Points of Pride

Facts about St. Catherine University

Chapel and Derham Hall

Academic Honors

  • The University offers degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctorate levels, making it the most comprehensive private college or university in the state.
  • The recently launched Master of Physician Assistant Studies, the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership and the nationally accredited Master of Library and Information Science are among a dozen graduate degree programs.
  • St. Kate’s was the first Catholic college or university in the country to receive a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1937.
  • Our newly renovated facilities in Mendel Hall house the second largest human anatomy lab at any college or university in Minnesota.
  • We rank in the top 10 percent of all U.S. News and World Report colleges and universities in our category.

A History of InnovationBent willow tree

  • The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet founded the College of St. Catherine in 1905 and remain active in campus life today.
  • The College was renamed St. Catherine University on June 1, 2009, to more accurately reflect the comprehensive nature of our academic programs and to position the institution for national pre-eminence.
  • Our College for Women — which grants four-year degrees in both traditional and hybrid formats — is the largest women’s college in the country.
  • Men can be Katies, too. Our graduate, associate and certificate programs are open to women and men.
  • St. Kate’s is the oldest healthcare educator in the state. The Sisters of St. Joseph founded the Minneapolis campus in 1887 as St. Mary’s School of Nursing, later named St. Mary’s Junior College. It merged with St. Catherine in 1986.

People and Places

  • St. Catherine’s main campus in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul is often touted as the prettiest urban campus in Minnesota.
  • Both ethnically and economically, our student body is the most diverse of all Minnesota private colleges or universities.
  • Nearly 270 faculty and staff members are St. Kate’s alumnae.
  • Our Access and Success program supports student-parents with child-friendly study areas on both campuses.
  • Andrea Lee, IHM, among the University’s longest-serving presidents, has made the mission central to St. Kate’s direction and decision making.