John Carroll University

Founding

John Carroll University was founded in 1886 by the Society of Jesuits under the title of St Ignatius College as a "college for men." It has been in continuous operation as a degree-granting institution since that time. Founded as the 19th of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, it is a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. It was founded 97 years after Georgetown University, the first Catholic Jesuit University in the United States.

In 1923, the College was renamed John Carroll University, after the first archbishop of the Catholic Church in the United States and founder of fellow Jesuit institution Georgetown University. In 1935, it was moved from its original location on the west side of Cleveland to its present site in University Heights, a suburb 10 miles (16 km) east of downtown Cleveland. The city had been renamed from "Idlewood" during the construction of the campus.

During World War II, John Carroll was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

Expansion

In September 1968, the University made the transition from full-time male enrollment to a fully coeducational institution, admitting women to the College of Arts and Sciences for the first time.

In recent years, the University has undergone extensive reconstruction and expansion. In 2003, the University opened the $66 million, 265,000 ft² (25,000 m²) Dolan Center for Science and Technology, named after alumnus Charles Dolan, founder of Cablevision and HBO, and his wife Helen Dolan. The couple met while attending John Carroll. In 2011, the university completed the removal of the (older) Bohannon Science building and Hamlin Quad enhancement project.

The current president, Rev. Robert Niehoff was inaugurated the 24th president of John Carroll University in October 2005.

Jesuit Tradition

The Jesuits who founded St. Ignatius College were exiles from Germany, forced out by Bismarck's Kulturkampf. They brought with them the traditional structure of the Jesuit college as an extension of the apostolate of the religious community to prepare the student morally as well as intellectually. The principal instrument of this education was the classical course of seven years, in which the first three years were devoted to learning languages as necessary tools. The student was then considered prepared for university work. The next four years were devoted to the study of classical literature and Latin and Greek prose and poetry, and to developing the ability to express one's self in these languages, as well as in the vernacular, orally and in writing. The final year was devoted to philosophy. There were also electives in the sciences, history, and geography, as well as other subjects. If the student completed only six years, a certificate was given. Completion of the year of philosophy made the student eligible for the baccalaureate degree, which the college was empowered to grant when it was chartered in 1890. The first two degrees were awarded in 1895.

John Carroll’s core value and mission emphasizes social justice and service to the community and the broader world. The university also follows Jesuit traditions by focusing on educating the “whole” student, or the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical development of each student. Although its curriculum and community are shaped by its Jesuit and Catholic nature, it welcomes faculty, staff, and students of all faiths and of no faith.

Academic Programs

John Carroll University is organized into two schools: the College of Arts and Sciences and the AACSB-accredited Boler School of Business, each defining its own academic programs under the auspices of the Academic Vice President. All students need to fulfill the requirements in the core curriculum, as well as those required by their major field of study.

Core Curriculum

The university requires a rigorous liberal arts core for all undergraduate students. Among the requirements are public speaking, English composition, two philosophy courses, two religious studies courses, a social justice course, a global course, and a foreign language requirement.

The Core Curriculum in the Liberal Arts of John Carroll is informed by the principles that issue from the University's mission as a Jesuit liberal arts institution of higher learning. Accordingly, the Core emphasizes the development of whole human persons who are educated in the humanizing arts and sciences; skilled in expression and in scholarly investigation; and aware of the interrelationship of all knowledge and the interdependence of all peoples. Moreover, it promotes the integration of faith and reason by imparting a deeper knowledge of and respect for the students' own cultural and religious traditions as well as those of others. Finally, it highlights the development of intellect, character, and leadership, and the responsible social actions which flow from them.

As a means to achieve these and other goals significant to the University's mission, the Core has a distributive structure as well as distinctive emphases. The Core thus allows selectivity while also stipulating certain academic experiences which are important for all students.

College of Arts and Sciences

John Carroll University's College of Arts and Sciences offers its students 31 majors and 28 minors. Some of the most popular majors are communications, education, political science, biology, and psychology.

Boler School of Business

The John M. and Mary Jo Boler School of Business offers seven majors, as well as several minors. The majors are Accountancy, Economics, Finance, Logistics, Management, Marketing and International Business with Language and Culture.

Graduate Programs

A partial list of graduate programs that are offered include: accountancy, biology, business (MBA), communications management, clinical mental health counseling, education, educational administration, school counseling, school psychology, English, history, humanities, integrated science, mathematics, nonprofit administration, and Theology & Religious Studies.

International programs

John Carroll has several international programs in which eligible upperclassman are able to participate. The university operates several of their own programs and cooperates with other Jesuit universities in operating other programs. John Carroll University's Exchange Programs include the International Student Exchange Program, and programs at Kansai Gaidai University, Nanzan University and Sophia University, all in Japan as well as the Dortmund University of Technology, Germany and University of Hull, England.

John Carroll University's Sponsored Programs are either administered by John Carroll University or by another Jesuit University. In certain cases, John Carroll University faculty accompany and remain abroad with the students the entire semester. These programs include the Belfast Institute in Peace Building and Conflict Transformation, the Boler School of Business Semester in London, Italian Studies at Vatican City, the London Liberal Arts Semester, the Jesuit Beijing Center, as well as Casa de la Solidaridad in El Salvador.

All international programs, including those for international students who study at John Carroll, are managed by the University's Center for Global Education.

Scholarships

The university has four merit scholarships including the Presidential Honors Award, the Presidential Leadership Award, the Arrupe Scholars Award, and the Magis Scholarship. Department scholarships are offered by individual departments and include the Castellano Scholarship, usually awarded yearly to one or two freshman applicants who will major in the classical languages (Latin and Greek). This award covers full tuition for four years.

Rankings

Campus

More than twenty major buildings, predominantly Collegiate Gothic in architecture (not to be confused with the common Tudor Revival style found in much of Cleveland Heights), and sixty landscaped acres make up the John Carroll campus. The red-brick Administration Building, surmounted by the university's landmark Grasselli Tower, bears clear resemblance to the English royal palace Hampton Court.

Thorne Acres, a 38-acre (150,000 m²) property in nearby Chardon, provides additional recreational and educational facilities.

Major buildings include the Grasselli Library and its John G. and Mary Jane Breen Learning Center, the Thomas P. O'Malley, SJ Center for Communications and Language Arts, and the D.J. Lombardo Student Center. This center includes the Little Theatre, the Harold C. Schott Dining Hall, the Inn Between, the Underground, recreational facilities, public conference rooms, and offices for student organizations; it is also the location of the Fritzsche Religious Center containing the campus ministry offices and the Saint Francis Chapel. In recent years, the University has purchased several homes as well as a nearby shopping plaza which abut the campus in order to both provide for additional office and housing space, but also to help preserve the look of the neighborhood around the campus which has become landlocked since the University was one of the original developments in what was once part of neighboring Shaker Heights.

The Don Shula Sports Center includes the William H. Johnson Natatorium and the Ralph Vince Fitness Center. Other major facilities include:

Student Organizations

There are over 100 student-led organizations at John Carroll, many of which have the underlying goal of providing service to the community – be it the community of the local Cleveland area or the global community at large. A list of these organizations can be found on the JCU Campus Life Organizations page.

Greek life

John Carroll University's fraternities and sororities are approved by the John Carroll University Office of Student Activities and are governed by the rules of the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils, respectively.

The following four fraternities have chapters or colonies at John Carroll University:

The following five sororities have chapters at John Carroll University:

Campus Ministry

Grounded in the Catholic and Ignatian tradition, Campus Ministry serves persons of all faiths by: animating a community of faith through vibrant worship, retreats and small faith communities; promoting a faith that does justice through education, advocacy, service and reflection; fostering the development of whole persons who are servant leaders in their local, global, and faith communities.

Center for Service & Social Action

The Center for Service & Social Action believes that, through service, we can deepen our understanding of and be a conduit for positive change within our local, national, and international community. It aids students in creating a mutual understanding and respect for those in need, and stresses the importance of reflection after service to reinforce the learning experience.

Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion

Guided by John Carroll University’s mission, vision, and core values, the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion focuses on supporting the holistic development of historically underrepresented students. The goal of the Center is to nurture a sense of belonging for students from diverse backgrounds, so they can become successful and fully engaged in their learning experiences in and outside the classroom. The Center promotes a welcoming and just university community, they sponsor campus speakers and entertainment, as well as providing training related to issues of diversity.

Arrupe

The Arrupe Scholars Program recognizes John Carroll students for their significant commitment to two interrelated values of John Carroll's mission: intellectual inquiry that demands critical thinking, and engaging in social justice and community service that leads to social action.

Fr. Pedro Arrupe grew in his understanding of the world, its struggles for justice and peace, and the way God continued to call people to be involved in this world. Students in the Arrupe program can find in his life a paradigm for their own growth, to be unafraid to be challenged, to learn from cultures not their own, and to gauge their growth not in terms of how much they possess but in terms of how much they can give. A commitment to social justice entails the formation of an ethic of social action that embodies Fr. Arrupe's ideal of "a commitment to promote justice and to enter into solidarity with the voiceless and the powerless."

The humanism of today's Jesuit University is not one that removes young men or women from life but one that prepares them to take their place in life with conviction that their talents are not talents until they are directed to help other people, until they have become genuinely men and women for others.

A commitment to social justice is the full, fair and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet the needs of each individual member.

Social justice involves individuals with a deep understanding of their own agency, as well as a personal sense of social responsibility toward and with others and society as a whole.

Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is fair and relatively equitable, and all members are physically, spiritually and psychologically safe and secure.

Housing

John Carroll is a primarily residential campus, with over 60% of all students living on campus in one of eight residence halls; 90% of freshmen and sophomores live on campus. In addition, the University owns various apartment buildings and townhouses nearby campus that become additional options for juniors and seniors in their final two years at the University.

Residence halls

There are eight residence halls on John Carroll's campus. During a student's first year, they are placed in one of three freshman residence halls:

The other five residence halls house upperclassmen. All are coed but rooms are separated by gender in different wings of each hall.

John Joseph Bernet (February 9, 1868 – July 5, 1935)[1][2] was president of the Nickel Plate Road, Erie Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and Pere Marquette Railroad in the United States. He was known for bringing railroad companies back from bankruptcy to solvency, earning him the nickname "Doctor of Sick Railroads".[1]

Athletics

JCU has 23 varsity sports teams and are known as the "Blue Streaks". The teams mostly play in the NCAA's Division III Ohio Athletic Conference.

The school's football team plays in Don Shula Stadium, named after one of the school's alumni Don Shula. The stadium opened in 2003. Its namesake contributed to the stadium's construction, as did Washington Redskins star and JCU alumnus London Fletcher '98.

In 2008, the Women's Varsity Swimming Team won the Ohio Athletic Conference title.

In 2016, the Men's Varsity Football Team won the Ohio Athletic Conference title. The Blue Streaks defeating the 2015 National Champions from Mount Union 31-28, snapping their national record of 112 straight conference wins.

Controversy

In September 2015, Georgetown University released a study of the history of Jesuit slave-holding. The study acknowledged that John Carroll himself owned at least one slave and assisted the university with managing slave plantations. Carroll also philosophically justified the practice, and he did not believe in the abolition of slavery. Rather, he believed it was up to the slave-master to determine whether or not a slave should be freed.

In January 2017, Dr. Tim Gill, a sociologist and former JCU student, publicly called on the university to address an array of issues involving diversity and inclusion. He suggested that the university consider renaming the school after an individual that more appropriately embodies Jesuit ideals and signals an embrace of diversity to minority students. He also called on the university to reach out to local, minority students of color and to consider racial/ethnic status in its admissions decisions.