Saint Mary's College of California

What is the history of Saint Mary's College of California?

Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college founded in San Francisco in 1863. It was established under Archbishop Joseph Alemany to provide higher education in the growing region and has been associated with the De La Salle Christian Brothers since the nineteenth century.

The college moved to Oakland before opening its present campus in Moraga in 1928. It later became coeducational. Its history helps explain two features students encounter today: a Lasallian educational philosophy that emphasizes teaching and service, and a residential campus within reach of the wider San Francisco Bay Area.

What are the faculties and departments at Saint Mary's College of California?

Saint Mary's organizes its academic programs through the School of Liberal Arts, School of Science, School of Economics and Business Administration, and Kalmanovitz School of Education. It offers undergraduate degrees as well as graduate and professional programs; applicants should check the requirements for their intended degree rather than assuming that one admissions policy covers every program.

Undergraduate options span fields such as English, psychology, biology, economics, business, computer science, and the performing arts. Graduate offerings include education and business programs. A distinctive part of the undergraduate curriculum is Collegiate Seminar, in which students discuss texts and ideas across disciplines. January Term provides another opportunity to take a course outside the usual semester schedule, sometimes through travel or experiential study.

The reported student-to-faculty ratio is 10 to 1. That institution-wide measure suggests relatively small-scale instruction, but it does not describe the size or availability of every course a student may need.

What is the location of Saint Mary's College of California?

Saint Mary's main campus is in Moraga, California, an East Bay community east of Oakland and Berkeley. Its setting is suburban rather than downtown urban: students have a campus-centered environment, while internships, cultural venues, and employers elsewhere in the Bay Area generally require travel.

Commuters should assess the trip to Moraga rather than treating access to the broader Bay Area as equivalent to access to a nearby rail station. Students without a car should check current campus transportation and local transit schedules when planning classes or off-campus work. Oakland International Airport is a practical regional airport for longer-distance travel.

What is the mission and vision of Saint Mary's College of California?

Saint Mary's describes its mission through its Catholic and Lasallian identity. Its stated educational approach combines intellectual development with concern for social justice, community, faith, and service. Those are institutional commitments, not measures of every student's personal beliefs or experience.

The college's affiliation with the De La Salle Christian Brothers informs its emphasis on teaching and relationships between students and educators. Prospective students need not assume that all classmates share a religion, but they should expect Catholic and Lasallian ideas to be visible in the curriculum and campus life. Reviewing general education requirements is the most concrete way to see how that identity affects an individual degree.