Our Foundation
In 1840, six Sisters of Providence left their convent in Ruille-sur-Loir, France on a journey to the wilderness of Indiana. Mother Theodore Guerin, a woman whose spirit and philosophy are the foundations the College relies on today, led the sisters on their journey.
Mother Theodore was not the first to step forward when the Bishop of Vincennes asked the Sisters of Providence to establish an academy for young women in Indiana. She had been decorated by the French Board of Education for being a highly gifted and efficient leader, but Mother Theodore felt unworthy of the task of founding an institution of learning. She feared her frail health might impede the progress of others.
Her superiors were convinced Mother Theodore possessed the spirit, wisdom and inner strength needed to oversee the pioneering mission. They were correct in believing her dedication to teaching and to serving her order would lead her to accept the challenge. Mother Theodore realized it would not be an easy task, as did her acquaintances. After hearing of her plans, a doctor who knew Mother Theodore wrote, “It seemed like hearing of a friend condemned to death.”
The story of the journey to Indiana has enough adventure for an action movie. During the 40 days of the stormy ocean crossing, they were robbed of a good portion of the money meant to finance the rest of their trip. When they arrived in New York, they faced the task of crossing half of a continent where they could barely speak the language.
The sisters traveled cross-country by train, canal, stagecoach, and ferry. Finally, in one long, arduous last day of traveling, the women crossed the Wabash River. On Oct. 22, 1840, more than three months after leaving France, they had arrived in the middle of dark woods with no house or other people in sight. It was only human to shed tears of frustration and disappointment, but the women quickly offered prayers of thanksgiving. Mother Theodore’s journals show that the source of the disappointment was not that they had no home – but that they did not know where they would find students.
Even before there were buildings, the students came. In 1846, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was granted the first charter for the higher education of women in the state of Indiana. The College conferred its first bachelor of arts degree in 1899.
During the next century, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College continued the tradition of pioneering in women’s education. It was the first women’s college to offer journalism courses and the first to offer degree work in secondary education, home economics and secretarial science. These offerings are evidence of an early commitment to preparing women for professional roles. As the careers open to women have expanded, the College has moved ahead in areas such as business, education, equine studies and psychology.
Since the early 1990s, the College has invested considerable resources in the refurbishment of campus facilities and the use of technology to support teaching and learning. Recent upgrades include: renovated science labs, computer classrooms and “smart classrooms”.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is also recognized as a pioneer in the area of online education. In 1973, the College introduced one of the first independent study programs in the nation, the Women’s External Degree (WED) Program. The WED program served adult women who needed flexible schedules to earn a degree while balancing important family and job responsibilities. In 2005, the College expanded access to its undergraduate online and adult programs to men and was renamed Woods Online.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College also offers five master’s degree programs, open to both women and men, in the hybrid and online formats. In 2000, the College created the Master of Arts in Art Therapy (MAAT) program, designed for persons who utilize or plan to utilize art in therapy or art as therapy, and the Master of Arts in Music Therapy (MAMT) program, which welcomes qualified music therapists seeking an advanced understanding of the therapeutic uses of music. In 2007, the College introduced the Master of Leadership Development (MLD) program. This program explores culture and creativity, leadership identity, ethical decision making and critical analysis of research. In 2016, the College began the Master in Healthcare Administration program. In 2018, a Master of Science in Nursing with Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration program was added.
The process for the beatification and canonization of Saint Mother Theodore began in 1909, when Bishop Francis Silas Chatard, bishop of Indianapolis, granted permission for the opening of the Informative Process of the Cause for Mother Theodore. The process took place in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as the required first step of the Cause and involved a thorough study of Mother Theodore’s life, work, and writings. This part of the process ended in 1913.
On October 15, 2006, Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, was canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church during a ceremony and Eucharistic Liturgy presided over by Pope Benedict XVI at The Vatican.
In the fall of 2015, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College expanded its mission to women and men in all of its programs including the undergraduate campus-based programs.