St. John's University (New York City)

	St. John's University Coat of Arms
Motto	Educatio Christiana Animae Perfectio (Christian Education Perfects the Soul)
Type	Private school
Established	1870
Endowment	$500 million
President	Rev. Donald J. Harrington
Academic staff	1,456
Undergraduates	15,092
Postgraduates	5,254
Location	Queens, New York, USA
Campus	Urban, 105-acre (425,000 m²) Queens campus
Athletics	17 BIG EAST, Division I, NCAA teams
Mascot	Red Storm
Website	www.stjohns.edu

St. John's University is a private Roman Catholic university in New York City. The primary campus is located in Jamaica (Queens), a neighborhood in the NYC borough of Queens. It is known for its programs in the liberal arts, business, pharmacy, and law. St. John's boasts over 140,000 alumni, many of whom reside in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. As of 2006, the university had a total undergraduate and graduate enrollment of 20,346 students, making St. John's University one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States.

History

St. John's University was founded in 1870, by the Vincentian Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church in response to an invitation by the first Bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin, to provide the youth of the city with an intellectual and moral education. It now has an enrollment of over 20,000 students in its six schools and colleges. Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees are conferred by the university, and over 100 programs are offered through the St. John's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Peter J. Tobin College of Business, School of Risk Management, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, College of Professional Studies, School of Education, and School of Law. Distinguished programs include Biological Sciences, Psychology, and Pharmaceutical Science.

Campuses

File:STJLibrary22.jpg

St. Augustine Library - Queens Campus

St. John's University Locations:

Queens - The main campus of St. John's University is located in the Queens borough of New York City. This 105 acre campus houses several academic buildings, 6 residence halls, athletic facilities, the St. Augustine Library, and provides easy access to Manhattan via the subway system. The Queens campus features broad lawns, handsome stone buildings and ultramodern student residence halls. Facilities include high-tech laboratory and classroom buildings, the main collections of its 1.7 million-volume library; and state-of-the-art athletic facilities for students and St. John's Big East Division I athletic teams. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Shea Stadium, the USTA National Tennis Center, Queens Botanical Garden, New York Hall of Science, Queens Museum of Art, and the highly diverse neighborhood of Flushing are all within a five mile radius of the university. Queens is largely considered the most diverse location on the planet, boasting over 180 spoken languages. [1]

Staten Island - In addition to the Queens campus, St. John's also has two other residential New York City campuses, one located in lower Manhattan, and the other in Staten Island. Today the Staten Island Campus has expanded to include 16.5 acres serving over 2,000 students who are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The 16.5 acre campus features rolling lawns, apartment-style student residences, and architectural styles that range from red-brick colonial to the strikingly modern. The campus is located in the residential Grymes Hill section of Staten Island.

Manhattan - St. John’s officially opened its Manhattan Campus in June 2001, after its merger with The College of Insurance (TCI). Through the merger, TCI became the School of Risk Management and operates as a unit of the Peter J. Tobin College of Business. This ten-story, prize-winning "vertical campus" features an airy, five-story entrance atrium, 16 conference and seminar rooms, dormitories, 24 high-tech classrooms, and a variety of computer labs.

File:Stjohnslogo.JPG

New St. John's Athletic Logo

The locations in Oakdale and Rome are home to several graduate programs, but do not have residence halls. The Rome campus offers programs in government and business, while the Oakdale location offers graduate programs in education, psychology, crimial justice, and library science.

Centers & Institutes

St. John's University houses several centers, committees, and institutes. Some of the most notable are listed below, but reflect only a portion of the programs operating out of the university.

The Center for Community Services seeks to provide community health and human services to members of the community surrounding St. John's University who could not otherwise afford it. This ultramodern facility houses the Center for Psychological Services, Speech and Hearing Center, and Reading and Writing Education Center. Previously located on St. John’s campus, these centers now are easily accessible to the entire community with a new location on Union Turnpike.

File:STJLaw2.jpg

St. John's Law School

The Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John's University Center has deep roots in the Catholic Church, and supports the community at large with a number of service and educational programs. It is the site of many academic and cultural events, and the home of the Vincentian Chair of Social Justice, the Institute on Poverty Studies, and the Religion and Science Dialogue. The Center also conducts and disseminates research on topics related to poverty and social justice, and acts as a clearinghouse for gathering, developing and exchanging Vincentian-related information.
Committee on Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) was established in 1994. Its policy is grounded in the University's Vincentian mission and a commitment to global education, as put forward by St. John's President Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M. As a metropolitan university whose main campuses areas located in one of the major urban centers of the world, St. John's is acutely aware of the increasing importance of the U.S. economy on Latin American and Caribbean trading sectors through NAFTA and other agreements, and promotes an increase in education in that field through the various research and courses associated with the Committee.
The Italian Cultural Center was established at St. John's in 1992. The center conducts various educational and cultural activities that increase the awareness of Italian-Americans of their heritage, and strives to foster a greater appreciation of the significant contributions of Italians to American culture. In addition, the center seeks to preserve, communicate and celebrate Italian and Italian-American culture, values, and heritage, while supporting the mission of the University.
The Center for Professional Education offers, workshops, certificate programs and professional designation examination preparation courses, as well as consulting services to industry, governments and regulators worldwide. For more than 30 years, the Center has served the educational needs of more than 10,000 professionals in the insurance, risk management and financial services industries.
Institute for Biotechnology gives students a thorough understanding of the scientific theory and advanced laboratory research techniques vital to success in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries through graduate level course work leading to a masters degree. The Institute draws upon such disciplines as microbiology, biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology to aid in the advancement of pharmaceutical biotechnology. This interdisciplinary program is a joint effort of the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions and St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
University Gallery began with its first season in September, 1994. The gallery is dedicated to the exhibition of all forms of contemporary art, and it brings to the Queens campus works of art created by well known and emerging artists of regional, national and international backgrounds. The gallery is housed in Sun Yat Sen Hall.

File:Sun Yat-Sen.JPG

Sun Yat-Sen Hall

The Institute for Asian Studies, founded in 1959, is housed in Sun Yat-Sen Hall. The main goal for all programs at the Institute of Asian Studies is to foster, facilitate and enhance a global, multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual education. Sun Yat-Sen Hall, where the Institute for Asian Studies is housed, reflects East Asian architecture and is home to the Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery (University Gallery).

Demographics

As of 2006, St John's has a total student population, undergraduate and graduate, of 20,346 students. The undergraduate enrollment of 15,092 students are from 40 states and 103 countries. The 5,254 graduate students are from 57 countries and 32 states.

There are 1456 faculty members, over 90% of whom hold doctoral or equivalent degrees in their field. St. John's boasts a 18:1 student to faculty ratio.

There are roughly 140,000 St John's alumni, many of whom reside in the greater metropolitan area. Standard and Poor's consistently ranks St. John's graduates among the the top universities in the nation with alumni who hold executive positions at Fortune 500 companies.

St. John's was recently named one of the Top 10 Wireless Universities in the nation. The university maintains over 2,900 microcomputers on campus, and has over 100 high-tech multi-media classrooms. St. John's provides every undergraduate student with a wireless internet capable laptop. St. Augustine Library, on the Queens campus, is completely wired and provides students access to over 1.7 million volumes, making it one of the largest university libraries on the east coast.

Athletics

Big East Conference

NCAA Logo

File:Stjo-150.JPG

St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencing and lacrosse teams, which compete in the ECAC.

Men's Sports

Basketball
Soccer
Baseball
Lacrosse
Tennis
Golf
Fencing

Women's Sports

Basketball
Soccer
Softball
Volleyball
Tennis
Track and Field
Cross Country
Golf
Fencing

Athletic History: St John’s started its intercollegiate program in 1907 with its men’s basketball program. In the early days, the “Wonder Five” led that program to national prominence. In 1911, the Helms Athletic Association recognized St. John's University as the National Champions, led by Coach Claude Allen. It was around the 1920s that then-director of athletics and football coach Ray Lynch had his players wear red uniforms in games. The local media picked up on it, and dubbed the St. John’s athletic teams, the Red Men.

James “Buck” Freeman graduated from St. John’s in 1927, and was named men’s basketball coach, guiding that team for nine years and compiling a 177-31 record. During his time, he guided the famed St. John’s “Wonder Five” to an 88-8 record in his first four seasons and brought St. John's to national prominence. However, it was during the tenure of Lou Carnesecca that St. John's enjoyed its greatest success. In Coach Carnesseca's 24 seasons St. John's had a winning percentage of .725, advanced to the Final Four in 1985, had 18 seasons with 20 or more wins, won 5 Big East regular season titles, and had two Wooden Player of the Year Award winners. St. John’s started its intercollegiate program in 1907 with its men’s basketball program. In the early days, the “Wonder Five” led that program to prominence. In 1923, a football program was started and that program won three Metropolitan Conference Championships in its first eight years of existence.

Walter McLaughlin took over as director of athletics during a time when the St. John’s baseball program established itself as one of the best in the country, reaching the College World Series in 1949, 1960, 1966 and 1968. Three of those baseball teams were coached by Jack Kaiser, who later became athletic director in 1973. Kaiser served in that role until 1995, during which time the University added a women’s program in the 1974–75 academic year, with women’s basketball, fencing, swimming and tennis being offered.

File:Taffner Field House.jpg

Taffner Field House

The program continued to develop and change—including a new nickname, the Red Storm, in the early ‘90s—to this day. St. John’s has established its athletic programs as one of the strongest in the East, and today, the programs continue to succeed.

St. John's Athletic Accomplishments:

Basketball - St. John's is the 5th most successful program in college basketball history (1673 wins), and has the 7th best winning percentage (.680) in the NCAA. St. John's boasts the 7th most NCAA tournament appearances (27), two Wooden National Player of the Year Award Winners, 11 consensus All-Americans, 6 members of the Hall of Fame and has sent 59 players to the NBA. The Red Storm play most of their home games at Madison Square Garden,"The World's Most Famous Arena", while their early non-conference games are held at Carnesecca Arena on the St. John's campus in Queens.

Soccer - St. John's soccer has recently climbed to national prominence, appearing in 15 straight NCAA tournaments, advancing to the Sweet 16 in each of the last ten seasons, and the Final Four on 3 occasions. They have captured 11 Big East Championships, including the 2006 season title, and in 1996, St. John's won the NCAA National Championship. Their home games are hosted at Belson Stadium, a state of the art 2,300 seat stadium on the university campus. On a more unfortunate note, the soccer staff includes Jonathan Langer, a man remembered with distaste by many for his mismanagement of the short-term professional soccer team the Austin Posse, which folded in 2004 after the team bankroll was stolen; Langer was implicated but never charged in this scam.

Baseball - The St. John's Red Storm have been to the College World Series 6 times, recorded 26 NCAA appearances, 5 Big East Championships and have sent 70 players on to professional baseball careers. The 3,500 seat "Ballpark at St. John's" was renamed "Jack Kaiser Stadium" in 2007 after the Hall of Fame Coach and former St. John's Athletic Director. The stadium is one of the largest college baseball stadiums in the northeast, and is a featured venue on the EA Sports MVP NCAA Baseball video game.

Fencing - The St. John's fencing program has also attained national prominence. In 2001, St. John's won the NCAA Fencing Championship. The team has ranked in the top five each of the last 10 years, and finished second in the NCAA during 1995, 2000, and 2002 seasons. In addition to team accolades, St. John's has won eleven NCAA Individual National Championship titles.

Campus Renovations

The 2004-2005 academic years saw $35 million in capital projects, including the completion of St. Thomas More church, the DaSilva academic building, Carnesecca Hall Fitness Center, and Belson Stadium. In 2005 the science labs and student life facilities were the target of an additional $60 million in capital enhancements.

St. John's University has recently constructed the Taffner Athletic Field House, a $23 million initiative. The two-story, 38,000 sq. ft. structure adjacent to Carnesecca Hall includes:

Four full size basketball courts-two for Student Life, two for Varsity Basketball
Academic support classrooms and study space for student-athletes
Office and meeting space for recreation and intramural activities
Audio/visual rooms for all varsity athletic teams
Dedicated locker rooms for both student recreation and men's and women's basketball
New offices and meeting rooms for men's and women's basketball
Exclusive Sports Medicine and weight training facilities

Carnesecca Hall and University Center renovations include:

A 6400 sq. ft. Health Center in Carnesecca Hall, for use by Student Life and Athletics, including weight training equipment, aerobic and dance studios and a student lounge
Reconfigured office and meeting space for Student Life and Academic Clubs
Additional audio/visual rooms for all varsity athletic teams.

The current capital campaign has surpassed the $200 million mark prompting the Board of Trustees to increase the goal to $250 million.