Saint Martin's University is a privateBenedictine university in Lacey, Washington. It was founded in 1895 as a boys' boarding school run by monks of the Benedictine Order. Saint Martin's began offering college-level courses in 1900 and became a degree-granting institution in 1940. The college became coeducational in 1965. In 2005, it changed its name from Saint Martin's College to Saint Martin's University. There is a Benedictine monastery on campus grounds and some members of the monastic community serve as professors.
History
Saint Martin's patron saint is Saint Martin of Tours, a fourth-century monk and missionary. The university and its founder, Saint Martin's Abbey, sit on 300 acres (1.2 km2) of woodlands, trees, rocks, and meandering trails. The site was selected in 1894 by Abbot Bernard Locnikar of Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, which was the mother abbey of St. Martin's Abbey. At a public auction on April 21, 1894, the wooded parcel that would become the Saint Martin's campus was purchased for $6,920.
Work began on Saint Martin's first building in January 1895. By late summer, a four-story structure housing both the school and a monastery was completed. The school at that time offered preparatory classes for boys, plus commercial and classical education for older boys and young men. Boarding students who came from outside of town also were housed in the campus' one large building.[1] Today, that structure is referred to as Old Main and continues to house many of the university's classrooms and offices.
The college offers 28 baccalaureate programs and fourteen graduate degree programs. The university offers programs and courses at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Centralia College.
The school's sports teams participate in the NCAA's Great Northwest Athletic Conference at the Division II level. The women's basketball team qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament in 1992 and 2008. In the 1940s and 1950s, Saint Martin's had a men's college football team and a boys' high school football team, which won the Washington Class A championship.[citation needed] In the 1990s, the name of the mascot was almost changed to the Ravens. In 2008, the men's basketball team defeated Division I Colorado State Rams men's basketball, making it Saint Martin's first major publicized victory over a D-1 opponent. In 2009, the Men's Soccer team seized the first team title in any sport for Saint Martin's University, winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.[6]
^Scott, John Charles (1996). This Place Called Saint Martin's, 1895-1995: A Centennial History of Saint Martin's College and Abbey, Lacey, Washington. The Donning Company. ISBN0-89865-982-5.
