and on October 11, 1893 the college was officially rededicated. To avoid the possibility of another fire, a power house, which today serves as the college print shop, was constructed separately from the building. Two years later, in 1895, the New Hampshire legislature
granted Saint Anselm College the right to bestow standard academic degree
s upon its graduates. In 1912, the bell tower and ivy were added to the building; in 1923, the college's second chapel (the first being located on the second floor at the present-day business office) was constructed as a connecting wing. The second chapel serves today as the Alva deMars Megan Chapel Arts Center.
The Abbey
Shield was designed by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose
of Harvard University
. It incorporates the personal coat of Saint Anselm of Canterbury
and the first seal of the state of New Hampshire
. In 1927, by a monastic vote, the shield design was incorporated as the official shield of Saint Anselm Abbey and the college. The drops in each quadrant represent the three drops of blood on Anselm's coat of arms, and the sheaf of five arrows is taken from the first shield of the State of New Hampshire, representing the five original counties of the state. Hence, the Abbey Shield has been interpreted as Saint Anselm of New Hampshire.
One goal of the early college was to be a self-sufficient institution. The college had a farm that was over 100 acre (0.404686 km²) in size, complete with chickens, pigs and cows. The farm also included a full vegetable garden which extended from the lawn of Alumni Hall to the current parking lot located between Joan of Arc Hall and Davison Hall. Due to the hard work of the monks and several lay members from the local community, the college was agriculturally independent of the local community. Fr. Bonaventure Ostendarp, O. S. B. founded the Studio of Christian Art in 1893 in order to sell paintings to local Catholic churches throughout the region. The current Raphael House of the Courts dorms was the original art studio for the monks, built in 1895.
The Benedictines who established Saint Anselm founded a preparatory school, as well. The preparatory school was a prestigious boarding school for elite men from around New England
. In 1935, the monks decided to close the preparatory school to save money for the college's expansion. A notable alum of Saint Anselm Preparatory was Connecticut Senator Thomas J. Dodd
.
In 1942, Saint Anselm became one of the institutions selected by the War Department for training of Army Aviation cadets. Thousands of young men were sent to the college to receive training and education before entering World War II. Cadets trained on large open fields which were located directly behind the present-day Coffee Shop. The U.S. government paid the college for training the cadets, and after the war, the college acquired two prefabricated government buildings which have been transformed into the modern-day Coffee Shop and bookstore. During World War II, several members of the monastic community served as Army chaplains
; their names are inscribed on a monument in front of Alumni Hall dedicated to all graduates who have served in the armed forces. Also inscribed on the monument is the Latin and English versions of the Benedictine community's song. For more information see Saint Anselm Abbey Community Song
Saint Anselm came out of the tumultuous decade of the 1960s with no major disturbances or riots on campus despite various bomb threats called into campus, often from parties outside the college. Fr. Placidus Riley, O.S.B. successfully lead the college through these challenging times. Despite the backlash against the U.S. military on college campuses nationwide, the presence of a National Guard armory did not result in any major problems. However, in May 1970, final exams for that year were made optional as students showed support for the students of Kent State after the massacre of several unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War. Students, faculty and members of the monastic community held prayer services and rallies throughout campus after the shootings
.
The Institute of Saint Anselm Studies was founded in 2000, and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics was founded in 2001. In 2009, the college lost a notable trustee, Dominic DiMaggio, an All-Star center fielder for Boston Red Sox
who served on the college's Board of Trustees from 1978 to 2009.
, exemplified by the Princeton Review's number #17 "Most Beautiful Campus" ranking in 2011. The campus is situated in Goffstown, New Hampshire
, with a portion of the athletic fields occupying the adjoining town of Bedford
. The mailing address for students and faculty is Manchester, New Hampshire
. There are a total of 60 buildings on campus, which spans over 450 acres (1.8 km²). Since 1977, over 40 buildings have been built. The oldest building on campus is Alumni Hall, which was originally constructed in 1891, and rebuilt in 1893 after a fire; at that time, the building was the entire original school.
Within the next ten years, there are plans to change the current roads and re-route the traffic flow of the entire campus.
, an Irish-American architect from Boston. Nearing completion in February 1892, all that remained was for workers to continue to plaster the interior walls; sadly, a fire which was most likely caused by a heating stove's gate not closed completely, sparked an ember and destroyed the entire structure. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt because of the fire. The monks were forced to rebuild the college, spending considerably less money on the construction, as they had only received $55,000 from the Insurance Commissioner
of the State of New Hampshire. In an effort to save money, many bricks were salvaged from the previous structure and pieces of granite were cut from large granite rocks still visible on the current quad. In 1893, the current building that remains the center of campus was completed; the fire delayed the first academic semester by one year. To avoid the possibility of another fire, a power house was constructed separately from the building. Farmland complete with livestock, beanpoles and tomato plants lined the present-day quad and adjacent fields, as the monks were completely self-sufficient. In 1912, the bell tower (the inside is pictured to the right) and ivy were added to the building; in 1923, the college's second chapel (the first being located on the second floor at the present-day business office) was constructed as a connecting wing. Today this second chapel is the college's Chapel Arts Center, which hosts art exhibits and other cultural events. It still boasts ornate stained glass windows and painted ceilings.
Today, Alumni Hall houses faculty offices, administrative offices, the Chapel Arts Center, a women's residence hall named The Streets, and several "smart classrooms". Beneath the Chapel Arts Center is a photography lab, darkroom, and several faculty and student publication offices. Beneath "The Streets" and the bell tower are the offices of the Dean of Students, the Registrar's Office, and the Office of Residential Life. Until 1919, the college consisted solely of Alumni Hall. Before this expansion, the monks lived on the second floor and students lived on the third and fourth floors. The first floor and basement had classrooms, a library and cafeteria.
is the liturgical center of the college. It is frequently cited as the "heart of campus." The upper church allows the college community to join with the monastic community for the daily celebration of the Eucharist
and the Liturgy of the Hours
. The lower church permits smaller groups of the community to assemble for worship and houses the Lady Chapel, the Saint Basil Byzantine Chapel, the former offices of Campus Ministry (relocated to Cushing Center), and meeting rooms. The Lower Church is the location of the weekly 10 p.m. Mass held on Wednesday nights. The original monastery
was Alumni Hall. An interim monastery existed between 1919 and 1955 in what is now Joseph Hall, adjacent to Alumni Hall. The current monastery, built in 1955, is staffed with only a cook, as the monks perform all other tasks such as cleaning, maintenance and upkeep. Having four floors, including a basement, the monastery can house up to one hundred monks; as of 2010 approximately 30 rooms were filled. The President, Dean of the College and several members of the board of trustees live in the monastery, as they are practicing Benedictine monks. Since 1986, Abbot Matthew Leavy, O.S.B has been the fourth elected Abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey
. Male students frequently dine in the monastery as guests; they are required to comply with the Benedictine rule of silence while eating, which allows for contemplation and prayer. The monastery has a refectory
, a smaller guest refectory, a smaller chapel, two welcoming rooms near the main entrance and is complete with elevator access to all four floors. The monastery also serves as the mother house for the Woodside Priory School
and the abbot
serves as the spiritual father for the monk
s who live there. Saint Anselm Abbey is a member of the American-Cassinese Congregation
of the Benedictine Confederation
. Saint Anselm Abbey was originally founded from Saint Mary's Abbey
in Newark, New Jersey
.
Geisel Library's collection of over 200,000 books originated in a sack of books brought by Father Hugo Paff, O.S.B. from Saint Mary's Abbey
in Newark, New Jersey
; these books are still in the library and date back to the mid- to late-19th century. The college's first library, shaped around this initial collection, was situated on the first floor of Alumni Hall. During the early years of the college, Benedictines served as librarians on an ad hoc basis, but by 1929, Saint Anselm had its first official librarian, Father Cuthbert Redmond, O.S.B. New books were purchased under Father Edwin Davitt, O.S.B. By 1937, Saint Anselm could boast 8,000 books in several mini-libraries, as well as the main repository, by this time located on the second floor.
The college performed a self-study in 1950 that revealed the need for a larger library. Joseph Geisel, a prominent Manchester businessman, contributed $500,000 in stock, and in 1959 the college broke ground on Geisel Library; the library opened its doors in the fall of 1960. The 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) library featured reading rooms, study areas, a reference center, a music room, seating for 385 students, and space for 100,000 volumes. Two expansions, one in 1973 and the final in 1992, each increased the library's area by 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²).
is the premier performing arts center
on the campus of Saint Anselm College. The center is home to the nationally recognized humanities program, "Portraits of Human Greatness", and is also the headquarters for the student theater group, the Anselmian Abbey Players. The Anselmian Abbey Players have been a center of theater, culture and music on campus for over 60 years. This tradition began in the fall of 1949 with a production of "Career Angel". Since then, this student-run organization has enjoyed a long record of excellence. The Abbey Players offer students the opportunity to develop their artistic talents both on and off the stage, stressing the importance of self-esteem, teamwork, and leadership. The Dana Center also hosts many touring companies throughout the year.
These performances include classical theater, contemporary dance, concerts, and films. These performances attract visitors from throughout the region. On stage, international and domestic performers stage both traditional and modern programs ranging from contemporary Indian dance to Piedmont blues
to Russian classical music. The Dana Center was the site of the 2007 and 2008 presidential debates. In 2009, the Saint Anselm College Choir earned the 8th most searched college choirs under Google search.
and former Bishop of Portland, Maine, Bishop Joseph John Gerry
. At an estimated cost of $2.5 million, Joseph Hall has a Bloomberg trading room, where business students learn to use a Bloomberg terminal
for real-time tracking of financial markets. Constructed in 1919, Joseph Hall served as the first monastery outside of Alumni Hall for over 100 Benedictine monks. In 1955, when the current abbey
was built, the Sisters of Saint Joan of Arc, from Quebec, Canada moved in from Bradley House (across campus), and the building was renamed the "Saint Joan of Arc Convent." Their departure in 2008 ended over 50 years of service to the college, as the sisters were cooks, seamstresses and performed other domestic services for the monastic community.
was limited on campus, as students have had to resort to their own methods of recycling containers and other recyclables in dorms. The college is located in an area that offers single-stream recycling
—paper, plastics (1–7), glass, and aluminum can go in a single bin. Recycling is available at the library, ARC, Weiler Computer Lab, and several other spots around campus; there are two recycling bins in Davison Hall. Some steps have been taken to green the college. The new gym, for example, has light sensors that do not turn on during the day, allowing natural light to warm and light the gym. However, the Coffee Shop, a popular restaurant/pub on campus, lacks any recycling; many buildings such as Cushing Center, Dana Center, the Abbey Church and Monastery lack compact fluorescent bulbs
.
An impromptu recycling program—Saint Anselm College RECYCLES—was started through the Knights of Columbus
that serves the Uppers section of campus, every Saturday, averaging around 650 pounds of material per week. In the 2010 spring semester, this plan funded by Club Soccer and the Knights of Columbus provided over fifty recycle bins, purchased from the city of Providence, Rhode Island
. In the spring of 2010, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics installed seven recycling bins throughout its facilities. Inspired by this student-led activity, the college's physical plant purchased 120 bins for all of the apartments in the Uppers, Lowers and Falvey and Collins Houses. In the fall of 2010, Physical Plant installed 5 Waste Management
recycling dumpsters throughout campus. Campus Wide Recycling is planned by 2013.
On May 22, 2010, Saint Anselm had its first "Green Graduation." A proposal submitted by the three student founders of Saint Anselm College RECYCLES, Eric Ricci, Ryan McCarty, and Kevin McIntyre was accepted by the executive vice president of the college, Dr. Suzanne Mellon. Programs were printed on recycled paper, recycling containers were available for usage on the quad, plastic cups replaced bottled water and water canisters replaced the large amounts of plastic required in previous years.
and culminating in the 1960s with the struggle for racial equality and the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Twice a week, lectures serve as a place for students to listen and take notes; biweekly seminars follow the day after the lecture, as students have been assigned readings about the unit and are able to discuss and debate the topic in a classroom of 20 students or fewer.
By studying the humanities, comprising art, science, literature, philosophy, and theology, faculty and students attempt to understand profound issues, specifically focusing on the human condition. In addition, three philosophy
and three theology
courses are required in order for a student to graduate. Two out of the three required courses for philosophy are "Nature and the Human Person", which details the philosophy and psyche of the human being; "Ethics"
, which discusses issues ranging from medical to sexual ethics; and an elective of the student's choosing. One of the required theology courses is "Biblical Theology", which is an overview of the Old
and New Testament
s of the Bible
.
While the college does not have an established "Honor Code
", like Davidson College
, there is a "faith based honor code", which requires students to remain faithful to the college's mission, faith and identity.
trend at many of America's college's and universities. At Saint Anselm, the top 25% of the class has a 3.1 GPA; the median grade at the college is around a 2.5 GPA. While the Dean's List at most schools begin at a 3.5 GPA, Saint Anselm awards students with the honor at a 3.0 GPA. According to a 2006 Fox News article, former Dean of the College Father Peter Guerin, O.S.B. is quoted as saying that today's "parents may view universities as a consumer market in which they're in a way paying for the diploma
.... Students who attend class on a regular basis and are paying tuition feel that they should be receiving that A, even if they have not deserved it." Some professors and administrators believe that inflating grades makes it harder for students to realize their academic strengths and weaknesses and may encourage students to take classes based on grade expectations. The practice also makes it harder for parents and students to determine whether or not the grade was earned. A curriculum committee was set up in 1980 to meet with the academic dean and review the grading polices on a monthly basis. The current president of the college, Father Jonathan DeFelice
, is quoted as saying, "I cannot speak for everyone, but if I'm headed for the operating room, I will take the surgeon who earned his or her 'A' the honest way".
area. The college's Office of Admission and Financial Aid presents Saint Anselm as a "place where learning, investigating, and discussing the ideas that shape the world, does not end once class is over" and is dedicated to intellectual and cultural growth. The student body is chosen not only for their academic abilities, but also for their personal character. The selection process is composed of a comprehensive review of the applicant's high school
transcript to determine whether he or she has taken the most challenging courses, personal recommendations from teachers and guidance counselor, an essay, and extracurricular involvement. As of 2010, SAT
/ACT scores are optional for applicants. The acceptance rate is 67%, and labeled "selective" by US News and World Report. The college's applicant pool is relatively small, around 3500 students, and the retention rate of Saint Anselm students from freshman to sophomore year is 76%. The average accepted high school GPA is a 3.2 on a scale of 4, ACT scores are around a 26 and average SAT scores are 559 for Critical Reading and 556 for Math.
's judged as offering the best value. The Princeton Review
's Best 373 Colleges publication has described Saint Anselm as "one of the country's best institutions for undergraduate education". The Princeton Review describes the college as academically challenging, but rewarding, with "passionate professors" who make time to work individually with students. The college was also cited for providing opportunities for community and political engagement on its "absolutely gorgeous" campus; a campus which earned the school the #17 "Most Beautiful Campus" ranking. In 2011, the college was ranked #11 in the nation for the quality of food. The college was ranked seventeenth on The Princeton Review
's list of "Most Religious Students" and was named one of the country's "Colleges with Conscience" by U.S. News & World Report
. The Washington Monthly
ranked Saint Anselm College 153rd among "Liberal Arts Colleges" in 2011. In 2009, the Saint Anselm College Choir earned the 8th most searched college choirs under Google search. In 2001, USNWR ranked Saint Anselm as #3 on the list of "Most Comprehensive Bachelor's Program".
, Biology
, Business
, Chemistry
, Classics
, Computer Science
, Criminal Justice
, Economics
, English
, Environmental Science
, Finance
, Fine Arts, French, History
, Liberal Arts
and Engineering
, Liberal Studies in the Great Books
, Mathematics
, Natural Science
, Nursing
, Philosophy
, Politics
, Psychology
, Sociology
, Spanish, Theology
, International Business
, International Relations
, Physics
, and Education
.
In addition to the one major required for graduation, students can also pursue as many minors as their course schedule allows.
Awarded to a limited number of students, the courses required for a minor are fulfilled through a student's elective courses. Saint Anselm offers the following minors: Asian Studies
, Catholic Studies, Communication
, Computational Physical Science
, Education, Environmental Studies
, Fine Arts, Forensics
, French, German
, Gender Studies
, Greek, Human Relations and Work, International Studies, Latin
, Latin American Studies
, Medieval Studies
, Neuroscience
, Public Policy
Studies, Russian Area Studies
, Spanish, Sports Studies, and Web Design
.
that is designed to create a biomedical research network in New Hampshire
. The money will benefit research training and experience for dozens of students of the Biology
and Psychology
departments. Professor Daniel Broek, Ph.D., of the biology department, and professors' Joseph Troisi, Ph.D., and Adam Wenzel, Ph.D., of the Psychology department will use the money to conduct primary research projects.
. Invitations from these societies are organized through each academic department, as students are usually invited membership by junior or senior year.
Delta Epsilon Sigma
, the Catholic equivalent to Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest honor society at the College. Open to all majors, the Tau Chapter, founded in 1940 accepts only forty members from the senior and junior classes.
Other societies include, Delta Sigma Rho, international social science honor society Pi Gamma Mu
, history honor society Phi Alpha Theta
, economics honor society Omicron Delta Epsilon
, nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau
, Spanish language honor society Sigma Delta Pi
, French honor society Pi Delta Phi
, psychology honor society Psi Chi
, politics honor society Pi Sigma Alpha
, and biology honor society Beta Beta Beta.
The Dean's List of Scholars is an internal honor society accepting students that fulfill its requirements of a 3.0 semester GPA in at least five classes. Only the top 25% of the school generally qualifies for the list. Members receive a card of congratulations, signed by the Dean of the College.
Latin Honors
upon graduation are
for the annual honors convocation. The senior academic honors convocation begins with an invocation, said by the Abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey, and is followed by the conferral of academic awards, read by the Dean of the College. Virtually every academic department has an award to present to a senior of that major. Next the President of the college awards each Summa Cum Laude graduate; within this elite group the Chancellor's medal is awarded to the graduate with the highest academic grade point average.
The convocation is followed by the celebration of the Eucharist during a Roman Catholic Mass, which includes a homily delivered by the Abbot. The mass concludes with the singing of the Saint Anselm College Anthem as each graduand
exits the church to meet their family and friends outside of the church and on the surrounding grounds for photographs and a reception in the Carr Center.
The Saint Anselm College Anthem was written by Father Augustine Kelly, O.S.B., Dean of the College, and composed by Father Bede Camera, O.S.B., director of the Saint Anselm College Choir. It is sung at the conclusion of the Eucharist during Orientation, Opening of the school year, Family Weekend, Baccalaureate Mass, and the final 7 p.m. Mass of each semester by the Saint Anselm College Choir. The text is as follows:
. If the weather is inclement, commencement takes place in the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. The academic processional of the College's Mace, color guard, graduands, members of the monastic community, and the faculty can take over twenty minutes. The national anthem is performed by a student or students selected. The performer is usually a member of the Saint Anselm College Choir. Next, a student selected by the administration delivers the coveted student address that he/she submitted for consideration. This is followed by the College President's Address. The faculty award of the year from the Saint Anselm College Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
is presented to a deserving faculty member. The student award for service and citizenship is presented to a community service-minded senior in recognition for an outstanding community project. This award is not given every year, only when there is consensus among administration that a particular student is deserving. Honorary doctorates are then conferred among selected honorary degree recipients. After the keynote address by one of the honorary degree recipients, the graduates are awarded their degrees of Bachelors of Arts or Bachelors of Science
. After the benediction
, graduates flip their graduation tassel to the opposite side of their cap and process out to the recessional song as the Abbey bells resound throughout campus. Finally, family and friends meet with the new graduates to take photographs.
The academic costume worn by graduates consists of a gown, hood, and cap. Graduates have short pointed sleeves and a three foot hood lined with the college's blue and white colors. Honor cords or sashes are not allowed to be worn during the ceremony; this rule has come under fire in recent years. Dress of the faculty differs from the graduates as the colors of their caps and gowns are dependent on the professors' alma mater
. The Saint Anselm College Mace
was hand carved from black walnut
, and designed and executed by the Trappist
monks of St. Joseph's Abbey
. One of its striking features is the cross surmounting the mace, which is patterned after the cross of Saint Anselm Abbey Church; another is the seal of the college, mounted on the round head of the mace. Encircling the shield is the legend Sigillum Collegii Sancti Anselmi - 1889, meaning Seal of Saint Anselm College. The diploma measures 16" x 19" and is written in Latin
. The following is a translation of the Latin text which appears on the diploma.
. It holds membership in the Association of American Colleges and Universities
, the American Council on Education
, the National Catholic Educational Association
, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
. Saint Anselm is a member of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities, as Father Jonathan DeFelice
was a co-founder of this organization in 1993. Saint Anselm is on the approved list of the American Chemical Society
and of the New Hampshire State Board of Education for teacher training. The baccalaureate
program in nursing
is fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
and fully approved by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing. The Department of Nursing
is a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs of the National League for Nursing and the Nightingale Society. The Continuing Nursing Education program is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
, political editor of The Atlantic, described the role Saint Anselm plays in national politics by saying, "no one runs for president without speaking at St. A's New Hampshire Institute of Politics."
For over the past forty years, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) has played host to hundreds of presidential aspirants that have delivered policy speeches at Saint Anselm College. It was founded on the basis that "educated and engaged citizens are vital for a healthy democracy." The NHIOP houses the Politics department, as well as providing classroom space for use by all departments. The institute is credited with raising the national profile of the college by incorporating the college in the New Hampshire primary
, the first primary
of the United States presidential election
.
The Institute was founded in 2001 through a nine million dollar grant which was secured by then U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
. The idea of the Institute came from a series of conversations between Professors Kuehne and Manuel of the politics department and assistant vice president Anne Botteri. All involved believed in the potential that the college could harness from the New Hampshire primary
through the college's traditions and location. In December 1995, Fr. Jonathan DeFelice
asked Professor Manuel, as chairman of the politics department, to chair a committee to study the question and to make recommendations. A proposal was presented to the board of trustees by fellow trustee and former Massachusetts Senate president Kevin B. Harrington
. Passing by a unanimous vote, the Institute was constructed in 2000 and dedicated on September 7, 2001.
The Institute consists of a 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) building built in 2001. The Institute contains six classrooms, four seminar rooms, an auditorium, television studio, offices for the college's department of politics and Institute administration, the Common Ground cafe, a research center, and a computer lab. All of the classrooms are "smart classrooms" equipped with interactive whiteboards, LCD projectors, and built in audio and video equipment. The television studio is the only live video production and broadcast studio in the Greater Manchester area. Television journalists can interview individuals, including Saint Anselm's experts, politicians, business and civic leaders, remotely from the studio without requiring a TV crew on site or the source to travel to the network. Operated in partnership with VideoLink, the studio is equipped with ReadyCam technology that allows VideoLink to control the camera and lighting remotely from their Boston headquarters.
The Washington Post
recently referred to Saint Anselm College as "the Benedictine
college with a box seat on America's
most riveting political theater", as the college
and institute have both played major roles in the New Hampshire primary. CNN
contributor and former Harvard Institute of Politics
chair Jennifer Donahue
was the institute's political director from 2002 to 2009. The current director of the institute is Neil Levesque.
Steve Scully
, host, senior producer, and political editor of C-SPAN
s Washington Journal
, is among the directors of the institute.
The Kevin B. Harrington
Student Ambassador Program is an academic program through the New Hampshire Institute of Politics; it is named after the late Massachusetts State Senator Kevin B. Harrington
, who was a member of the Saint Anselm College Board of Trustees and an instrumental force in the creation of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics itself. Student Ambassadors play an important role in supporting special events, giving tours of the institute, welcoming and introducing presidential and congressional candidates, public figures and a range of scholars who headline the institute's special events and public programs.
The Public Advisory Board, established by Father Jonathan DeFelice
in 2008 seeks to help the Institute expand its role in both state and national dialogues. Board members include U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
(Chair), former United States Congressman Paul Hodes
, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner (Vice-Chair), 2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker, Jr.
, Time magazine's Mark Halperin
, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte
, and John Bridgeland
, member of the White House Council for Community Solutions.
nomination in the 2004 presidential election
, and served as the Primary headquarters for the Fox News Network. Similarly, in June 2007 the college hosted two national debates, sponsored by CNN
, for candidates of the Republican
and Democratic Party
. In 2008, the college hosted the back-to-back ABC
/Facebook
/WMUR debates on January 5, 2008. Saint Anselm College students volunteered and became "runners" for the Fox News, CNN
and ABC
debates; students have had the unique opportunity to meet many Presidential candidates and media personalities. In his welcoming address to the class of 2012, President Father Jonathan DeFelice
said, "Almost from the first day of classes you will have the opportunity that many other college students will not have – to meet candidates and media experts, political reporters and analysts from all over our country."
On April 28, 2011, the college announced it would partner with CNN
, WMUR, and the New Hampshire Union Leader to host the first Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire on June 13, 2011.
and former presidents of the United States George W. Bush
, Bill Clinton
, George H. W. Bush
, Ronald Reagan
, Gerald Ford
, Richard Nixon
, and John F. Kennedy
.
President John F. Kennedy
gave a historic speech at Saint Anselm College on March 5, 1960, regarding America's conduct in the new realities of the emerging Cold War. The speech was the first time that Kennedy detailed how American foreign policy should be conducted towards African nations, noting a hint of support for modern African nationalism by saying, "for we, too, founded a new nation on revolt from colonial rule." According to a Time magazine
article from February 8, 1960,
The day after declaring his candidacy for the 1968 election, President Richard Nixon
's first stop was at Saint Anselm College where a reception was held. At the college, on February 3, 1968, Nixon unveiled his campaign strategy regarding the Vietnam War by saying, "let's help them fight the war, and not fight the war for them." The ramifications of this policy, first voiced at the college had a profound effect on the 1968 presidential campaign
and the war in Vietnam
.
. In the weeks before the 2008 election
, John McCain
's comeback campaign
returned to New Hampshire
where McCain
held a rally in Sullivan arena in front of a crowd of over two thousand students, faculty, staff and visitors from the community. A group of eight students painted the word "M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K" across their chests and lined up next to each other atop the stands behind McCain.
In March 2010, the former head of the U.S. Central Command and four star U.S. Army General
David Petraeus
lectured at the Dana Center for the Humanities through a NHIOP sponsored program; the change of venue was required because the Institute's auditorium could not accommodate the six hundred plus students, faculty and staff in attendance. This lecture in particular generated national media attention as rumors spread about Petraeus
planning to run for the 2012 presidential election. Petraeus highlighted how America has begun to implement the same counter insurgency strategy which worked in Iraq to Afghanistan
.
The following candidates have participated in one of the many national debates held by the college over the years – the current President of the United States
Barack Obama
, former New York senator Hillary Clinton, Arizona senator John McCain
, Kansas senator Sam Brownback
, former Alaska senator Mike Gravel
, Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman
, former Democratic nominee for the 2004 election, John Kerry
, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney
, former Vermont governor Howard Dean
, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee
, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich
, Congressman Ron Paul
, Ralph Nader
, General Wesley Clark
and many more.
Former Republican candidate Sam Brownback
's visit attracted the negative attention of the national media as the image of Brownback at the podium speaking to a mostly empty room epitomized his failing candidacy. In 1972, the eventual Democratic nominee for United States presidential election George McGovern
visited the college and after his speech jokingly declared he would become a vice presidential candidate, as he was clearly the front runner.
Inside the Institute's main hallway hangs over one hundred images that represent the college's role in the political process; former Missouri congressman Richard Gephardt once recognized a picture of an elderly woman holding a sign "Gephardt for President" in a rather emotional moment as his own mother. It is not uncommon to run into current New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen
or then-senator John E. Sununu
, New Hampshire governor John Lynch, former New Hampshire governors Judd Gregg
, Craig Benson
and Steve Merrill
in the hallways, guest lecturing in classrooms or leaving the politics department after conversing with faculty; some faculty are politicians – New Hampshire Senator Lou D'Allesandro
is a faculty member of the politics department.
Many of the modern media personalities have lectured at the institute on topics ranging from their predictions during the 2008 New Hampshire primary
to hosting live campaign coverage on the quad, as seen in the image to the right. Fox News Channel
's Brit Hume
and Christopher Wallace
both reported live from the "Fox-Box" in both 2004 and 2008 as Alumni Hall served as a backdrop for the primary. The former anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, Peter Jennings
had reported live from the north side of Alumni Hall during nightly broadcasts of his show during the primary. CNN
's well known personality Wolf Blitzer
was the moderator for the national 2007 debates held in the college's Sullivan Arena., ABC News
correspondent and television personality Barbara Walters
has visited the college on several occasions, hosting the presidential national debate in 1984. Bob Schieffer
, the host of CBS
's Face The Nation
broadcast live from, "historic Saint Anselm College's Alumni Hall" in June 2007 to interview then candidate John Edwards
and his former wife Elizabeth Edwards
; in addition to this interview, Mr. Edwards has visited the college on numerous campaign stops talking with students and dropping by classrooms in the institute building.
Journalists who work for many major media outlets stop by the college in the years between the primary when in the area. Time magazine's editor-at-large and political analyst Mark Halperin
is one of twenty or so members of the Public Advisory Board set up by the President of the college, Father Jonathan DeFelice
Washington Post columnist, and Senior Research Fellow E. J. Dionne
lectured in 2007 at the Institute and spoke during an American Government politics class. and Senior editor of the Weekly Standard William Kristol
.
The college has been honored with the visit of two Secretaries of State
, the former Madeleine Albright
, and the current Hillary Clinton.
community. Since 1989, the Meelia Center has allowed Saint Anselm College students to mobilize their talents and energies to assist 14 community partnerships and more than 30 other community service agencies throughout New Hampshire. Annually, some 850 students, faculty, and staff volunteer more than 16,000 community service hours. The Princeton Review
has described the Meelia Center as "the nerve center of Saint Anselm's bustling service community", adding that "the center, according to the school, 'employs nearly sixty student service leaders, who in turn recruit, place, and support over 200 volunteers and 210 service learners each semester who perform weekly service in over thirty community agencies. An additional 350 volunteers serve in occasional one-day service events. In 2010, the Meelia Center alone accounted for the coordination of 20,000 service hours by Saint Anselm students. New students are introduced to the service commitment through the New Student Day of Service. As part of freshman orientation, students are sent in teams of thirty to partnership sites and other community non-profit agencies. Upperclassmen work throughout the summer to organize these orientation events that involve anywhere from fifteen to twenty sites around New Hampshire
.
, basketball
, cross country
, football
, golf
, ice hockey
, lacrosse
, skiing
, soccer, tennis
, field hockey
and softball
programs open to all students. Saint Anselm's sports teams are known as the Hawks; their colors are blue and white. The Hawks participate as a member of the Northeast 10
and ECAC
conferences in most sports. Football
returned to the Hilltop in 1999 after a 58-year hiatus brought about by the onset of World War II. The college's most recent standout was Michael Geary'05, a 2003 2nd Team All NE-10 offensive lineman. One of the college's greatest athletes was Ray "Scooter" McLean
; he was coach of the Green Bay Packers
in 1953 and 1958 and an NFL player for the Chicago Bears
, winning NFL Championship Games in 1940, 1941, 1943 and 1946. The college's athletic teams are known as "The Hawks".
in 2010. The Hawks performance in that game set NE-10 records for most goals scored and largest margin of victory in a championship game. The campus has a multi-million dollar, 65000 square foot ice arena, named after Thomas F. Sullivan. It is located next to Davison Dining Hall, and has a capacity of 2,700 fans.
, Alpha Phi Omega
, Abbey Players, Campus Activities Board, Classics
Society, The History
Society, Democrats
, Republicans
, Green Team, Italian Club, Dance Club, Muslim
Student Association, Jazz
Band, Organization for Life, Mock Trial
, Psychology
Club, and Yearbook
Club. An example of the college students being active in the local community is that the Saint Anselm College Knights of Columbus
, Council 4785 in Manchester, New Hampshire
won the 2009–2010 National Community Activity Award for creating a comprehensive recycling program at the New Hampshire State Prison for Women
. The Campus Activities Board (CAB), a student-run organization, runs several committees that oversee campus-wide activities and student services. In 2008, CAB organized singer Howie Day
, in 2009, the band Third Eye Blind
performed at the college. Jason Derülo
and Matt Nathanson
performed there in 2010.
The Hilltop, founded in 2009, was an independent student newsletter. It was published bi-weekly, and sought to provide substance over entertainment and integrity over controversy, as some students had supported this publication over the "Crier." claiming the latter's quality had deteriorated. In the Fall of 2010, "The Hilltop" merged with "The Saint Anselm Crier" after an agreement was made at the urging of the "Crier's" advisor, Fr. Jerome Day, O.S.B., PhD. who claimed that Saint Anselm College is not large enough for two student newspapers. "The Hilltop's" staff agreed to become part of the "Crier's" staff and "The Saint Anselm Crier" will attempt to focus on its quality, including a page called the "The Hilltop" devoted to substantial issues.
The Saint Anselm Whiner, founded in February 2010, is an underground joke newspaper independently published by a group of anonymous students. It is published bi-weekly. The Whiner parodies The Crier and the Hilltop and lampoons various Saint Anselm College issues. The motto of the Saint Anselm Whiner is "Unreliability You Can Count On."
The Quatrain, published annually by a small group of students with the help of the English Department and the printing office, is a collection of students' poetry, short stories, and artwork (photographic and otherwise) that is collected via submissions over the course of the academic year and is freely distributed to the student population near the end of the second semester.
The Shank, published each semester, is the History Department's journal consisting exclusively of students' work. The journal is open to all students regardless of their major, as long as the paper submitted was written in a history class.
Lucubrations is the cultural magazine for the Saint Anselm Community. It publishes all forms of creative content including art, music, photography, literature, poetry, philosophy, commentary, and video from students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the college. It was founded in 2009 by student Dana Nolan (Class of 2011). It is published online at http://lucubrations.org . Submissions are published on an ongoing basis and also collected into digest issues two times a semester, for four issues per academic year. The word lucubrations is based on the Latin word lucubrare and means study by candlelight, nocturnal study or meditation, and the writings or thoughts that result.
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
, Catholic liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
in Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 17,651 at the 2010 census. The compact center of town, where 3,196 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goffstown census-designated place and is located at the...
. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey
St. Mary's Abbey Church
St. Mary's Abbey Church is a historic church at Martin Luther King Blvd and William Streets in Newark, New Jersey.Construction was completed in 1857. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972....
in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
, the college is the third-oldest Catholic college in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. Named after Saint Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
from 1093 to 1109, the college continues to have a fully functioning and independent Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
attached to it - Saint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
. According to the college, the student body is selected not only for their academic abilities but also for their personal character. The college's academic curriculum requires several 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...
and 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...
courses and the completion of a two-year nationally recognized humanities program entitled "Portraits of Human Greatness." The administration's commitment to an anti grade inflation
Grade inflation
Grade inflation is the tendency of academic grades for work of comparable quality to increase over time.It is frequently discussed in relation to U.S. education, and to GCSEs and A levels in England and Wales...
policy helped the college receive national media attention from the Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
in 2006, as well as a Tier 1 ranking from U.S. News and World Report in 2010. In 2011, Forbes Magazine ranked Saint Anselm as the 85th best college in the nation as well as the 40th in the Northeast. Offering 38 majors, as well as 23 minors, the college does not allow double majors. Student to faculty ratio is 11:1, as most classes never have over 18 students; 95% of professors hold terminal degrees.
Since the 1950s, the college has played an important role in the "first in the nation" New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
, and has served as the national stage for many future presidents, candidates, and supporters. Presidents John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
each delivered important policy speeches while at the college. The college has been home to several national presidential debates
United States presidential election debates
During presidential elections in the United States, it has become customary for the main candidates to engage in a debate...
which have attracted extensive media attention. Alumni Hall has become a familiar backdrop for the national media when reporting from the college in 2004, 2008 and most recently for the 2012 election cycle. The New Hampshire Institute of Politics, attached to the college, has released several national polls and held hundreds of campaign events throughout the last decade. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
recently referred to Saint Anselm College as "the Benedictine college with a box seat on America's most riveting political theater".
There are over 80 student organizations on campus. Established in 1989, the Meelia Center for Community Service allows students to assist the community through either a service learning component available in several courses, or volunteering with the center on their free time. In addition to community service, many students play sports at the intramural, club or NCAA Division II, Northeast Ten Conference
Northeast Ten Conference
The Northeast-10 Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division II. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont...
and Eastern College Athletic Conference
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...
levels.
The college is home to approximately 2,000 students from 31 states and 12 countries; of these students, 88% live in on-campus housing. In 2009, a multimillion dollar campaign renovated the convent (renamed Joseph Hall) and constructed a new gymnasium with a floor to ceiling glass facade. There are also plans to build a new dormitory, which will be situated at the lower entrance of campus near Brady Hall. On June 13th, 2011, the college hosted the first Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, WMUR, and the New Hampshire Union Leader
New Hampshire Union Leader
The New Hampshire Union Leader is the daily newspaper of Manchester, the largest city in the state of New Hampshire. As of September 2010 it had a daily circulation of 48,342 and the circulation of its Sunday paper, the New Hampshire Sunday News, was 63,991. It was founded in 1863.It was called...
; on January 7th, 2012, the college will host a second nationally televised debate with ABC.
History
The first bishop of ManchesterRoman Catholic Diocese of Manchester
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the region of New England in the United States comprising the entire state of New Hampshire...
, Denis Mary Bradley
Denis Mary Bradley
Denis Mary Bradley was an American Catholic priest, who became the first Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire...
, invited the Benedictine monks of St. Mary's Abbey
St. Mary's Abbey Church
St. Mary's Abbey Church is a historic church at Martin Luther King Blvd and William Streets in Newark, New Jersey.Construction was completed in 1857. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972....
in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, to form a college and preparatory school in his diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
. The monks that came to Manchester from Saint Mary's were primarily of German descent. This is due to the fact that Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
was heavily populated with French Canadian and Irish mill working immigrants. Until the monks from Saint Mary's arrived, Bishop Bradley was unable to find a suitable religious community that would not stir up ethnic tensions. The monks accepted, and founded the third Catholic college in New England. A six-year curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
in 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...
and 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...
was developed. In 1892, as Alumni Hall neared completion, a fire destroyed the college on a cold winter night in February. The fire was most likely caused from a ember from the heating stove's gate as it was not closed properly. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt because of the fire. The monks were forced to rebuild the college, spending considerably less money on the construction, as they had received only $55,000 from the Insurance Commissioner
Insurance commissioner
Insurance commissioner is an executive office in many U.S. states, some in the state cabinet. The office differs state by state:...
of the State of New Hampshire. To save money, many bricks were salvaged from the previous structure and pieces of granite were cut from large granite rocks still visible on the current quad. In 1893, the current building that remains the center of campus was completed; the fire delayed the first academic semester by one year. The monks rebuilt the college, and on October 11, 1893 the college was officially rededicated. To avoid the possibility of another fire, a power house, which today serves as the college print shop, was constructed separately from the building. Two years later, in 1895, the New Hampshire legislature
New Hampshire General Court
The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 members...
granted Saint Anselm College the right to bestow standard academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
s upon its graduates. In 1912, the bell tower and ivy were added to the building; in 1923, the college's second chapel (the first being located on the second floor at the present-day business office) was constructed as a connecting wing. The second chapel serves today as the Alva deMars Megan Chapel Arts Center.
The Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
Shield was designed by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose
Pierre de Chaignon la Rose
Pierre de Chaignon la Rose was an American heraldist and heraldic artist.-Biography:Pierre de Chaignon la Rose was born on April 23, 1871 in New York City, New York. His father was an A. F. de Chaignon la Rose, and his mother Katharine Kappus von Pichlstein...
of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. It incorporates the personal coat of Saint Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
and the first seal of the state of New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. In 1927, by a monastic vote, the shield design was incorporated as the official shield of Saint Anselm Abbey and the college. The drops in each quadrant represent the three drops of blood on Anselm's coat of arms, and the sheaf of five arrows is taken from the first shield of the State of New Hampshire, representing the five original counties of the state. Hence, the Abbey Shield has been interpreted as Saint Anselm of New Hampshire.
One goal of the early college was to be a self-sufficient institution. The college had a farm that was over 100 acre (0.404686 km²) in size, complete with chickens, pigs and cows. The farm also included a full vegetable garden which extended from the lawn of Alumni Hall to the current parking lot located between Joan of Arc Hall and Davison Hall. Due to the hard work of the monks and several lay members from the local community, the college was agriculturally independent of the local community. Fr. Bonaventure Ostendarp, O. S. B. founded the Studio of Christian Art in 1893 in order to sell paintings to local Catholic churches throughout the region. The current Raphael House of the Courts dorms was the original art studio for the monks, built in 1895.
The Benedictines who established Saint Anselm founded a preparatory school, as well. The preparatory school was a prestigious boarding school for elite men from around New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. In 1935, the monks decided to close the preparatory school to save money for the college's expansion. A notable alum of Saint Anselm Preparatory was Connecticut Senator Thomas J. Dodd
Thomas J. Dodd
Thomas Joseph Dodd was a United States Senator and Representative from Connecticut, He was the first Senator censured by the US Senate since Joseph McCarthy in 1954, and was one of only six people censured by the Senate in the 20th century. He is the father of former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd...
.
In 1942, Saint Anselm became one of the institutions selected by the War Department for training of Army Aviation cadets. Thousands of young men were sent to the college to receive training and education before entering World War II. Cadets trained on large open fields which were located directly behind the present-day Coffee Shop. The U.S. government paid the college for training the cadets, and after the war, the college acquired two prefabricated government buildings which have been transformed into the modern-day Coffee Shop and bookstore. During World War II, several members of the monastic community served as Army chaplains
Military chaplain
A military chaplain is a chaplain who ministers to soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other members of the military. In many countries, chaplains also minister to the family members of military personnel, to civilian noncombatants working for military organizations and to civilians within the...
; their names are inscribed on a monument in front of Alumni Hall dedicated to all graduates who have served in the armed forces. Also inscribed on the monument is the Latin and English versions of the Benedictine community's song. For more information see Saint Anselm Abbey Community Song
Saint Anselm came out of the tumultuous decade of the 1960s with no major disturbances or riots on campus despite various bomb threats called into campus, often from parties outside the college. Fr. Placidus Riley, O.S.B. successfully lead the college through these challenging times. Despite the backlash against the U.S. military on college campuses nationwide, the presence of a National Guard armory did not result in any major problems. However, in May 1970, final exams for that year were made optional as students showed support for the students of Kent State after the massacre of several unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War. Students, faculty and members of the monastic community held prayer services and rallies throughout campus after the shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
.
The Institute of Saint Anselm Studies was founded in 2000, and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics was founded in 2001. In 2009, the college lost a notable trustee, Dominic DiMaggio, an All-Star center fielder for Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
who served on the college's Board of Trustees from 1978 to 2009.
Campus
Saint Anselm's campus has been noted as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, exemplified by the Princeton Review's number #17 "Most Beautiful Campus" ranking in 2011. The campus is situated in Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown, New Hampshire
Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 17,651 at the 2010 census. The compact center of town, where 3,196 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goffstown census-designated place and is located at the...
, with a portion of the athletic fields occupying the adjoining town of Bedford
Bedford, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the Census of 2000, there were 18,274 people, 6,251 households, and 5,125 families residing in the town. The population density was 556.6 people per square mile . There were 6,401 housing units at an average density of 195.0 per square mile...
. The mailing address for students and faculty is Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
. There are a total of 60 buildings on campus, which spans over 450 acres (1.8 km²). Since 1977, over 40 buildings have been built. The oldest building on campus is Alumni Hall, which was originally constructed in 1891, and rebuilt in 1893 after a fire; at that time, the building was the entire original school.
Within the next ten years, there are plans to change the current roads and re-route the traffic flow of the entire campus.
Alumni Hall
Alumni Hall was constructed by the Benedictine monks and local contractors from 1891 through the winter of 1892; the building was designed by Patrick W. FordPatrick W. Ford
Patrick W. Ford was an Irish-American architect who, along with Patrick C. Keely of Brooklyn and James Murphy of Providence, Rhode Island designed many Roman Catholic churches built in the eastern part of United States through the latter half of the 19th Century.He was born in Ballincollig,...
, an Irish-American architect from Boston. Nearing completion in February 1892, all that remained was for workers to continue to plaster the interior walls; sadly, a fire which was most likely caused by a heating stove's gate not closed completely, sparked an ember and destroyed the entire structure. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt because of the fire. The monks were forced to rebuild the college, spending considerably less money on the construction, as they had only received $55,000 from the Insurance Commissioner
Insurance commissioner
Insurance commissioner is an executive office in many U.S. states, some in the state cabinet. The office differs state by state:...
of the State of New Hampshire. In an effort to save money, many bricks were salvaged from the previous structure and pieces of granite were cut from large granite rocks still visible on the current quad. In 1893, the current building that remains the center of campus was completed; the fire delayed the first academic semester by one year. To avoid the possibility of another fire, a power house was constructed separately from the building. Farmland complete with livestock, beanpoles and tomato plants lined the present-day quad and adjacent fields, as the monks were completely self-sufficient. In 1912, the bell tower (the inside is pictured to the right) and ivy were added to the building; in 1923, the college's second chapel (the first being located on the second floor at the present-day business office) was constructed as a connecting wing. Today this second chapel is the college's Chapel Arts Center, which hosts art exhibits and other cultural events. It still boasts ornate stained glass windows and painted ceilings.
Today, Alumni Hall houses faculty offices, administrative offices, the Chapel Arts Center, a women's residence hall named The Streets, and several "smart classrooms". Beneath the Chapel Arts Center is a photography lab, darkroom, and several faculty and student publication offices. Beneath "The Streets" and the bell tower are the offices of the Dean of Students, the Registrar's Office, and the Office of Residential Life. Until 1919, the college consisted solely of Alumni Hall. Before this expansion, the monks lived on the second floor and students lived on the third and fourth floors. The first floor and basement had classrooms, a library and cafeteria.
Saint Anselm Abbey Church and monastery
The Abbey ChurchSaint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
is the liturgical center of the college. It is frequently cited as the "heart of campus." The upper church allows the college community to join with the monastic community for the daily celebration of the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and the Liturgy of the Hours
Liturgy of the hours
The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the clergy, religious orders, and laity. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns and readings...
. The lower church permits smaller groups of the community to assemble for worship and houses the Lady Chapel, the Saint Basil Byzantine Chapel, the former offices of Campus Ministry (relocated to Cushing Center), and meeting rooms. The Lower Church is the location of the weekly 10 p.m. Mass held on Wednesday nights. The original monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
was Alumni Hall. An interim monastery existed between 1919 and 1955 in what is now Joseph Hall, adjacent to Alumni Hall. The current monastery, built in 1955, is staffed with only a cook, as the monks perform all other tasks such as cleaning, maintenance and upkeep. Having four floors, including a basement, the monastery can house up to one hundred monks; as of 2010 approximately 30 rooms were filled. The President, Dean of the College and several members of the board of trustees live in the monastery, as they are practicing Benedictine monks. Since 1986, Abbot Matthew Leavy, O.S.B has been the fourth elected Abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
. Male students frequently dine in the monastery as guests; they are required to comply with the Benedictine rule of silence while eating, which allows for contemplation and prayer. The monastery has a refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
, a smaller guest refectory, a smaller chapel, two welcoming rooms near the main entrance and is complete with elevator access to all four floors. The monastery also serves as the mother house for the Woodside Priory School
Woodside Priory School
The Woodside Priory School, sometimes known as The Priory, is an independent, coeducational, Roman Catholic, college preparatory, day and boarding school in the Benedictine tradition located in Portola Valley, California in the United States...
and the abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
serves as the spiritual father for the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s who live there. Saint Anselm Abbey is a member of the American-Cassinese Congregation
American-Cassinese Congregation
Founded 1855, the American-Cassinese Congregation is a Catholic association of Benedictine monasteries in the Benedictine ConfederationThe Congregation consists of 20 independent monasteries with houses or dependencies in 16 of the United States, Puerto Rico, and in six other countries on three...
of the Benedictine Confederation
Benedictine Confederation
The Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict is the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict.-Origin:...
. Saint Anselm Abbey was originally founded from Saint Mary's Abbey
St. Mary's Abbey Church
St. Mary's Abbey Church is a historic church at Martin Luther King Blvd and William Streets in Newark, New Jersey.Construction was completed in 1857. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972....
in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
.
Geisel Library
The Saint Anselm College Geisel Library has three floors and over 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of space housing books, resources and electronic equipment. The library is complete with several reference desks, over 30 computers, and the Institute of Saint Anselm Studies. On the second floor, there are three enclosed study areas; two are group study rooms that are available for student use, and the third is named the Creaghe Room, a locked, faculty-only study.Geisel Library's collection of over 200,000 books originated in a sack of books brought by Father Hugo Paff, O.S.B. from Saint Mary's Abbey
St. Mary's Abbey Church
St. Mary's Abbey Church is a historic church at Martin Luther King Blvd and William Streets in Newark, New Jersey.Construction was completed in 1857. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972....
in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
; these books are still in the library and date back to the mid- to late-19th century. The college's first library, shaped around this initial collection, was situated on the first floor of Alumni Hall. During the early years of the college, Benedictines served as librarians on an ad hoc basis, but by 1929, Saint Anselm had its first official librarian, Father Cuthbert Redmond, O.S.B. New books were purchased under Father Edwin Davitt, O.S.B. By 1937, Saint Anselm could boast 8,000 books in several mini-libraries, as well as the main repository, by this time located on the second floor.
The college performed a self-study in 1950 that revealed the need for a larger library. Joseph Geisel, a prominent Manchester businessman, contributed $500,000 in stock, and in 1959 the college broke ground on Geisel Library; the library opened its doors in the fall of 1960. The 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) library featured reading rooms, study areas, a reference center, a music room, seating for 385 students, and space for 100,000 volumes. Two expansions, one in 1973 and the final in 1992, each increased the library's area by 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²).
Performing Arts – Dana Center
The Dana Center for the HumanitiesHumanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
is the premier performing arts center
Performing arts center
Performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is used to refer to* A multi-use performance space that is intended for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre....
on the campus of Saint Anselm College. The center is home to the nationally recognized humanities program, "Portraits of Human Greatness", and is also the headquarters for the student theater group, the Anselmian Abbey Players. The Anselmian Abbey Players have been a center of theater, culture and music on campus for over 60 years. This tradition began in the fall of 1949 with a production of "Career Angel". Since then, this student-run organization has enjoyed a long record of excellence. The Abbey Players offer students the opportunity to develop their artistic talents both on and off the stage, stressing the importance of self-esteem, teamwork, and leadership. The Dana Center also hosts many touring companies throughout the year.
These performances include classical theater, contemporary dance, concerts, and films. These performances attract visitors from throughout the region. On stage, international and domestic performers stage both traditional and modern programs ranging from contemporary Indian dance to Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger,...
to Russian classical music. The Dana Center was the site of the 2007 and 2008 presidential debates. In 2009, the Saint Anselm College Choir earned the 8th most searched college choirs under Google search.
Residence halls
33 buildings on campus are devoted to student housing, with approximately 95% of the student body living on campus. The majority of freshman males live in Dominic Hall, while most freshman females reside in either Joan of Arc Hall (commonly referred to as JOA) or Baroody Hall. Dominic Hall is a freshman dorm, located adjacent to the Coffee Shop and in close proximity to Alumni Hall and Bradley House. Dominic Hall houses over 205 students, offering mostly doubles, very few singles and several "quads", or four-person rooms. Dominic is affectionately nicknamed "Dirty Dom"; however, new lights, windows, doors and ceiling tiles have been installed and the custodial staff cleans the hallways and communal bathrooms six days a week. Joan of Arc is a female freshman residence hall where double-type rooms predominate. However, freshmen may be placed in any residence hall on campus. The Lowers are located near the NHIOP at the bottom of Saint Anselm Drive; these apartments were built in the mid 1990s and have a kitchen, one and a half bathrooms, a family room and bedrooms. A similar setup is available in the Uppers; however, these dorms are slightly newer and are the favorite of seniors because they are located closer to central campus. Traditionally, residence halls have been single sex, though this began to change in the 2007–2008 academic year, when Brady Hall had female residents on its third floor while the bottom two floors were male. Hilary, Bertrand and Brady Halls are some of the largest on campus, as they can house over 120 students each. Holy Cross Hall, formerly named Building M has mostly singles and very few doubles; these rooms connect to a central hallway, two bathrooms and a large common room to form a "Pod".Joseph Hall
The campus had a facelift in 2009, as new faculty offices and instructional spaces were created within the newly renovated Saint Joan of Arc Convent, which is now known as Joseph Hall. Joseph Hall is named after the third Abbot of Saint Anselm AbbeySaint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
and former Bishop of Portland, Maine, Bishop Joseph John Gerry
Joseph John Gerry
Joseph John Gerry, O.S.B., is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Portland from 1989 to 2004.-Biography:...
. At an estimated cost of $2.5 million, Joseph Hall has a Bloomberg trading room, where business students learn to use a Bloomberg terminal
Bloomberg Terminal
The Bloomberg Terminal is a computer system provided by Bloomberg L.P. that enables financial professionals to access the Bloomberg Professional service through which users can monitor and analyze real-time financial market data movements and place trades on the electronic trading platform...
for real-time tracking of financial markets. Constructed in 1919, Joseph Hall served as the first monastery outside of Alumni Hall for over 100 Benedictine monks. In 1955, when the current abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
was built, the Sisters of Saint Joan of Arc, from Quebec, Canada moved in from Bradley House (across campus), and the building was renamed the "Saint Joan of Arc Convent." Their departure in 2008 ended over 50 years of service to the college, as the sisters were cooks, seamstresses and performed other domestic services for the monastic community.
Carr Center
The college opened a $2 million, 9000 square feet (836.1 m²) fitness center in February 2009. The addition to Carr is a three-story glass center, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the baseball and football fields, constructed on the south side of the building. The additions brought 37 cardiovascular machines, 39 strength pieces and 7,000 pounds of weights. Connecting to the addition are three indoor basketball/tennis courts equipped with scoreboards and a sound system. The basement of Carr has the varsity gym, football locker room, general locker rooms and administrative offices for the athletic department.Proposed new residence hall
A new dormitory has been proposed, to be built when finances and enrollment allow; the project is expected to cost over $9.5 million and is to be situated near the lower entrance of campus in back of Brady Hall. The dorm will be able to hold 150 students, and will expand the residential options for undergraduates and is intended to eliminate the need for triple occupancy rooms. The residence hall, which will provide suite-style living with singles and doubles as well as common study and leisure spaces, as well as recycling and trash receptacles in a common space.Environmental responsibility
Saint Anselm College RECYCLES was a greening movement which started on campus in 2009. Up to that time, recyclingRecycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
was limited on campus, as students have had to resort to their own methods of recycling containers and other recyclables in dorms. The college is located in an area that offers single-stream recycling
Single-stream recycling
Single stream recycling refers to a system in which all paper fibers, plastics, metals, and other containers are mixed together in a collection truck, instead of being sorted into separate commodities by the resident and handled separately throughout the collection...
—paper, plastics (1–7), glass, and aluminum can go in a single bin. Recycling is available at the library, ARC, Weiler Computer Lab, and several other spots around campus; there are two recycling bins in Davison Hall. Some steps have been taken to green the college. The new gym, for example, has light sensors that do not turn on during the day, allowing natural light to warm and light the gym. However, the Coffee Shop, a popular restaurant/pub on campus, lacks any recycling; many buildings such as Cushing Center, Dana Center, the Abbey Church and Monastery lack compact fluorescent bulbs
Compact fluorescent lamp
A compact fluorescent lamp , also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light, and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent lamp; some types fit into light fixtures formerly used for incandescent lamps...
.
An impromptu recycling program—Saint Anselm College RECYCLES—was started through the 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....
that serves the Uppers section of campus, every Saturday, averaging around 650 pounds of material per week. In the 2010 spring semester, this plan funded by Club Soccer and the Knights of Columbus provided over fifty recycle bins, purchased from the city of Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. In the spring of 2010, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics installed seven recycling bins throughout its facilities. Inspired by this student-led activity, the college's physical plant purchased 120 bins for all of the apartments in the Uppers, Lowers and Falvey and Collins Houses. In the fall of 2010, Physical Plant installed 5 Waste Management
Waste Management, Inc
Waste Management, Inc. is a waste management, comprehensive waste, and environmental services company in North America. Founded in 1894, the company is headquartered in Suite 4000 at the First City Tower in Downtown Houston, Texas, in the United States....
recycling dumpsters throughout campus. Campus Wide Recycling is planned by 2013.
On May 22, 2010, Saint Anselm had its first "Green Graduation." A proposal submitted by the three student founders of Saint Anselm College RECYCLES, Eric Ricci, Ryan McCarty, and Kevin McIntyre was accepted by the executive vice president of the college, Dr. Suzanne Mellon. Programs were printed on recycled paper, recycling containers were available for usage on the quad, plastic cups replaced bottled water and water canisters replaced the large amounts of plastic required in previous years.
Academics
According to the college website, Saint Anselm "seeks to help you develop into a precise and critical thinker, articulate and clear communicator, and an active and compassionate citizen." Saint Anselm requires completion of a nationally recognized two-year Humanities program. The "Portraits of Human Greatness" program begins freshman year and ends sophomore year. Seeking to develop a well-rounded person, the program's fields of study change every two weeks, beginning with the civilization of ancient GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and culminating in the 1960s with the struggle for racial equality and the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
Twice a week, lectures serve as a place for students to listen and take notes; biweekly seminars follow the day after the lecture, as students have been assigned readings about the unit and are able to discuss and debate the topic in a classroom of 20 students or fewer.
By studying the humanities, comprising art, science, literature, philosophy, and theology, faculty and students attempt to understand profound issues, specifically focusing on the human condition. In addition, three 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...
and three 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...
courses are required in order for a student to graduate. Two out of the three required courses for philosophy are "Nature and the Human Person", which details the philosophy and psyche of the human being; "Ethics"
, which discusses issues ranging from medical to sexual ethics; and an elective of the student's choosing. One of the required theology courses is "Biblical Theology", which is an overview of the Old
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
and New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
s of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
.
While the college does not have an established "Honor Code
Honor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...
", like Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
, there is a "faith based honor code", which requires students to remain faithful to the college's mission, faith and identity.
Anti-grade inflation policy
Saint Anselm College has resisted what the college sees as the grade inflationGrade inflation
Grade inflation is the tendency of academic grades for work of comparable quality to increase over time.It is frequently discussed in relation to U.S. education, and to GCSEs and A levels in England and Wales...
trend at many of America's college's and universities. At Saint Anselm, the top 25% of the class has a 3.1 GPA; the median grade at the college is around a 2.5 GPA. While the Dean's List at most schools begin at a 3.5 GPA, Saint Anselm awards students with the honor at a 3.0 GPA. According to a 2006 Fox News article, former Dean of the College Father Peter Guerin, O.S.B. is quoted as saying that today's "parents may view universities as a consumer market in which they're in a way paying for the diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
.... Students who attend class on a regular basis and are paying tuition feel that they should be receiving that A, even if they have not deserved it." Some professors and administrators believe that inflating grades makes it harder for students to realize their academic strengths and weaknesses and may encourage students to take classes based on grade expectations. The practice also makes it harder for parents and students to determine whether or not the grade was earned. A curriculum committee was set up in 1980 to meet with the academic dean and review the grading polices on a monthly basis. The current president of the college, Father Jonathan DeFelice
Jonathan DeFelice
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. is the President of New England's third oldest Catholic college, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Growing up in Bristol, Rhode Island, he graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1965, and then attended Saint Anselm College, earning a bachelors...
, is quoted as saying, "I cannot speak for everyone, but if I'm headed for the operating room, I will take the surgeon who earned his or her 'A' the honest way".
Admissions profile
The majority of the applicant pool is from the New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
area. The college's Office of Admission and Financial Aid presents Saint Anselm as a "place where learning, investigating, and discussing the ideas that shape the world, does not end once class is over" and is dedicated to intellectual and cultural growth. The student body is chosen not only for their academic abilities, but also for their personal character. The selection process is composed of a comprehensive review of the applicant's high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
transcript to determine whether he or she has taken the most challenging courses, personal recommendations from teachers and guidance counselor, an essay, and extracurricular involvement. As of 2010, SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
/ACT scores are optional for applicants. The acceptance rate is 67%, and labeled "selective" by US News and World Report. The college's applicant pool is relatively small, around 3500 students, and the retention rate of Saint Anselm students from freshman to sophomore year is 76%. The average accepted high school GPA is a 3.2 on a scale of 4, ACT scores are around a 26 and average SAT scores are 559 for Critical Reading and 556 for Math.
Rankings
In 2011, Forbes Magazine ranked Saint Anselm as the 85th best college in the United States as well as 76th for private college and 40th in the Northeast. U.S. News and World Report's 2011 College rankings had Saint Anselm ranked as a Tier 1 school, the highest level of rankings at # 139 in the nation. In 2011, Saint Anselm was listed # 100 among national liberal arts institutions that KiplingerKiplinger
Kiplinger is a Washington, D.C.-based publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice, available in print, online, audio, video and software products ....
's judged as offering the best value. The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
's Best 373 Colleges publication has described Saint Anselm as "one of the country's best institutions for undergraduate education". The Princeton Review describes the college as academically challenging, but rewarding, with "passionate professors" who make time to work individually with students. The college was also cited for providing opportunities for community and political engagement on its "absolutely gorgeous" campus; a campus which earned the school the #17 "Most Beautiful Campus" ranking. In 2011, the college was ranked #11 in the nation for the quality of food. The college was ranked seventeenth on The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
's list of "Most Religious Students" and was named one of the country's "Colleges with Conscience" by U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
. The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former...
ranked Saint Anselm College 153rd among "Liberal Arts Colleges" in 2011. In 2009, the Saint Anselm College Choir earned the 8th most searched college choirs under Google search. In 2001, USNWR ranked Saint Anselm as #3 on the list of "Most Comprehensive Bachelor's Program".
Faculty
Saint Anselm has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1 and an average class size of 18 students. Saint Anselm does not have teaching assistants or graduate assistants. Saint Anselm has 137 full-time faculty and 64 part-time instructors; almost all faculty members (97%) have terminal degrees in their respective fields.Majors and minors
Saint Anselm College offers majors in 32 subject areas; however, the college does not offer double majors. The following majors are available: Accounting, BiochemistryBiochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
, 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...
, Business
Business education
Business education involves teaching students the fundamentals, theories, and processes of business. Education in this field occurs at several levels, including secondary education and higher education or university education. Approximately 38% of student enroll in one or more business courses...
, 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....
, 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...
, Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, Criminal Justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
, 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"...
, English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
, Environmental Science
Environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...
, Finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
, Fine Arts, French, 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...
, Liberal Arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
and Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, Liberal Studies in the Great Books
Great Books
Great Books refers primarily to a group of books that tradition, and various institutions and authorities, have regarded as constituting or best expressing the foundations of Western culture ; derivatively the term also refers to a curriculum or method of education based around a list of such books...
, 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...
, Natural Science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
, Nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
, 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...
, 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...
, Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, Spanish, 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...
, International Business
Business education
Business education involves teaching students the fundamentals, theories, and processes of business. Education in this field occurs at several levels, including secondary education and higher education or university education. Approximately 38% of student enroll in one or more business courses...
, International Relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, 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...
, and Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
.
In addition to the one major required for graduation, students can also pursue as many minors as their course schedule allows.
Awarded to a limited number of students, the courses required for a minor are fulfilled through a student's elective courses. Saint Anselm offers the following minors: Asian Studies
Asian studies
Asian studies, a term used usually in the United States for Oriental studies and is concerned with the Asian peoples, their cultures, languages, history and politics...
, Catholic Studies, Communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
, Computational Physical Science
Physical science
Physical science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences...
, Education, Environmental Studies
Environmental studies
Environmental studies is the academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. It is a broad interdisciplinary field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them...
, Fine Arts, Forensics
Forensics
Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...
, French, German
Culture of Germany
German culture began long before the rise of Germany as a nation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular...
, Gender Studies
Gender studies
Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"...
, Greek, Human Relations and Work, International Studies, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Latin American Studies
Latin American Studies
Latin American studies is an academic discipline dealing with the study of Latin America and Latin Americans.-Definition:Latin American studies critically examines the history, culture, politics, and experiences of Latin Americans in Latin America and often also elsewhere .Latin American studies...
, Medieval Studies
Medieval studies
-Development:The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books like G. G. Coulton's Ten Medieval Studies , to emphasize a greater interdisciplinary approach to a historical subject...
, Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
, Public Policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
Studies, Russian Area Studies
Russian Studies
Russian studies is a field of study first developed during the Cold War. It is an interdisciplinary field crossing history and language studies. It is closely related to Soviet and Communist studies...
, Spanish, Sports Studies, and Web Design
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
.
Special academic programs
Some majors and minors offer special academic programs. Completion of these programs does not result in any minor or other recognition. If a student wishes to enter a professional school after graduation, he or she may undertake one of the pre-professional programs offered. Internships are required for some majors, where students can experience life outside of the classroom, however any student can enroll in an internship for elective credit. Saint Anselm participates in an archeological excavation program allowing students to travel to Italy and unearth ancient Roman treasures. For prospective engineers, the college has agreements with other schools through the cooperative engineering program.- Pre-professional programs – Include Pre-Law, Pre-Medicine/Pre-Dental/Pre-Veterinary, and Pre-Theology. Starting freshman year, students are paired up with advisors who will help the student decide which courses to take and offer general guidance throughout their time at Saint Anselm. However, pre-professional students often complain about the quality of their advisors, as they are often labelled as inexperienced, and many students choose to side step the process entirely. The program culminates with a "pre-professional interview" where three professors hold a mock professional interview with a student. This aside, many Saint Anselm students feel they are at a disadvantage when applying to professional schools, as their GPA's are usually lower than their competitors who graduated from other schools which do not subscribe to the strict anti-grade inflation policy that Saint Anselm does.
- Internships – Students from virtually every major participate in internships; examples range from investment firms on Wall StreetWall StreetWall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
to the Massachusetts General HospitalMassachusetts General HospitalMassachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
.
- Archeological Excavation – The Classics Department sponsors an excavation at Castel ViscardoCastel ViscardoCastel Viscardo is a comune in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria,-Geography:The town lies about 60 km southwest of Perugia and about 35 km northeast of Terni...
a city near OrvietoOrvietoOrvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...
in Italy. Faculty and students from the college are excavating a site that was occupied from the early EtruscanEtruscan civilizationEtruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
to the late Roman periods. The excavation have yielded many historical and archeological finds; Saint Anselm College sends over 25 students each summer to the Coriglia excavation, just outside of town.
- The Cooperative Engineering Program – A five-year cooperative liberal arts and engineering program in affiliation with the University of Notre DameUniversity of Notre DameThe University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, the University of Massachusetts LowellUniversity of Massachusetts LowellThe University of Massachusetts Lowell is a public university in Lowell, Massachusetts, and part of the University of Massachusetts system...
, The Catholic University of AmericaThe Catholic University of AmericaThe Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
, and Manhattan CollegeManhattan CollegeManhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...
in Riverdale, New York. Three years are spent fulfilling undergraduate liberal arts courses at Saint Anselm, and two years are spent at one of the universities above pursuing graduate level engineering courses.
Research
In November 2010, the college was awarded a five year, 1.2 million dollar biomedical research grant from the National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
that is designed to create a biomedical research network in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. The money will benefit research training and experience for dozens of students of the 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 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...
departments. Professor Daniel Broek, Ph.D., of the biology department, and professors' Joseph Troisi, Ph.D., and Adam Wenzel, Ph.D., of the Psychology department will use the money to conduct primary research projects.
Honor societies
Saint Anselm College participates in the following national and international Honor SocietiesHonor society
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America...
. Invitations from these societies are organized through each academic department, as students are usually invited membership by junior or senior year.
Delta Epsilon Sigma
Delta Epsilon Sigma
Delta Epsilon Sigma is a national scholastic honor society that was established in 1939 for students of Catholic universities and colleges in the United States. The society was founded at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa in 1939 by Father Fitzgerald. Requirements for membership are as follows...
, the Catholic equivalent to Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest honor society at the College. Open to all majors, the Tau Chapter, founded in 1940 accepts only forty members from the senior and junior classes.
Other societies include, Delta Sigma Rho, international social science honor society Pi Gamma Mu
Pi Gamma Mu
Pi Gamma Mu or ΠΓΜ is the oldest and preeminent honor society in the social sciences. It is also the only interdisciplinary social science honor society. It serves the various social science disciplines which seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships as well as their...
, history honor society Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.The society is a charter member of the Association of College Honor Societies and has over 350,000 members, with about 9,500 new members joining each year through 860 local chapters.-...
, economics honor society Omicron Delta Epsilon
Omicron Delta Epsilon
Omicron Delta Epsilon is an international honor society in the field of economics. Resulting from the merger of Omicron Delta Gamma and Omicron Chi Epsilon, ODE was founded in 1963 . Its board of trustees includes well-known economists such as Robert Lucas, Kenneth Arrow, and Robert Solow...
, nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau
Sigma Theta Tau
The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International exists to improve the health of people by increasing the scientific base of nursing research...
, Spanish language honor society Sigma Delta Pi
Sigma Delta Pi
Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society , was established on November 14, 1919, at the University of California at Berkeley. Its insignia is the royal seal of Fernando and Isabel, representing Castille, León and Aragón...
, French honor society Pi Delta Phi
Pi Delta Phi
Pi Delta Phi is the French National Honor Society for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited public and private colleges and universities in the United States. The society was admitted to membership in the Association of College Honor Societies in 1967.Pi Delta Phi was founded as a...
, psychology honor society Psi Chi
Psi Chi
Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. With over 1,050 chapters, Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States...
, politics honor society Pi Sigma Alpha
Pi sigma alpha
Pi Sigma Alpha , the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political science in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic achievement in the field of political science...
, and biology honor society Beta Beta Beta.
The Dean's List of Scholars is an internal honor society accepting students that fulfill its requirements of a 3.0 semester GPA in at least five classes. Only the top 25% of the school generally qualifies for the list. Members receive a card of congratulations, signed by the Dean of the College.
Latin Honors
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
upon graduation are
- Cumulative GPA of a 3.0 – 3.4 – Cum Laude
- Cumulative GPA of a 3.4 – 3.7 – Magna Cum Laude
- Cumulative GPA of a 3.7 – 4.0 – Summa Cum Laude
Graduation
Since 1896, Saint Anselm graduates have participated in almost exactly the same graduation ceremony performed to this day.Honors Convocation and Baccalaureate Mass
Commencement weekend begins on Friday afternoon as members of the senior class gather in the upper church of Saint Anselm AbbeySaint Anselm Abbey
Saint Anselm Abbey, located in Goffstown, New Hampshire, is a Benedictine abbey composed of men living under the Rule of Saint Benedict within the Catholic Church. The abbey was founded in 1889 under the patronage of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of Bec and former archbishop of...
for the annual honors convocation. The senior academic honors convocation begins with an invocation, said by the Abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey, and is followed by the conferral of academic awards, read by the Dean of the College. Virtually every academic department has an award to present to a senior of that major. Next the President of the college awards each Summa Cum Laude graduate; within this elite group the Chancellor's medal is awarded to the graduate with the highest academic grade point average.
The convocation is followed by the celebration of the Eucharist during a Roman Catholic Mass, which includes a homily delivered by the Abbot. The mass concludes with the singing of the Saint Anselm College Anthem as each graduand
Graduand
Graduand refers to the status of an undergraduate or graduate student in the United Kingdom and certain Commonwealth states who has finished his or her studies at university, but not yet graduated in a formal ceremony....
exits the church to meet their family and friends outside of the church and on the surrounding grounds for photographs and a reception in the Carr Center.
The Saint Anselm College Anthem was written by Father Augustine Kelly, O.S.B., Dean of the College, and composed by Father Bede Camera, O.S.B., director of the Saint Anselm College Choir. It is sung at the conclusion of the Eucharist during Orientation, Opening of the school year, Family Weekend, Baccalaureate Mass, and the final 7 p.m. Mass of each semester by the Saint Anselm College Choir. The text is as follows:
Commencement
On the morning of commencement, Alumni Hall is outfitted with patriotic red white and blue banners and flags. Commencement exercises begin each year at 1:50 pm as members of the senior class gather in the Stoutenburg Gymnasium and process through the campus, crossing by the Cushing Center and Hilary Hall and arriving at Alumni Hall for the commencement ceremony. The graduating class processes onto the quad to the designated seating area directly in front of Alumni Hall as a hired brass ensemble plays the Pomp and Circumstance MarchPomp and Circumstance Marches
The "Pomp and Circumstance Marches" , Op. 39 are a series of marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar....
. If the weather is inclement, commencement takes place in the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. The academic processional of the College's Mace, color guard, graduands, members of the monastic community, and the faculty can take over twenty minutes. The national anthem is performed by a student or students selected. The performer is usually a member of the Saint Anselm College Choir. Next, a student selected by the administration delivers the coveted student address that he/she submitted for consideration. This is followed by the College President's Address. The faculty award of the year from the Saint Anselm College Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership is about 47,000, with over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations...
is presented to a deserving faculty member. The student award for service and citizenship is presented to a community service-minded senior in recognition for an outstanding community project. This award is not given every year, only when there is consensus among administration that a particular student is deserving. Honorary doctorates are then conferred among selected honorary degree recipients. After the keynote address by one of the honorary degree recipients, the graduates are awarded their degrees of Bachelors of Arts or Bachelors of Science
Bachelors Of Science
Bachelors of Science is the stage name of Phil "Rene", Chris and Lukeino. They met in California and formed a successful act, quickly becoming one of the top drum and bass producers in the electronic music scene...
. After the benediction
Benediction
A benediction is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service.-Judaism:...
, graduates flip their graduation tassel to the opposite side of their cap and process out to the recessional song as the Abbey bells resound throughout campus. Finally, family and friends meet with the new graduates to take photographs.
The academic costume worn by graduates consists of a gown, hood, and cap. Graduates have short pointed sleeves and a three foot hood lined with the college's blue and white colors. Honor cords or sashes are not allowed to be worn during the ceremony; this rule has come under fire in recent years. Dress of the faculty differs from the graduates as the colors of their caps and gowns are dependent on the professors' alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
. The Saint Anselm College Mace
Ceremonial mace
The ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high official in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon...
was hand carved from black walnut
Black Walnut
Juglans nigra, the Eastern Black walnut, is a species of flowering tree in the hickory family, Juglandaceae, that is native to eastern North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central...
, and designed and executed by the Trappist
Trappists
The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , or Trappists, is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered contemplative monks who follow the Rule of St. Benedict...
monks of St. Joseph's Abbey
St. Joseph's Abbey
- External links :* .*...
. One of its striking features is the cross surmounting the mace, which is patterned after the cross of Saint Anselm Abbey Church; another is the seal of the college, mounted on the round head of the mace. Encircling the shield is the legend Sigillum Collegii Sancti Anselmi - 1889, meaning Seal of Saint Anselm College. The diploma measures 16" x 19" and is written in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. The following is a translation of the Latin text which appears on the diploma.
Accreditation and memberships
Saint Anselm College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and CollegesNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. is the U.S. regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation for all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten to the doctoral level, in the six-state New England region. It also provides accreditation for some...
. It holds membership in the Association of American Colleges and Universities
Association of American Colleges and Universities
The Association of American Colleges and Universities is a national association that is committed to improving undergraduate education and advancing liberal education as the preferred philosophy of education for all students...
, the American Council on Education
American Council on Education
The American Council on Education is a United States organization, established in 1918, comprising over 1,800 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher education-related associations, organizations, and corporations....
, the National Catholic Educational Association
National Catholic Educational Association
The National Catholic Educational Association is a private professional educational association of over 200,000 educators in Catholic schools, universities, and religious education programs...
, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
Founded in 1976, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities is an organization of private US colleges and universities...
. Saint Anselm is a member of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities, as Father Jonathan DeFelice
Jonathan DeFelice
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. is the President of New England's third oldest Catholic college, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Growing up in Bristol, Rhode Island, he graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1965, and then attended Saint Anselm College, earning a bachelors...
was a co-founder of this organization in 1993. Saint Anselm is on the approved list of the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
and of the New Hampshire State Board of Education for teacher training. The baccalaureate
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
program in nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
is fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education is an autonomous nursing education accrediting agency that contributes to the improvement of the public's health. The CCNE is recognized by the U.S...
and fully approved by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing. The Department of Nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
is a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs of the National League for Nursing and the Nightingale Society. The Continuing Nursing Education program is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
New Hampshire Institute of Politics
Marc AmbinderMarc Ambinder
Marc Ambinder is an American editor and journalist. He is a White House correspondent at National Journal and is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. He previously worked at ABC News and was chief political consultant to CBS News from 2008 to 2011. For years he was the author of an influential...
, political editor of The Atlantic, described the role Saint Anselm plays in national politics by saying, "no one runs for president without speaking at St. A's New Hampshire Institute of Politics."
For over the past forty years, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) has played host to hundreds of presidential aspirants that have delivered policy speeches at Saint Anselm College. It was founded on the basis that "educated and engaged citizens are vital for a healthy democracy." The NHIOP houses the Politics department, as well as providing classroom space for use by all departments. The institute is credited with raising the national profile of the college by incorporating the college in the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
, the first primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
of the United States presidential election
United States presidential election
Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President...
.
The Institute was founded in 2001 through a nine million dollar grant which was secured by then U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
Judd Gregg
Judd Alan Gregg is a former Governor of New Hampshire and former United States Senator from New Hampshire, who served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a businessman and attorney in Nashua before entering politics...
from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
. The idea of the Institute came from a series of conversations between Professors Kuehne and Manuel of the politics department and assistant vice president Anne Botteri. All involved believed in the potential that the college could harness from the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
through the college's traditions and location. In December 1995, Fr. Jonathan DeFelice
Jonathan DeFelice
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. is the President of New England's third oldest Catholic college, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Growing up in Bristol, Rhode Island, he graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1965, and then attended Saint Anselm College, earning a bachelors...
asked Professor Manuel, as chairman of the politics department, to chair a committee to study the question and to make recommendations. A proposal was presented to the board of trustees by fellow trustee and former Massachusetts Senate president Kevin B. Harrington
Kevin B. Harrington
Kevin Brian Harrington was an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts State Senate....
. Passing by a unanimous vote, the Institute was constructed in 2000 and dedicated on September 7, 2001.
The Institute consists of a 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) building built in 2001. The Institute contains six classrooms, four seminar rooms, an auditorium, television studio, offices for the college's department of politics and Institute administration, the Common Ground cafe, a research center, and a computer lab. All of the classrooms are "smart classrooms" equipped with interactive whiteboards, LCD projectors, and built in audio and video equipment. The television studio is the only live video production and broadcast studio in the Greater Manchester area. Television journalists can interview individuals, including Saint Anselm's experts, politicians, business and civic leaders, remotely from the studio without requiring a TV crew on site or the source to travel to the network. Operated in partnership with VideoLink, the studio is equipped with ReadyCam technology that allows VideoLink to control the camera and lighting remotely from their Boston headquarters.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
recently referred to Saint Anselm College as "the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
college with a box seat on America's
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
most riveting political theater", as the college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
and institute have both played major roles in the New Hampshire primary. CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
contributor and former Harvard Institute of Politics
Harvard Institute of Politics
Harvard Institute of Politics was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and inspire Harvard students into careers in politics and public service, much as President Kennedy was inspired during his days as a student at Harvard. The IOP also brings together the academic...
chair Jennifer Donahue
Jennifer Donahue
Jennifer Donahue is an American political analyst and journalist. She was the political director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College...
was the institute's political director from 2002 to 2009. The current director of the institute is Neil Levesque.
Steve Scully
Steve Scully
Steven L. Scully is the senior executive producer, political editor, and host of C-SPAN's Washington Journal, a three-hour early morning cable television public affairs program.-Background:Scully was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Hubert L...
, host, senior producer, and political editor of C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
s Washington Journal
Washington Journal
Washington Journal is an American television series on the C-SPAN network in the format of a political call-in and interview program. The program features elected officials, government administrators and journalists as guests, answering questions from the hosts and from members of the general...
, is among the directors of the institute.
The Kevin B. Harrington
Kevin B. Harrington
Kevin Brian Harrington was an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts State Senate....
Student Ambassador Program is an academic program through the New Hampshire Institute of Politics; it is named after the late Massachusetts State Senator Kevin B. Harrington
Kevin B. Harrington
Kevin Brian Harrington was an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts State Senate....
, who was a member of the Saint Anselm College Board of Trustees and an instrumental force in the creation of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics itself. Student Ambassadors play an important role in supporting special events, giving tours of the institute, welcoming and introducing presidential and congressional candidates, public figures and a range of scholars who headline the institute's special events and public programs.
The Public Advisory Board, established by Father Jonathan DeFelice
Jonathan DeFelice
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. is the President of New England's third oldest Catholic college, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Growing up in Bristol, Rhode Island, he graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1965, and then attended Saint Anselm College, earning a bachelors...
in 2008 seeks to help the Institute expand its role in both state and national dialogues. Board members include U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
Judd Gregg
Judd Alan Gregg is a former Governor of New Hampshire and former United States Senator from New Hampshire, who served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a businessman and attorney in Nashua before entering politics...
(Chair), former United States Congressman Paul Hodes
Paul Hodes
Paul Hodes is an attorney, musician, and the former U.S. Representative for , serving fom 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was New Hampshire's first Jewish representative....
, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner (Vice-Chair), 2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker, Jr.
Charles D. Baker, Jr.
Charles Duane "Charlie" Baker, Jr. , is an American businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He was a cabinet official under two Massachusetts governors, spent ten years as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and was the Republican candidate in the 2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial...
, Time magazine's Mark Halperin
Mark Halperin
Mark E. Halperin is the senior political analyst for Time magazine, Time.com, and MSNBC and serves as a board member on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He is the co-author of Game Change.-Personal:Mark Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin and Ina Young. He has...
, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte
Kelly Ayotte
Kelly A. Ayotte is the junior United States Senator from New Hampshire and a member of the Republican Party. She earlier served as the Attorney General of New Hampshire.-Early life, education and career:...
, and John Bridgeland
John Bridgeland
John M. Bridgeland is President and CEO of Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm in Washington, D.C. and vice-Chair of Malaria No More, a non-profit launched at the White House Summit on Malaria that is creating a grassroots, global movement to engage the private and non-profit sectors in...
, member of the White House Council for Community Solutions.
Presidential debates
The college has hosted numerous national debates and campaign rallies since the 1950s. In 2003, Saint Anselm hosted a debate between the candidates for the Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nomination in the 2004 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, and served as the Primary headquarters for the Fox News Network. Similarly, in June 2007 the college hosted two national debates, sponsored by CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, for candidates of the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. In 2008, the college hosted the back-to-back ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
/WMUR debates on January 5, 2008. Saint Anselm College students volunteered and became "runners" for the Fox News, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
debates; students have had the unique opportunity to meet many Presidential candidates and media personalities. In his welcoming address to the class of 2012, President Father Jonathan DeFelice
Jonathan DeFelice
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. is the President of New England's third oldest Catholic college, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Growing up in Bristol, Rhode Island, he graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1965, and then attended Saint Anselm College, earning a bachelors...
said, "Almost from the first day of classes you will have the opportunity that many other college students will not have – to meet candidates and media experts, political reporters and analysts from all over our country."
On April 28, 2011, the college announced it would partner with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, WMUR, and the New Hampshire Union Leader to host the first Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire on June 13, 2011.
Barack Obama and former presidents
The institute has attracted notable speakers, including then-presidential candidate Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and former presidents of the United States George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.
President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
gave a historic speech at Saint Anselm College on March 5, 1960, regarding America's conduct in the new realities of the emerging Cold War. The speech was the first time that Kennedy detailed how American foreign policy should be conducted towards African nations, noting a hint of support for modern African nationalism by saying, "for we, too, founded a new nation on revolt from colonial rule." According to a Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
article from February 8, 1960,
"...a motorcade of students from St. Anselm's College gave him an earsplitting welcome from 35 automobile horns, then mobbed him with such enthusiasm that Jack had to climb into an open convertible in order to be seen. Afterward, the college kids dragged out a reluctant donkey (rented for $20 by the efficient Kennedy organization), then followed Kennedy into a supermarket, waving homemade college-humor signs (PUT JACK IN THE WHITE SHACK, PUT A NEW JOHN IN THE WHITE HOUSE)."While at the college, Kennedy said the famous line, "I forgot my Nixon button."
The day after declaring his candidacy for the 1968 election, President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's first stop was at Saint Anselm College where a reception was held. At the college, on February 3, 1968, Nixon unveiled his campaign strategy regarding the Vietnam War by saying, "let's help them fight the war, and not fight the war for them." The ramifications of this policy, first voiced at the college had a profound effect on the 1968 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
and the war in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Former presidential candidates and other notable speakers
Hundreds of presidential candidates have toured and spoken at the college over the past fifty years. More recent speakers have ranged from current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the 2008 Republican nominee John McCainJohn McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. In the weeks before the 2008 election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
's comeback campaign
John McCain presidential campaign, 2008
John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an unsuccessful bid to win the 2008 presidential election. His candidacy, in the works for a number of years, was informally announced on February 28, 2007 during a...
returned to New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
where McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
held a rally in Sullivan arena in front of a crowd of over two thousand students, faculty, staff and visitors from the community. A group of eight students painted the word "M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K" across their chests and lined up next to each other atop the stands behind McCain.
In March 2010, the former head of the U.S. Central Command and four star U.S. Army General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
David Petraeus
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...
lectured at the Dana Center for the Humanities through a NHIOP sponsored program; the change of venue was required because the Institute's auditorium could not accommodate the six hundred plus students, faculty and staff in attendance. This lecture in particular generated national media attention as rumors spread about Petraeus
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...
planning to run for the 2012 presidential election. Petraeus highlighted how America has begun to implement the same counter insurgency strategy which worked in Iraq to Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
.
The following candidates have participated in one of the many national debates held by the college over the years – the current President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, former New York senator Hillary Clinton, Arizona senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, Kansas senator Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
, former Alaska senator Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
, Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
, former Democratic nominee for the 2004 election, John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
, former Vermont governor Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich
Dennis Kucinich
Dennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
, Congressman Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
, General Wesley Clark
Wesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
and many more.
Former Republican candidate Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
's visit attracted the negative attention of the national media as the image of Brownback at the podium speaking to a mostly empty room epitomized his failing candidacy. In 1972, the eventual Democratic nominee for United States presidential election George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
visited the college and after his speech jokingly declared he would become a vice presidential candidate, as he was clearly the front runner.
Inside the Institute's main hallway hangs over one hundred images that represent the college's role in the political process; former Missouri congressman Richard Gephardt once recognized a picture of an elderly woman holding a sign "Gephardt for President" in a rather emotional moment as his own mother. It is not uncommon to run into current New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the Senior United States Senator from New Hampshire. The first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both a Governor and U.S. Senator, she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire, serving from...
or then-senator John E. Sununu
John E. Sununu
John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...
, New Hampshire governor John Lynch, former New Hampshire governors Judd Gregg
Judd Gregg
Judd Alan Gregg is a former Governor of New Hampshire and former United States Senator from New Hampshire, who served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a businessman and attorney in Nashua before entering politics...
, Craig Benson
Craig Benson
Craig R. Benson is an American politician and businessman. He served as Governor of New Hampshire from 2003 to 2005...
and Steve Merrill
Steve Merrill
Stephen E. "Steve" Merrill is an American lawyer and Republican politician from Manchester, New Hampshire.- Biography :Merrill was born in Hampton, New Hampshire. He studied at the University of New Hampshire, graduating from it in 1969. He received his J.D...
in the hallways, guest lecturing in classrooms or leaving the politics department after conversing with faculty; some faculty are politicians – New Hampshire Senator Lou D'Allesandro
Lou D'Allesandro
Lou D'Allesandro is a Democratic member of the New Hampshire Senate, representing the 20th District since 1998. Previously he was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1996 through 1998.-External links:...
is a faculty member of the politics department.
Many of the modern media personalities have lectured at the institute on topics ranging from their predictions during the 2008 New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
to hosting live campaign coverage on the quad, as seen in the image to the right. Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
's Brit Hume
Brit Hume
Brit Hume is an American television journalist and political commentator.For twenty years he was a correspondent for the American Broadcasting Company, including Chief White House Correspondent. He then spent ten years as the Washington, D.C. managing editor of the Fox News Channel and the anchor...
and Christopher Wallace
Chris Wallace (journalist)
Christopher "Chris" Wallace is an American journalist, currently the host of the Fox Network program, Fox News Sunday. Wallace has won three Emmy Awards, the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award, and a Peabody Award. Wallace has been with Fox News since 2003...
both reported live from the "Fox-Box" in both 2004 and 2008 as Alumni Hall served as a backdrop for the primary. The former anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, Peter Jennings
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...
had reported live from the north side of Alumni Hall during nightly broadcasts of his show during the primary. CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's well known personality Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
was the moderator for the national 2007 debates held in the college's Sullivan Arena., ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
correspondent and television personality Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...
has visited the college on several occasions, hosting the presidential national debate in 1984. Bob Schieffer
Bob Schieffer
Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since...
, the host of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Face The Nation
Face the Nation
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...
broadcast live from, "historic Saint Anselm College's Alumni Hall" in June 2007 to interview then candidate John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
and his former wife Elizabeth Edwards
Elizabeth Edwards
Elizabeth Anania Edwards was an American attorney, a best-selling author and a health care activist. She was married to John Edwards, the former U.S...
; in addition to this interview, Mr. Edwards has visited the college on numerous campaign stops talking with students and dropping by classrooms in the institute building.
Journalists who work for many major media outlets stop by the college in the years between the primary when in the area. Time magazine's editor-at-large and political analyst Mark Halperin
Mark Halperin
Mark E. Halperin is the senior political analyst for Time magazine, Time.com, and MSNBC and serves as a board member on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He is the co-author of Game Change.-Personal:Mark Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin and Ina Young. He has...
is one of twenty or so members of the Public Advisory Board set up by the President of the college, Father Jonathan DeFelice
Jonathan DeFelice
Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B. is the President of New England's third oldest Catholic college, Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Growing up in Bristol, Rhode Island, he graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1965, and then attended Saint Anselm College, earning a bachelors...
Washington Post columnist, and Senior Research Fellow E. J. Dionne
E. J. Dionne
Eugene Joseph "E.J." Dionne, Jr. is an American journalist and political commentator, and a long-time op-ed columnist for The Washington Post...
lectured in 2007 at the Institute and spoke during an American Government politics class. and Senior editor of the Weekly Standard William Kristol
William Kristol
William Kristol is an American neoconservative political analyst and commentator. He is the founder and editor of the political magazine The Weekly Standard and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel....
.
The college has been honored with the visit of two Secretaries of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
, the former Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
, and the current Hillary Clinton.
Meelia Center for Community Service
The Meelia Center is one of the many outlets available for students to volunteer in the Greater ManchesterManchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
community. Since 1989, the Meelia Center has allowed Saint Anselm College students to mobilize their talents and energies to assist 14 community partnerships and more than 30 other community service agencies throughout New Hampshire. Annually, some 850 students, faculty, and staff volunteer more than 16,000 community service hours. The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
has described the Meelia Center as "the nerve center of Saint Anselm's bustling service community", adding that "the center, according to the school, 'employs nearly sixty student service leaders, who in turn recruit, place, and support over 200 volunteers and 210 service learners each semester who perform weekly service in over thirty community agencies. An additional 350 volunteers serve in occasional one-day service events. In 2010, the Meelia Center alone accounted for the coordination of 20,000 service hours by Saint Anselm students. New students are introduced to the service commitment through the New Student Day of Service. As part of freshman orientation, students are sent in teams of thirty to partnership sites and other community non-profit agencies. Upperclassmen work throughout the summer to organize these orientation events that involve anywhere from fifteen to twenty sites around New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
.
Service learning
Service learning is one of the fastest growing community service outlets at the college; students enjoy being able to accomplish community service while receiving credits in the classroom. Thus, students can learn in class while also learning and experiencing things in real-life situations. Eleven academic departments and more than twenty courses at Saint Anselm offer service-learning opportunities.Athletics
Saint Anselm College competes at the NCAA Division II level in 20 men's and women's varsity sports. The college offers baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross 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...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, golf
Golf
Golf 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....
, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, soccer, tennis
Tennis
Tennis 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...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
programs open to all students. Saint Anselm's sports teams are known as the Hawks; their colors are blue and white. The Hawks participate as a member of the Northeast 10
Northeast Ten Conference
The Northeast-10 Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division II. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont...
and ECAC
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...
conferences in most sports. Football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
returned to the Hilltop in 1999 after a 58-year hiatus brought about by the onset of World War II. The college's most recent standout was Michael Geary'05, a 2003 2nd Team All NE-10 offensive lineman. One of the college's greatest athletes was Ray "Scooter" McLean
Ray McLean
Ray "Scooter" McLean was a football player and coach at both the collegiate and professional levels, but may be best remembered for preceding Vince Lombardi as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958....
; he was coach of the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
in 1953 and 1958 and an NFL player for the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, winning NFL Championship Games in 1940, 1941, 1943 and 1946. The college's athletic teams are known as "The Hawks".
Ice hockey
Saint Anselm is known by locals as a "hockey school", as the Hawks have won 5 Northeast Ten Conference championships, most recently by defeating Assumption CollegeAssumption College
Assumption College is a private, Roman Catholic, liberal arts college located on 185 acres in Worcester, Massachusetts. Assumption has an enrollment of about 2,117 undergraduates...
in 2010. The Hawks performance in that game set NE-10 records for most goals scored and largest margin of victory in a championship game. The campus has a multi-million dollar, 65000 square foot ice arena, named after Thomas F. Sullivan. It is located next to Davison Dining Hall, and has a capacity of 2,700 fans.
Student organizations
Saint Anselm offers over 100 student organizations on campus, including arts & culture organizations, performance groups, sports groups, political organizations, religious organizations, and social action groups. The Student Activities Office encourages and is available for students wishing to develop an organization not yet established at Saint Anselm. Clubs on campus include The Knights of ColumbusKnights 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....
, Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
, Abbey Players, Campus Activities Board, 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...
Society, The 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...
Society, Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, Green Team, Italian Club, Dance Club, Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Student Association, Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
Band, Organization for Life, Mock Trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
, 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...
Club, and Yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
Club. An example of the college students being active in the local community is that the Saint Anselm College 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....
, Council 4785 in Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...
won the 2009–2010 National Community Activity Award for creating a comprehensive recycling program at the New Hampshire State Prison for Women
New Hampshire State Prison for Women
New Hampshire State Prison for Women is the only women's prison in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Department of Corrections facility is located in Goffstown, Hillsborough County....
. The Campus Activities Board (CAB), a student-run organization, runs several committees that oversee campus-wide activities and student services. In 2008, CAB organized singer Howie Day
Howie Day
Howard Kern "Howie" Day is an American singer-songwriter. Beginning his career as a solo artist in the late 1990s, Day became known for his extensive touring and in-concert use of samplers and effects pedals in order to accompany himself...
, in 2009, the band Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The songwriting duo of Kevin Cadogan and Stephan Jenkins signed the band's first major label recording contract with Elektra records in 1996 resulting in two multi platinum albums. The band's lineup...
performed at the college. Jason Derülo
Jason Derulo
Jason Joel Desrouleaux , better known by his stage name Jason Derülo, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. After producing records for several artists and writing songs for Cash Money Records, co-founder of the label Birdman, Young Money Entertainment owner Lil Wayne and rapper...
and Matt Nathanson
Matt Nathanson
Matt Nathanson is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic and electric guitar, and has played both solo and with a full band. His work includes the platinum-selling song "Come On Get Higher".-Early life and college...
performed there in 2010.
Student publications
The Saint Anselm Crier, founded in the early 1960s as "The Anselmian Crier" is the student newspaper of Saint Anselm College. It is published twice monthly when school is in session. The Crier won the 2008–2009 First Place Scholastic Newspaper Award from the American Scholastic Press Association. In 2009, The Saint Anselm Crier adopted new terminology designating the publication as the "independent" student newspaper instead of the "official" student newspaper of Saint Anselm College. This was done to separate student opinion from official college news released by Saint Anselm's public relations department.The Hilltop, founded in 2009, was an independent student newsletter. It was published bi-weekly, and sought to provide substance over entertainment and integrity over controversy, as some students had supported this publication over the "Crier." claiming the latter's quality had deteriorated. In the Fall of 2010, "The Hilltop" merged with "The Saint Anselm Crier" after an agreement was made at the urging of the "Crier's" advisor, Fr. Jerome Day, O.S.B., PhD. who claimed that Saint Anselm College is not large enough for two student newspapers. "The Hilltop's" staff agreed to become part of the "Crier's" staff and "The Saint Anselm Crier" will attempt to focus on its quality, including a page called the "The Hilltop" devoted to substantial issues.
The Saint Anselm Whiner, founded in February 2010, is an underground joke newspaper independently published by a group of anonymous students. It is published bi-weekly. The Whiner parodies The Crier and the Hilltop and lampoons various Saint Anselm College issues. The motto of the Saint Anselm Whiner is "Unreliability You Can Count On."
The Quatrain, published annually by a small group of students with the help of the English Department and the printing office, is a collection of students' poetry, short stories, and artwork (photographic and otherwise) that is collected via submissions over the course of the academic year and is freely distributed to the student population near the end of the second semester.
The Shank, published each semester, is the History Department's journal consisting exclusively of students' work. The journal is open to all students regardless of their major, as long as the paper submitted was written in a history class.
Lucubrations is the cultural magazine for the Saint Anselm Community. It publishes all forms of creative content including art, music, photography, literature, poetry, philosophy, commentary, and video from students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the college. It was founded in 2009 by student Dana Nolan (Class of 2011). It is published online at http://lucubrations.org . Submissions are published on an ongoing basis and also collected into digest issues two times a semester, for four issues per academic year. The word lucubrations is based on the Latin word lucubrare and means study by candlelight, nocturnal study or meditation, and the writings or thoughts that result.
Notable alumni
- Harvey C. "Barney" BarnumHarvey C. Barnum, Jr.Colonel Harvey Curtiss Barnum, Jr. , is a retired United States Marine Corps officer who received the Medal of Honor for valor during the Vietnam War. He was the fourth Marine to receive the medal for valor in Vietnam. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1989 after more than 27 years of service...
– 1962 – Medal of HonorMedal of HonorThe Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
recipient (Vietnam) - William J. Baroody, Sr. – 1936 – President of American Enterprise InstituteAmerican Enterprise InstituteThe American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
, and appointed Chairman of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for ScholarsWoodrow Wilson International Center for ScholarsThe Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968...
by President Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under... - Richard Bready – 1965 – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nortek Inc.
- Leon Brodeur – 1951 – President of Firestone Tire and Rubber CompanyFirestone Tire and Rubber CompanyThe Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...
- Michael BuckleyMichael Buckley (Internet celebrity)Michael Buckley is an American Internet celebrity, comedian and vlogger. Noted for his vlog What the Buck?!, Buckley comments on popular culture events and celebrities. He also maintains one of YouTube's most popular channels with several million viewers each month...
- 1997 - YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
celebrity host of the "WhattheBuck!?" show - Vincent ColapietroVincent ColapietroVincent Colapietro is a Liberal Arts Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University . His education includes a bachelors degree from Saint Anselm College, a masters degree from Marquette University and a Ph.D. from Marquette University...
, Ph.D. – 1973 – Philosophy professor at Pennsylvania State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
, author of many published articles and several published books - Thomas J. DoddThomas J. DoddThomas Joseph Dodd was a United States Senator and Representative from Connecticut, He was the first Senator censured by the US Senate since Joseph McCarthy in 1954, and was one of only six people censured by the Senate in the 20th century. He is the father of former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd...
– 1926 – United States Senator from Connecticut; influential force at the Nuremberg TrialsNuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany.... - Bishop Joseph John GerryJoseph John GerryJoseph John Gerry, O.S.B., is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Portland from 1989 to 2004.-Biography:...
– 1950 – former Bishop of Portland, MaineRoman Catholic Diocese of PortlandThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the entire state of Maine...
and former Abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey - Robert W. HeagneyRobert W. HeagneyRobert W. Heagney was re-elected to his fourth term as Simsbury State Representative on November 2, 2004, to represent the 16th House Assembly District....
– 1975 – Connecticut state representative (SimsburySimsbury, ConnecticutSimsbury is a suburban town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 23,234 at the 2000 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's twenty-first town in May 1670.-Early history:...
) - Daniel T.K. HurleyDaniel T.K. HurleyDaniel T.K. Hurley is an American lawyer and judge. He currently serves on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.- Early life and education :Hurley was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts...
– 1964 – American lawyerLaw of the United StatesThe law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
and judgeJudgeA judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, serving on the United States District Court for the Southern District of FloridaUnited States District Court for the Southern District of FloridaThe United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida is the federal United States district court with jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.... - Tim KaralexisTim KaralexisTim Karalexis is an American soccer player, currently without a club.-Youth and College:Karalexis attended Weymouth High School, graduating in 1998. While at Weymouth, he led the school’s soccer team to the Massachusetts Division I championship and was named the Boston Globe Division I Player of...
– 2001 – professional American soccer player in the USL First DivisionUSL First DivisionThe United Soccer Leagues First Division was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.... - Archbishop Gérald LacroixGérald LacroixGérald Cyprien Lacroix, ISPX is the current archbishop of Quebec and primate of Canada since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2011...
- Archbishop of Quebec, and primate of Canada - Martin F. LoughlinMartin F. LoughlinMartin Francis Loughlin was a judge in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire from 1979 to 1995....
– 1947 – American lawyerLaw of the United StatesThe law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
and judgeJudgeA judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, served on the United States District Court for the District of New HampshireUnited States District Court for the District of New HampshireThe United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of New Hampshire. The Warren B. Rudman U.S... - Dr. Marc LaForce – 1960 – Director of the Meningitis Vaccine ProjectMeningitis Vaccine ProjectThe Meningitis Vaccine Project is an effort to eliminate the meningitis epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa by developing a new meningococcal vaccine. The meningitis problem in that area is caused by a strain of meningitis called "meningitis A", which is only present in the African meningitis belt...
of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - William C. MartelWilliam C. MartelWilliam C. Martel is Associate Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.-Education:He has a B.A. from St. Anselm College, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Massachusetts Amherst...
– Associate Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts UniversityTufts UniversityTufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France... - Hubie McDonoughHubie McDonoughHubert B. McDonough is a retired American professional ice hockey centre. He was never selected in the NHL Entry Draft....
– 1986 – NHL player for the Los Angeles KingsLos Angeles KingsThe Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, San Jose SharksSan Jose SharksThe San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
and the New York IslandersNew York IslandersThe New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League... - Ray "Scooter" McLeanRay McLeanRay "Scooter" McLean was a football player and coach at both the collegiate and professional levels, but may be best remembered for preceding Vince Lombardi as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1958....
, NFL player for the Chicago BearsChicago BearsThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and coach of the Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions... - Henry J. MeadeHenry J. MeadeHenry J. Meade was Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1925, Meade was an ordained Roman Catholic priest. He graduated from Saint Anselm College and Saint John's Seminary. Meade died on June 22, 2006.-Career:...
– 1951 – Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Air Force - Richard Meelia – 1971 – Chairman & CEO of CovidienCovidienCovidien , formerly Tyco Healthcare, is a healthcare device and supply company, incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, although its corporate offices are located in Mansfield, Massachusetts. On June 29, 2007, Covidien became an independent publicly traded company after being spun off from Tyco...
, formerly known as Tyco Healthcare - Ralph Mollis – 1978 – current Secretary of StateSecretary of StateSecretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
of Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area... - Rómulo O'FarrilRómulo O'FarrilRómulo O'Farrill Jr. was a multi-millionaire Mexican businessman.His father Rómulo O'Farrill Senior founded the newspaper Novedades and owned the first commercial TV station through his company Televisión de México partnered with engineer Guillermo González Camarena and businessmen Emilio...
, Jr. – 1937 – multi-millionaire Mexican businessman; founder of Televisa in Mexico City - Archbishop Joseph RummelJoseph RummelJoseph Francis Rummel was bishop of the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska and Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Joseph Francis Rummel (October 14, 1876, Steinmauern, Baden - November 8, 1964, New Orleans, Louisiana) was bishop of the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska (Mar. 30, 1928 - Mar. 9, 1935)...
– 1902 – Archbishop of New OrleansRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New OrleansThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, officially in Latin Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae, is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church administered from New Orleans, Louisiana...
and civil rights activist - Michael Sheehan – 1982 – Chief Executive Officer of American ad agency Hill HollidayHill HollidayHill, Holliday is an American advertising agency. It is part of the world's third largest advertising conglomerate, IPG.It was founded as Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., in 1968 in Boston, by founding partners Jack Connors, Jay Hill, Steve Cosmopulos and Alan Holliday...
- Mark J. SullivanMark J. SullivanMark J. Sullivan is the current Director of the United States Secret Service. Sullivan succeeded W. Ralph Basham and was sworn in as the 22nd Director of the Secret Service on May 31, 2006.-Early life:...
– 1977 – current director of United States Secret ServiceUnited States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States... - Rob SuretteRob SuretteRobert R. M. "Rob" Surette is a speed-painter and public speaker known for inspiring audience members with his 6-foot paintings and motivational messages....
– 1993 – public motivational speaker and speed painter - Matthew SzulikMatthew SzulikMatthew J. Szulik - past chairman of Red Hat, leader of some other technology companies, such as Interleaf and MapInfo for more than 20 years. Szulik had also held the titles of chief executive officer and president of Red Hat, but resigned from these positions on 2007-12-20...
– 1978 – former chief executive officer and president of the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index published since 1957 of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock...
Red HatRed HatRed Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
software company; 2010 Chairman of the Science and Technology Board for State of North Carolina's Economic Development Board