Marist University


Marist University is a private university in Poughkeepsie Town, New York, United States. Marist was founded by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, in 1905 to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 1929, Marist became accredited by the state to offer a wider range of degrees in the arts and sciences. Marist's 180-acre main campus overlooks the Hudson River. Marist has a branch campus in Florence, Italy. A member of NCAA Division I, Marist sponsors 23 collegiate sports. In 2003 the Catholic Church declared Marist a secular institution.

History

Foundation by the Marist Brothers (1905)

The Marist Brothers, a Catholic society founded in France by Saint Marcellin Champagnat in 1816, focused on educational work throughout the world. In 1905, members of the order arrived in the Mid-Hudson Valley to establish the first Marist house of studies in the United States. On the east bank of the Hudson River, just north of Poughkeepsie, they purchased property and a house from Thomas McPherson. They named the building and property "Saint Ann's Hermitage", in memory of Champagnat's Hermitage in France, and began training young men for a life of "study, work, prayer and service."
In 1908, the Brothers purchased the Edward Bech estate to enable the hermitage to expand, increasing the size of their property to.
By 1929, the training center at the hermitage had evolved into the Marist Normal Training School, offering college-level courses under the auspices of Fordham University. The charter for the Marist Normal Training School was obtained by Leo Brouilette.

Four-year college (1946)

In 1946, the State of New York granted the institution an official four-year college charter under the name Marian College, led by Paul Ambrose Fontaine, FMS. Marian College continued the mission of training Marist Brothers as teachers of the congregation's schools.
From 1947 to 1957, the Brothers began working on the weekends, during summers, and in their spare time to build a gymnasium, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel, Adrian Hall, and a residence for the student Brothers.
The Marist University Library was originally housed on the top floor of Greystone in 1928. In 1945, reference, periodical and work areas took over the second floor as well, and then in 1949, the library also claimed Greystone's lowest level. The library remained in Greystone for 35 years.
In 1958, Marist Brother Linus Richard Foy took charge of the college. At 28, he was the youngest college president in the United States. Two years later, Marian College became Marist College and the mission of the college broadened to include the wider community; lay male students were admitted to pursue degree study.
Sheahan Hall, the first residence hall, opened in 1962. It was named for Monsignor J. F. Sheahan without whom the Marist Brothers might not have been able to purchase the Bech Estate that now comprises the entire south campus area. It was quickly followed by Leo Hall in 1963 and Champagnat Hall in 1965. They were named for Leo Brouiletter and Saint Marcellin Champagnat respectively. Donnelly Hall, a dormitory at the time, was built in 1962 by the brothers themselves.
Women were admitted to the evening division classes in 1966, then to the day classes in 1968. Marist's president, Linus Foy, resigned from the Marist Brothers around this time but continued serving as president. Benoit House and Gregory House were erected in 1968 as a residence for the Marist Brothers living on campus. Benoit House honored the memory of Francis Xavier Benoit who taught at Marist for nineteen years, while serving also as Director of Construction for the Marist Brothers. Gregory House was named in memory of Joseph Gregory Marchessault who was chairman of the Physics Department at Marist at the time of his death in 1969.
In 1969, due to the institution's rapid expansion and laws regulating federal aid to religiously affiliated educational institutions in New York State, ownership of the college was transferred from the Marist Brothers to the Marist College Educational Corporation with an independent, predominantly lay board of trustees.
In the 1970s, programs for the educationally disadvantaged were expanded, a computer center was added, graduate programs in business administration and community psychology were instituted, and the James J. McCann Recreation Center was completed.
In 1973, President Foy began a cooperative program with area secondary schools, in which selected high school seniors would take freshman courses and "bridge" into college. In fall 1974, the college expanded its commitment to continuing education by increasing course offerings in the evening division and summer session and in 1984, opened an off-campus extension center in Fishkill; A second extension center was opened in the Orange County town of Goshen in fall 1993.
The burgeoning library, then known as The Spellman Library, was moved from Greystone to Donnelly Hall, in the area now occupied by the Computer Center and DN256, in 1963. Space constraints required moving the library again to Fontaine Hall in 1975.
On February 18, 1975, freshman Shelley Sperling was shot and killed in the dining hall by her ex-boyfriend, Louis Acevedo.

Expansion (1979)

In 1979, Dennis J. Murray was selected to be Marist's president. Under his leadership, enrollment more than doubled and the Poughkeepsie campus expanded to its current size of. Every building on campus was renovated or newly constructed and numerous strategic partnerships were formed.
One of the first strategic partnerships was formed with IBM, a major employer in the Mid-Hudson Valley. In 1984, Marist received $2.5 million in equipment and almost $2 million in software from IBM to expand academic and administrative uses of computers on campus.
One of the first construction projects was the Foy Townhouses, named after Linus Richard Foy, completed in 1982. Marian Hall was built in 1983 within and around the college's first gymnasium. It incorporates the first building to be constructed through the manual labor of the Brothers. Because it is located adjacent to the spot where the Marian building once stood, it carries on the name of that building as well as the original of the four-year college.
To expand student housing, Gartland Commons was built on the north end of the campus in 1985. It was an apartment community, housing approximately 300 students. It was torn down in 2015.
In 1987, the Lowell Thomas Communications Center opened, providing space for communications, math, and computer science studies. The building was built over the site of an outdoor swimming pool from the early days of Marist that was fed by a natural spring.
In 1990, the Margaret M and Charles H Dyson Center opened, providing a home for the School of Management, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and School of Graduate and Continuing Education.
Construction continued in 1994 with a $27 million Student Center, bookstore, dining facilities, art gallery, and a new adjoining dormitory In 1996, Talmadge Court was purchased by the college as an official student residence.
In 1998, across neighboring U.S. Route 9, the Lower West Cedar townhouses were built and the former Poughkeepsie Steel Plant was purchased to temporarily house the library while the original Fontaine Hall was razed and a new library constructed in its place. The Poughkeepsie Steel Plant is now the home of the fine arts program and includes a art gallery. The Art Gallery retains the industrial look of the former steel plant with concrete floors and exposed 15-foot ceilings.
Completed in 1999 and built out of fieldstone with a concentrated focus on technology, the James A. Cannavino Library is considered to be the jewel and the heart of the main campus. Architecturally, the library unifies the college's historic district of Greystone, St. Peter's, and the Kieran Gatehouse, three 1860s-era buildings that are listed on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places, which are also made of fieldstone. The library is named for James A. Cannavino, a long-time member of the Marist Board of Trustees.
A new Fontaine Hall was completed on the north end of campus in 2000 to replace the original building that was razed in 1998. The building holds four classrooms, a multimedia "black box" theatre and two conference rooms, including the striking Henry Hudson Room – a large conference space with skylights and a beautiful view of the Hudson. It also holds The School of Liberal Arts offices and faculty, the Office of College Advancement, which includes the offices of Public Affairs and Alumni Affairs.
With student enrollment increasing and a lack of housing for upperclassmen, the school purchased additional land across Route 9 for expansion. Upper West Cedar, built in 2000, was constructed in a similar style to the Lower West Cedar Townhouses. The Upper Fulton Townhouses followed in 2004 and then the Lower Fulton Townhouses in 2008. These housing areas are connected by a central walkway that leads to the main campus. Also, the Upper Fulton Townhouses were featured on Good Morning America in 2007 for a report on how some colleges and universities were building nicer dormitories to attract more students.
The housing expansion was a sore point with the Poughkeepsie residents, who blamed the college for excessive traffic on the Route 9 corridor. The New York State Department of Transportation and Marist University both blame massively increasing population in the Mid-Hudson Valley, a result of the migration of the residents of nearby New York City starting in late 2001. In May 2007, Marist was granted a variance allowing them to build despite a moratorium on new construction in the area.

Full independence (2003)

Marist's independence was emphasized in 2003, when Marist invited New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to deliver the commencement address for the graduating class, incurring protests due to Spitzer's public support of abortion rights. In response to complaints, then-president Murray assured the Archdiocese of New York that "Marist College is truly independent, and does not identify itself as a Catholic college in any way." Subsequently, Cardinal Edward Egan stated that Marist "is no longer a Catholic institution" and therefore not under the Church's jurisdiction.
The institution's Longview Park was completed in 2007 with a bike/walk path along the Hudson's shore, a fishing pier, the renovation of the historic Cornell boathouse, and better access to scenic vistas, particularly from the gazebo built on a promontory in the center of the park.
In September 2009 Marist was bequeathed $75 million by the industrialist Raymond A. Rich. The donation consisted of the Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate located in the Ulster County town of Esopus plus $10 million. The mansion was designed by Carrère and Hastings, who also designed the New York Public Library Main Branch. The donation was used to establish the Raymond A. Rich Leadership Institute, which has since been focusing on teaching students the communication, interpersonal, and social skills necessary to lead complex organizations in a global setting. The gift was the twelfth largest donation in America in 2009.
In spring 2011, Marist completed construction of a new technology building, the Hancock Center, which is on the main campus where the Benoit and Gregory used to stand. The building is designed in a Gothic architecture style by the firm of Robert A. M. Stern. It comprises three computer labs, Marist Institute for Public Opinion, nine classrooms, six seminar rooms and a trading room for the business school.
During summer 2011, the New York State Department of Transportation completed a pedestrian underpass under US 9 to facilitate safer movement between the sections of campus, which the boulevard separates. Its construction eliminated a pedestrian-only traffic signal. In addition, one entrance near the Lowell Thomas Communication Center was closed to vehicular traffic. All three entrances were renovated and the main gate closed to vehicular traffic.
In the fall of 2013 construction of a new academic building to house the Music Department and renovations to the Lowell Thomas Communications Center, the student center and the dining hall were completed.
In September 2018 Marist announced that it will partner with Nuvance Health to create a medical school. Plans call for the construction of a building on the Vassar Brothers Medical Center campus in the City of Poughkeepsie, which will house school administration and classroom space. The proposed school will be named the Marist Nuvance School of Medicine. Plans for the medical school have since been put on hold indefinitely.
In January 2019 a major renovation and addition to the Steel Plant was completed. The new building features the renovated original 12,000-square-foot historic industrial Steel Plant Building and a 35,000-square-foot addition housing the Fine Arts, Digital Media, and Fashion Programs.
In October 2021, Kevin Weinman became the institution's fifth president.
In August 2024, Marist completed a major renovation and addition to the Dyson Center. The new four-story, 107,000-square-foot building houses The School of Management and School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.