Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) is a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Originally a college exclusively for women, it is now coeducational. It is the oldest Catholic college in Indiana and is known for the Mari Hulman George School of Equine Studies. History Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was founded as an academy for young women by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, who reached the site on October 22, 1840, after three months of travel. She led five Sisters of Providence, who had traveled from their convent in Ruillé-sur-Loir, France. Mother Theodore had not been the first to step forward when the Bishop of Vincennes asked the Sisters of Providence to establish an academy for young women in Indiana. Although she had been decorated by the French Board of Education as a highly gifted and efficient teacher, Mother Theodore felt unworthy of the task of founding an institution of learning. Her superiors convinced her to accept the assignment. Saint Mother Theodore Guerin was canonized on October 15, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI, and is Indiana's first saint. In 1846, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was granted the first charter for the higher education of women in the state of Indiana. SMWC conferred its first Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899. It was the first women's college to offer journalism courses and the first to offer degree work in secondary education, home economics, and secretarial science. As the careers open to women expanded, the college expanded into areas such as business, computer information systems, equine studies, psychology and nursing. SMWC now offers associate and bachelor's degrees in over 30 majors on campus and online. In 2015, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College announced that the board of trustees voted unanimously to become fully coeducational at its May 1, 2015 meeting.