All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects
Year of Award
2013
Degree
Doctor of Education (EdD)
College
College of Arts & Sciences
Department
Other
Keywords
Catholic education, Religious Orders, Christian Denominations, Higher Education
Abstract
Higher education in the United States was founded within the framework of Christian denominations, their beliefs and customs. Wechsler, Goodchild and Eisenmann (2007) and Rudolph (1990), discuss the role of the church and organized religion in conjunction with the state or local government in the vast majority of the history of higher education as we think of it today. This is particularly true prior to the Land Grant movement sparked by the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. However, the growth of the public university system did not signal the end of the founding of church-related colleges and universities. In fact, more than half (149) of the Catholic colleges and universities that currently hold membership in the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) were founded after the establishment of the Morrill Land Grant Act. The antebellum and post-bellum periods witnessed rapid growth in the number of private colleges and universities (Burtchaell, 1998). Denominational relationships gave the institutions their identity. The majority of those who served as presidents and faculty in early universities were selected from denominational ranks and reflected denominational beliefs. These early Christian founders of institutions of higher education were explorers making their way and creating society in a new land having escaped the persecution and oppression they experienced in Europe. Many of these Christian colleges were closely aligned with denominational administration and governance.
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Pressimone, John Michael, "Preserving the Sponsoring Tradition: A Study of Catholic Colleges and Universities Founded by Religious Orders" (2013). All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects. 156.
https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/all-etds/156