Saint Joseph's College of Maine is a private Catholic liberal arts college in Standish, Maine. It is the only Catholic college in Maine. Saint Joseph's was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1912 as an institution for women. The college, run by a lay and religious Board of Trustees, was located on the convent grounds in nearby Portland until 1956 when it moved to its lakeside location in Standish. In 1970, Saint Joseph's became coeducational and six years later began a distance education program for working adults. Saint Joseph's College Online offers its online programs to 2,400 students in 50 states and nine countries.
Academics
On campus, the college offers more than 40 majors, minors and partnership programs. The average class size is 17. The student-to-faculty ratio is 12:1. On campus, the college offers undergraduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional programs. The most popular majors are nursing, business, education, exercise science/sports management, and biology. Through Saint Joseph's College Online, there are roughly 2,400 students enrolled in more than 30 academic programs leading to bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as associate degrees and certificates. Support for students includes counselors, advisors, online tutors, an IT help desk, and financial aid. Students also have the option to take courses on campus during the summer.
Student life
Athletics
Saint Joseph's College teams are known as the Monks. The college fields NCAA Division III sport in soccer, volleyball, swimming, basketball, golf, field hockey, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and cross country. The college is a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and the North Atlantic Conference. Intramural teams include everything from basketball to bowling; club sports include dance team, cheerleading, ice hockey and ultimate Frisbee. The athletic center is equipped with a full gym, indoor track, pool, and dance/aerobics room. The 2012 SJC baseball team was ranked 14th in the country in the DIII NCAA ranking. The baseball rankings for the 2013 season was projecting SJC at 12th in the country. With a win against #1 Wheaton College, the Monks moved up to #9 in the country.
Delta Epsilon Sigma, a national scholastic honor society for students of Catholic colleges and universities, has been at Saint Joseph's College since 1950.
Sigma Theta Tau International is the nursing honor society and exists to promote the development, dissemination and utilization of nursing knowledge. Sigma Theta Tau is committed to improving the health of people worldwide through increasing the scientific base of nursing practice. The Kappa Zeta Chapter-at-large of Sigma Theta Tau was chartered at Saint Joseph's College in April 1988.
Community Service Honor
Saint Joseph's College was named to the 2013 and 2014 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This designation is the highest honor a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. In the application for this award, Community-Based Learning Director Kimberly Post tracked both the academic and extracurricular programs within the Saint Joseph's College community, reporting that 800 students engaged in service both in and out of the classroom over the course of the year, 390 of which engaged in at least 20 hours of service learning per semester, with a total of 12,856 service hours provided.
Carnegie Classification of Community Engagement
In 2015, Saint Joseph's earned the Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation. Community-Based Learning Director Kimberly Post, who went through the rigorous two-year process of research and fact gathering, examined community engagement in all areas of the institution, from students to faculty and staff. The classification reflects the dedication the College community has to providing students learning experiences that prepare them to be both skilled and compassionate citizens of the world, and recognizes the faculty's real-world, community-based approach to teaching and learning.
Notable alumni
Writing, Journalism, Television
Randy Freer. Former President of FOX Sports Network, current CEO of Hulu
Marilyn Lacey. religious sister, Director, and founder of Mercy Beyond Borders; In 2001 she was honored by the Dalai Lama as an “Unsung Hero of Compassion”, for her life of service with refugees.
