The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST, simply St. Thomas, or University of St. Thomas, Minnesota) is a private Catholic research university with campuses in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1885 by Archbishop John Ireland as a Catholic seminary, it is named after Thomas Aquinas, the medieval Catholic theologian, philosopher, and patron saint of students. In 2025, the university enrolled over 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students across its campuses and is the largest private university in Minnesota.

The University of St. Thomas is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is composed of nine schools and colleges. These include the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering, School of Education, Morrison Family College of Health, the Dougherty Family College which provides associate degree programs, School of Entrepreneurship, Opus College of Business, and the School of Law. St. Thomas is also home to two seminary programs: the Saint Paul Seminary, a Catholic major seminary and divinity school, and the undergraduate Saint John Vianney Seminary. Both are affiliated with the university and the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

History

Early history Founded in 1885 by John Ireland, then archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, St. Thomas began as an all-male Catholic seminary. In 1894, the liberal arts program became an independent college through a gift from local railroad tycoon James J. Hill, who provided funds to establish the Saint Paul Seminary apart from the college.

Expansion In 1903, the College of St. Thomas established a military program on campus, and it was officially termed a military school by the U.S. War Department in 1906. Initially, the school gave out two-year diplomas in commercial and classical programs before awarding its first academic degrees in 1915. In the years before World War I, the commandant of cadets and professor of military science was Robert I. Rees, who attained the rank of brigadier general during the war and was later an executive at AT&T. In 1922, military training became optional.

From the late 1920s through the mid-1930s, the Holy Cross Fathers, who run the University of Notre Dame, controlled the college's administration. The diocese called them in to help with the school's financial problems; they were known as a crisis intervention team of sorts for parochial schools of the time.

During World War II, St. Thomas served as a training base for naval officers, which kept the school open when men who would have attended college were fighting in the war. Also during this period, Japanese American students in concentration camps were invited to study at St. Thomas.After the war, in 1948, the college established "Tom Town" on the eastern end of the lower quadrant, now the site of the O'Shaughnessey-Frey Library and O'Shaughnessey Education Center. Tom Town, made of 20 double-dwelling huts, consisted of white, barracks-like housing units for faculty, students, and their families. The units helped meet housing demand after World War II.

Diversification In the latter half of the 20th century, St. Thomas started two of its most notable graduate programs, education in 1950 and business administration in 1974. The school became co-educational in 1977, and although women were not allowed to enroll until then, female students from St. Catherine University (then the College of St. Catherine) often took classes at St. Thomas. Women were also present as instructors and administrators on campus, but the staff, faculty, and administration have seen a vast increase in female employment since the move to co-education. In 1990, the College of St. Thomas became the University of St. Thomas and in 1991, the university opened the Minneapolis campus. In 2001, St. Thomas reinstated its School of Law at its Minneapolis campus; it had been shut down during the Great Depression. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the speaker at the grand opening.

Campuses

Saint Paul

The St. Paul campus is the main campus and is home to most undergraduate students. The main campus, built on a farm site once considered "far removed from town", is a few blocks east of the Mississippi River on Summit Avenue. The site was farmed by ex-Fort Snelling soldier William Finn, who received the property as a pension settlement after he accidentally shot himself in the hand while on guard duty.

The western edge of the campus borders Mississippi Gorge Regional Park. Summit Avenue, which runs through the middle of the campus, is the country's longest span of Victorian homes. This tree-lined avenue includes the Governor's Mansion, F. Scott Fitzgerald's townhome, and James J. Hill's mansion.

In 2005, a new apartment-style residence hall was built on an existing parking lot. McNeely Hall, built in 2006, is a large classroom building for business that replaced a smaller building of the same name.

In 2012, St. Thomas completed the final stage of its three-building expansion on the St. Paul campus. The two main additions are the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Center (AARC) and the Anderson Student Center. They were completed in the summer of 2010 and January 2012, respectively. The AARC has a field house, basketball arena, weight room, and swimming pool. The field house is home to the MIAC conference's most dominant track team. The Anderson Student Center is home to new food venues and entertainment options, including a game room, bowling alley, and coffee shop. The American Museum of Asmat Art is on the second floor.

St Thomas's newest dormitories, Frey Residence Hall and Schoenecker North Residence Hall, opened in 2020. Frey is a five-story facility that houses 260 second-year and transfer students. Tommie North is also a 5-story facility, houses 480 residents, and has a 116-stall underground parking garage. It is connected by tunnel to the Iverson Center for Faith and Ireland Hall and sits on the site of the former John Paul II dormitory.

In 2021, St. Thomas moved forward with plans for a new $110 million, 130,000 square foot building on South Campus called Schoenecker Center. A dedication ceremony for it was held on May 8, 2024. The new facility will focus on STEAM fields. The 126-year-old Loras Hall, most recently used as an administrative building, was demolished to make way for Schoenecker Center.

In 2023, the university announced plans for a $175 million on-campus indoor arena known as Lee and Penny Anderson Arena. The 6,000-seat arena will be the home of the basketball and hockey teams and host other events, such as commencement. Cretin Hall, McCarthy Gymnasium, and the Service Center are to be demolished to make way for the arena.

In 2024, the university officially opened the Schoenecker Center on its St. Paul campus. The $110 million, 130,000-square-foot facility acts as a central hub for STEAM education, uniquely housing interdisciplinary programs spanning the arts, engineering, and sciences.

Minneapolis

In fall 1992, the university opened a permanent campus at 1000 LaSalle Ave. in Minneapolis. The first building, named Terrence Murphy Hall in 2000, is headquarters to the university's Opus College of Business. Artist Mark Balma created one of the largest frescoes in the United States on the arched ceiling of its atrium. The seven-panel, fresco was completed in 1994 and portrays the seven virtues discussed in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Minneapolis campus also holds St. Thomas's School of Education, the School of Law, and the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.

Daniel C. Gainey Conference Center (Owatonna) As announced on May 15, 2014, the Daniel C. Gainey Conference Center was to be sold to Meridian Behavioral Health, LLC, with a plan to convert it to a treatment facility for addiction and behavioral disorders. The deal closed in August 2014. The deal included the entire 180-acre property and all the buildings except the Winton Guest House, which was designed by architect Frank Gehry. St. Thomas then sold the house at auction and it was moved from the site.

Bernardi (Rome) Since 1999, the University of St. Thomas has been the only U.S. university to have a formal affiliation with the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, Handbook of Studies 2012- 2013, p. 303 http://www.pust.it/

Academics

Each year, the university awards almost 2,500 degrees, including five different bachelor's degrees (B.A., B.M., B.S., B.S.M.E., and B.S.E.E.). It has 88 major fields at the undergraduate level, with 59 minor fields of study and seven preprofessional programs. At the graduate and professional level, the university offers 41 master's degrees, 2 education specialist degrees, 1 juris doctor, and 5 doctorates.

The University of St. Thomas is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC), a consortium of five private liberal arts colleges. This program allows students to take classes at one of the associated colleges for no additional cost. Other schools include Hamline University, St. Catherine University, Macalester College, and Augsburg University.

Schools and colleges

The university offers its degree programs through nine divisions. The College of Arts and Sciences includes undergraduate departments in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, plus a number of interdisciplinary programs. The Opus College of Business has seven departments offering graduate and undergraduate curricula including Executive Education and Professional Development at University of St. Thomas, and is one of six AACSB accredited business schools in Minnesota. St. Thomas also houses the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, which offers master's- and doctoral-level degrees oriented to theological study and the practice of ministry. Saint John Vianney Seminary, a minor college seminary, is also at St. Thomas. Other schools include the School of Education, the School of Engineering, and the School of Social Work. The Master of Social Work is offered as a double degree program with the St. Catherine University.

Schools housed on the Minneapolis campus include the Graduate School of Professional Psychology, Undergraduate and Graduate Schools of Education, Graduate Programs in Software Engineering, and the School of Law, which was re-opened in 1999 after a 66-year hiatus.

Athletics

St. Thomas's school colors are purple and gray, and the athletic teams are called the Tommies. The mascot for these teams is "Tommie". "Tommy" was changed to the "ie" spelling when women were accepted as full-time students, to be more inclusive.

For most of its athletic history, St. Thomas was a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), which competes at the NCAA Division III level. Since 1885, athletics have been present on St. Thomas' campus. The first sports teams that became popular were intramural. The top intramural baseball teams in the 1890s were the "Blues" and "Grays", which is where the school colors come from. Varsity sports did not begin until 1904, and UST was a founding member of the MIAC in 1920. St. Thomas celebrated its 100th year of varsity athletics in 2003–2004.