Dominican University (DU) is a coeducational, comprehensive, Catholic institution of higher education and research in River Forest, Illinois. Affiliated with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees, certificate programs, and a PhD in library and information science. Dominican offers more than 50 majors in the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences and 20 programs in five graduate academic divisions offering graduate programs in library and information science, business, education, and social work. Dominican also has a School of Professional and Continuing Studies.
History and mission
RoCo 1976-78 - Memories of Rosary College, River Forest, Illinois from 1976 through 1978.
The school began as St. Clara Female Academy in 1848, chartered by Fr. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, O.P. in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. It became a college in 1901 and moved to River Forest, Illinois, taking the name Rosary College in 1922 while under the leadership of Mother Samuel Coughlin of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. Trinity High School was founded as the preparatory department of the college before moving to its own campus nearby in 1926 and is still run by the order. The present name of Dominican University was adopted in 1997 as part of a strategic plan by president Donna Carroll to reflect the school's Dominican heritage and its status as a more comprehensive university.
The university operates under this mission statement: "As a Sinsinawa Dominican-sponsored institution, Dominican University prepares students to pursue truth, to give compassionate service and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world."
The school became coeducational in 1970.
Accreditation
The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission to grant baccalaureate and master's degrees, and by seven other programs; American Library Association, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education, the National Council for Teacher Education, the Accreditation Review Commission for the Physician Assistant, Inc, the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics, and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
Academics
Dominican University offers more than 40 undergraduate majors, and several preprofessional programs. The student to faculty ratio is 12:1 at this University. Dominican's graduate school is divided into five academic divisions: the School of Information Studies (SOIS), the Brennan School of Business, the School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Work, and the School of Professional Continuing Studies.
Dominican University's School of Information Studies offers the Master of Library and Information Science and Master of Professional Studies in Library and Information Science such as Archives and Cultural Heritage Resources and Services, Data and Knowledge Management, Digital Curation, Digital Libraries, Informatics, Web Design, and Youth Services. Also, Dominican University's offers the Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science (PhD).
The GSLIS publishes a semiannual, peer-reviewed online journal called World Libraries, a publication dedicated to "librarians and libraries in regions without associations or agencies to encourage scholarly communication and professional development." The publication of World Libraries is coordinated by students studying internet publishing.
Administered by the GSLIS, the Butler Children's Literature Center is one of the nation's premier centers for the study of children's and young-adult literature in the services of literacy, learning and a lifelong love of reading. As an examination center for children's and young-adult literature, it serves as a best-practices professional collection to support integration of children's and young-adult literature in classrooms, libraries, childcare centers, and homes.
In the fall of 2014, the university introduced a new bachelor of science in nursing degree program. A new clinical simulation laboratory was designed and built specifically for the program.
Campus
Dominican University is located on a 30-acre (12.14Â ha) wooded campus in suburban River Forest and just 10 miles (16Â km) from downtown Chicago. The Rebecca Crown Library has 300,000 materials in various formats and a fully equipped learning resource center. Other campus features include a language learning center, a computer technology center, an art gallery, a chapel, a student center, the Lund Auditorium, the Eloise Martin Recital Hall, and the Stepan Bookstore. The five residence halls at Dominican University are: Aquinas Hall (Priory Campus), Coughlin Hall, Sister Jean Murray Hall, Mazzuchelli Hall, and Power Hall. More than 30% of all undergraduates live on campus. Most incoming first-year students live in double rooms in Murray or Coughlin halls. Murray is the newest residence hall, which opened in 2004 (as Centennial Hall; renamed after former college president Sister Jean Murray in 2012).
Parmer Hall
In 2007, Dominican University began a new building designed to incorporate the university's gothic identity. This $38 million facility is used for science and education classes. This building follows the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design criteria to minimize environmental impact. This building joins Murray Hall, a residence hall, and a 550-car parking pavilion among recent campus additions.
Student life
Dominican has a variety of campus organizations for students. They include cultural groups, department clubs, honor societies, and special-interest groups.
Athletics
Dominican University teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III since 2000 (previously NAIA). Nicknamed the "Stars", Dominican is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (formerly the Northern Athletics Conference. From the mid-1990s until spring 2005, Dominican was a member of the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference, and a member of the Lake Michigan Conference until the spring of 2006. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, and volleyball, while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball.
Men's soccer
Dominican University's Men's Soccer team is annually ranked among the best in the nation. Since 2002, the Stars Men's Soccer has made 11 consecutive NCAA national tournament appearances, and have posted a 16â€"11 NCAA Tournament record (.593). The Stars have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen four times in program history (2003, 2006, 2009, 2012), to the Elite Eight three times (2003, 2006, 2009), and to the NCAA national semifinal game in 2009, when the Stars fell 1-0 to the eventual national runner-up, Calvin College. Since the NAC (now the NACC) began in 2006, the Stars have won all seven Men's Soccer regular season and tournament titles, and boast a conference unbeaten streak of 104 matches, and a conference tournament winning streak of 32 games.
With the 2012-13 academic year being his 19th at the helm, Head Men’s Soccer Coach Erick Baumann boasts a career .801 winning percentage with a 311-69-22 overall record, ranking him in the top 15 amongst all NCAA men’s soccer winningest coaches all-time, and fourth all-time among NCAA Division III men’s soccer coaches. Additionally, Baumann’s 311 career coaching victories rank him 20th in NCAA Division III men’s soccer all-time while he is the only coach in the top 20 with fewer than 22 years as a coach at a Division III institution. In 1999, Baumann was featured in Sports Illustrated as the NAIA Region VII Coach of the Year as he led the team to the university’s first-ever regional championship in men’s soccer and the program’s first appearance in the NAIA National Tournament.
Under Baumann's leadership, Dominican's Men's Soccer team has produced eight All-American athletes. The most recent to garner the award under Baumann was Lio Tovar and Michael Kapusta, first and second team selections respectively in 2010. In 2009, Mario Napiorkowski earned a spot on the 2009 second team. In 2007, Matt Kochanowski was a third team selection. In 2004 and 2005 respectively Erik Elizondo and David Niederholtmeyer were first-team selections. In 1997 Oscar Alvarez was named to the second team in 1997. In 1999, Carlos Carrillo and Oscar Alvarez were third team selections.
On September 25, 2013, Dominican's historic 104-match conference unbeaten streak came to an end. Benedictine University's Edgar Reyes scored the lone goal which gave the Star's their first loss in conference play since October 2004. Benedictine and Dominican went on to share the regular season title with Dominican winning the conference tournament claiming their 12th consecutive NCAA bid. Benedictine was at it a year later when they beat Dominican again in a game that ended 2-1. Freshman sensation Nick Kapetanos scored the first goal and assisted Edgar Reyes on the second. Benedictine is the only team to beat Dominican in NACC play and they did it in back-to-back years. The next year was the same story as Benedictine beat Dominican 1-0 during the final regular season showdown. Dominican would get its revenge by beating Benedictine 3-2 in overtime the following week.
Regional rivalries have developed with other notable Division III programs such as University of Chicago, Wheaton College (IL), Loras College, North Park University, and Washington University (St. Louis, MO).
Notable students and faculty
- Agnes Awuor, Kenyan nun and politician
- Megan Cavanagh, actress known for her role as Marla Hooch in A League of Their Own
- Margaret Farrow, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin
- Christopher G. Kennedy, Chairman, Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises; Chairman, Top Box Foods; former President, Merchandise Mart Properties; 2013 Lund-Gill Chair in the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences
- Eboo Patel, founder, Interfaith Youth Core; 2012 Lund-Gill Chair in the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences
See also
- River Forest Thomism
References
External links
- Official website
- Official athletics website
