History of Alverno College
The following are selected milestones in the rich history of Alverno College.
1887 St. Joseph's Normal School, the precursor of Alverno College, was founded to educate the School Sisters of St. Francis.
1946 Alverno Teachers College, formerly St. Joseph's Normal School, became a four-year liberal arts college, Alverno College.
1953 Alverno College moved to its present site.
1971 Alverno's internship program was established.
1973 Alverno's ability-based curriculum was instituted.
1975 The first "A Day at Alverno" was held for educators to learn about Alverno's teaching methods.
1977 Weekend College, the first of its kind in the Milwaukee area, was launched to reach out to working women.
1996 Alverno College launched its first Master's
program - a coed Master of Arts in Education.
1999 Alverno College began an NCAA Division III athletics program, the first of its kind at the college.
2003 Sister Joel Read retired after a 35-year tenure as college president, and nearly 50 years serving the students of Alverno College.
2004 Mary Meehan, Ph.D., was inaugurated as seventh president of Alverno College.
2005 The Master of Science in Nursing program was launched.
2006 The Alverno MBA, the area's first abilities-based MBA program, welcomed its first class.
2007 The soccer and softball athletics fields were officially dedicated.
2008 Clare Hall was renovated to accommodate Alverno's growing enrollment.
2009 Alverno opened the Research Center for Women and Girls.
For more information about the history of Alverno College, contact the
Alverno College Archives at 414-382-6202 or click here: Archives.
