University of Albuquerque.

A co-educational liberal arts college founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Colorado Springs, Colo. Began as a summer college to provide continuing education for all teaching Sisters in New Mexico. Chartered as a full-time teachers college and named Catholic Teachers College of New Mexico in 1940. In 1957 renamed the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande, in 1966 renamed the University of Albuquerque. Closed in 1986.

The University of Albuquerque, a co-educational liberal arts college located on Albuquerque's west side, was founded in l920 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Lafayette, Indiana. The University, which closed its doors in l986, was also formerly known as the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande (from l947 to l965), and Catholic Teachers' College of New Mexico (from l940 to l947).

The Sisters of St. Francis, an order known throughout the West for the building of hospitals and orphanages, had been teaching in the mission schools of New Mexico since l904. In response to the growing need for continuing education for all teaching Sisters in New Mexico, the Sisters established the St. Francis Summer College in 1920. Courses were conducted as an extension of St. Bonaventure College in New York, with Father Albert O'Brien, a professor of philosophy, serving as President until his death in l937. Classes were held at the St. Anthony Home for Boys (located at Indian School Road and l2th Street), a school founded in l913 by the Sisters of St. Francis.

In 1940, in order to meet increasing needs, the summer college was chartered as a full-time teachers college. Known as the Catholic Teachers College of New Mexico, it was accredited through affiliation with the Catholic University of America. In l946, after the archdiocese acquired the property of the former Lourdes Seminary of the Fathers of St. Joseph, about five miles south of Albuquerque, the college was relocated from St. Anthony's to that site.

Mother M. Basilia Kugler, who had a reputation as a builder, was appointed president of the college in the fall of l949. Soon the institution would be reestablished as a liberal arts college, and with great prospects of expansion. After the donation by three land owners (William A. and Loretta B. Keleher, Mildred L. and Fred White, and E.H. and Maxine Sloan) of a 60-acre site on the West Mesa (1950), ground was broken for the new $l,500,000 facility, the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande. (The name became official in l957.) The cornerstone was laid in l95l, and that year's graduating class donated a ten-foot, 3500-pound marble statue of St. Joseph carved in Piestrasanta, Italy, to be erected on the new campus. Sister Viatora Schuller succeeded Mother Basilia as President in 1953. In l960, the College received accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

Five years later, the Board of Trustees embarked on a wide-scale structural reorganization and institutional planning project. The Faculty Senate was granted a constitution in l966 and the student body in l967. Along with new expansion plans, a new name would provide greater visibility and a geographical identity with the city of Albuquerque. The name of the institution was officially changed on January l, l966 to the University of Albuquerque.

From l966 to its closing in l986, the administration underwent frequent changes. A succession of short-term presidents headed the administration, and in its final years, the University of Albuquerque, experiencing serious organizational and financial instability, was continually immersed in controversy. In l983 the institution was transferred to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe "in the hope that local Catholic governance and sponsorship would restore and enhance the Mission which the Sisters of St. Francis had maintained for 63 years." But after the Summer Session of l986, the University of Albuquerque closed its doors, thus ending its 66-year history.

The College of St. Joseph/University of Albuquerque was noted for its programs tailored to meet the educational needs of the community. Among these were the Adult Degree Program, the Nursing and Law Enforcement programs, and the University Scholars Program, as well as the Drama Department directed by Jim Morley [see also MSS BC 508]. Among the notable alumni of the University of Albuquerque is Senator Pete V. Domenici, at one time President of the Student Senate. He later graduated from the University of New Mexico.