History
.jpg "A student takes in Stritch's scenic campus on the North Shore of Milwaukee.")
Cardinal Stritch University was founded in 1937 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. Originally on Milwaukee's south side, the school offered teacher training for sisters only. Its original name was St. Clare College.
The institution was re-named in 1946 for Samuel Cardinal Stritch, a former archbishop of Milwaukee and a friend of the sisters. That year, lay women were admitted.
In 1956, a graduate division was established, with majors in special education and reading, to which men were admitted. The undergraduate division remained all-women until 1970.
In 1962, Stritch moved to its current location, just north of Milwaukee's city limits on 40 acres of land in the communities of Fox Point and Glendale. A nursing program was added in 1980.
In 1982, the forerunner to the College of Business and Management, was established, for adults wanting to return to school. By 1987, the former Programs in Management for Adults had regional offices in Madison, Wis., and Edina, Minn., in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
In 1983, the Professional Inservice Bureau, forerunner of the Outreach Department, was created. It offered off-campus classes to educators wanting graduate studies. Courses are now offered throughout the Greater Milwaukee area, in Madison, and around the state of Wisconsin.
In 1997, Stritch moved to University status. The new name reflects the institution's distinct academic divisions, heterogeneous student body, and array of undergraduate and graduate programs. Academic divisions became Stritch's four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business and Management, Education and Leadership, and the Ruth S. Coleman College of Nursing.
In 1998, the first doctoral program, in leadership, began, in the College of Education and Leadership.
In 2005, a $14 million, 90,000-square-foot expansion of the University’s main administration building, Bonaventure Hall, was completed. The expansion created a state-of-the-art learning environment for students and faculty and better enables Stritch to serve the community.
In 2006, the University began offering its first entirely online degree programs -- the Master of Education, in the College of Education and Leadership; and the Bachelor of Science in Public Safety Management, in the College of Business and Management.
In 2007, the Saint Clare Center for Ministry Formation is established. The Center is designed for the education and formation of lay and ordained ministers of the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese and other Christian churches of Southeast Wisconsin.
In 2009, Stritch opened the City Center in the former Laboratory Building at The Brewery redevelopment project in downtown Milwaukee, establishing a major new university presence in the heart of the city.