An Alumnae Association History

Amazing Accomplishments
by Energetic and Idealistic Women

The College opened in 1905. Women completed shorter educational programs in the next few years but the first two women to complete bachelor’s degree programs graduated in 1913.

In 1917, with fewer than 25 total alumnae, Dean Antonia McHugh CSJ called a meeting of four new graduates “to form ways to keep in contact with college friends, recruit new students, and raise money for a scholarship fund through buying defense bonds.” Sound familiar?

The Alumnae Association, throughout the years, has been volunteer-directed. Volunteers have generated ideas and programs to support the college and each other; they have taken risks; they have pushed forward toward goals in spite of perceived obstacles. The Association has also been driven by graduates' desire to keep learning, keep discussing, keep meeting and enjoying each other's company and insights!

The Alumnae Association
Originated Many University Departments

Over the years several functions initiated by the Alumnae Association have become departments of St. Catherine University:

• In 1952 the Alumnae Association began a formal Annual Fund. In 1975 and 1976 the fund achieved record percentages of alumnae donating, attaining Bush Foundation challenge goals in both years. Alumnae Association volunteers conducted successful Phonorama campaigns beginning in 1970. In 1985 the Annual Fund moved to the College Development Office which had previously focused its efforts entirely on capital fund raising.

• Alumnae volunteers orchestrated Fontbonne Fairs to raise money to build St. Joseph Hall. After completion of the building, the Alumnae Office in St. Joseph Hall operated the bulk mail facility for the entire College, processing, bundling and sending out all bulk mailings from a room across the hall from the main office. The College mail department began processing its bulk mail in 1973.

• The Alumnae Association offered carnivals and summer youth swimming lessons in the Fontbonne Hall pool. The swimming program became a function of the physical education department in the 1970s.

• In the 1920s, the Alumnae News was developed for alumnae communication. In the 1940s, it became SCAN, reformatted in 1986. The magazine evolved in 2003 into a College publication, directed by the Office of Marketing and Communications with the cooperation of the Alumnae Association.

The Alumnae Association
Originated Many Unique Alumnae Programs

Always listening to the needs and desires of alumnae, the Association created many special programs and events.

• In the 1940s alumnae focused on social activities. We sponsored balls and dances; we sponsored a concert of Father Flanagan’s Boys Choir at the St. Paul Auditorium to a sold-out crowd.

• Since the 1940s the Alumnae Association has been operating regional clubs or chapters in areas of clusters of graduates.
• In the 1960s and 1970s the Alumnae Association initiated continuing education programs on topics of current interest. One of these programs which has continued to the present is Conversation with Books, begun in 1944.
• In 1979 we initiated the St. Catherine Alumnae Award program to highlight the accomplishments of St. Catherine’s graduates.
• With the 1986 partnership of the College of St. Catherine and St. Mary’s Junior College, Minneapolis, alumnae began to work with graduates of the associate degree programs, now blending the reunions of the St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s diploma nurses and extending the circulation of SCAN to all graduates.

Looking to the Future

We are continually seeking better ways to serve you, assist you in your professional and education goals, and involve you the events and meetings. We welcome all your input and are grateful to all your service to each other and the college! For information on the Association's Strategic Priorities and the questions we are facing together (and on which we need your input), please click here.

In addition to the many benefits and perks offered to you as alumnae, which are described through our web pages (see the pages titled BENEFITS and PERKS),

• The Alumnae Association continues to facilitate ways for members to keep in contact with each other through networking services, regular reunions, and chapter gatherings.

• The Alumnae Association excels at presenting interesting educational opportunities for alumnae, and it assists in development and recruiting students through use of the referral cards and personal contacts.

• The Alumnae Association keeps in touch through calendars, events, SCANand ist Web pages, and through reunion channels.

If you have questions, suggestions, or energies you'd like to offer the association or the college, please contact us:

St. Catherine University
Alumnae/i Association
Mail #F-33
2004 Randolph Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105

651-690-6666