Saint Peter's University

The college was chartered in 1872 as a liberal arts college for men and enrolled its first students in 1878 at Warren Street, in Jersey City, on the present site of its former high school section, St. Peter's Preparatory School . In September 1918, the college was closed, along with several other Jesuit colleges and high schools, because of declining enrollment in the face of World War I and because the Jesuits concentrated personnel at other colleges on the East Coast. Although the war ended only two months after its closing, and despite clamoring from alumni, it took until 1930 to re-open the college. The college was temporarily located on Newark Avenue, before moving in 1936 to its current location on the former estate of Edward Faitoute Condict Young on Hudson Boluevard (now Kennedy Boulevard), between Montgomery Street and Glenwood Avenue. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The first building on constructed on the new campus was Collins Memorial Gymnasium where the Peacocks men's basketball team played most of their home games through the 1950s. [ 6 ] The college was integrated in 1936, when the college admitted its first black student. The college granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 and was the first Jesuit school to do so. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] The college became co-educational in 1966, though women had been admitted to the school's evening program in 1930, and a group of 35 women had been admitted due to low enrollment during World War II . [ 10 ] The former Englewood Cliffs campus, as seen from Manhattan Gannon Hall The college has made an effort to reach out into the New Jersey suburbs, with a former satellite campus in St. Michael's Villa at Englewood Cliffs opened in 1975 (closed in 2018) [ 11 ] and an extension at South Amboy 's Cardinal McCarrick High School opened in 2003 but closed when high school closed in 2015. In 1975, the college constructed the Yanitelli Recreational Life Center sports complex.

Beginning with the 1983 acquisition of its first residence hall, the college has converted four apartment buildings to dormitory use, and constructed three new dormitories Whelan Hall (1994), Millennium Hall (1999) and Panepinto Hall (2022). [ 12 ] 2000-present In 2000, Gannon Hall, the science building, completed an $8.2 million renovation. [ 13 ] In 2004, the long-awaited pedestrian bridge over Kennedy Boulevard linked the East Campus and the West Campus. In 2006, the college began a $50 million capital campaign for a new student center. [ 14 ] On December 24, 2006, college president James N. Loughran was found dead in his home. [ 15 ] On May 10, 2007, the board of trustees appointed Eugene J. Cornacchia the 22nd President of Saint Peter's College. Cornacchia was the first layperson to serve as president of the 135-year-old Catholic, Jesuit institution. Cornacchia retired in June 2024, and Hubert Benitez was named the 23rd President of Saint Peter's University as of July 1, 2024. In 2008, Saint Peter's was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to create the Center for Microplasma Science and Technology. This grant allowed the college to expand upon its 20 years of studying microplasma as part of its research on water purifiers in conjunction with United Water . Saint Peter's graduates U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and U.S. Representative Albio Sires helped secure the $2 million grant. [ 16 ] On the day after his narrow defeat in the 2008 New Hampshire Presidential primary election , Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama held a rally at the college's Yanitelli Center . [ 17 ] In March 2011, it was announced that the college would take over Saint Aeden's Church at McGinley Square from the Archdiocese of Newark .

[ 18 ] Footbridge over Kennedy Boulevard links the campus as it grows eastward Yanitelli Center , Home of the Peacocks In March 2012, the college was granted the university designation by the New Jersey State Secretary for Higher Education and would thus change its name. On August 14, 2012, Saint Peter's announced the official change on its website, becoming Saint Peter's University. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] In 2013, the new Mac Mahon Student Center was completed. It houses offices for many of Saint Peter's administrative branches, as well as numerous student led organizations such as the Student Government Association. [ 21 ] In 2014, the university opened a center for undocumented students, providing them a safe space and mentoring, a resource library, legal support, and advice for them and their families about deportation defense and immigration issues. [ 22 ] In 2019, the university named its business school for former congressman, lawyer, and businessman Frank J. Guarini who had gifted the university $10 million. [ 23 ] In 2021, the university opened and dedicated the renovated Yanitelli Center, now named Run Baby Run Arena, with a victory over fellow Jersey City school, New Jersey City University , 90–66 in an exhibition game. The renovation was secured through a $5 million lead gift from alumni and former basketball player Thomas P. Mac Mahon. Mac Mahon, a 1968 graduate of Saint Peter's, and a member of the Saint Peter's University Board of Trustees, decided to honor his former 1967–68 teammates by naming the renovated space the "Run Baby Run Arena" after that team's nickname for its high-scoring offense. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] The following year, the university opened a new six-story residence hall named Panepinto Hall in honor of alumnus Joseph A. Panepinto on the university's East Campus. In the fall of 2018, Panepinto made a $10 million gift to Saint Peter's, which at the time was the largest single gift in the university's history. [ 26 ]

The university includes the following schools and college: Caulfield School of Education College of Arts and Sciences Frank J. Guarini School of Business School of Nursing [ 27 ] The university also has an honors program [ 27 ] and a School of Professional Studies for adult-learners providing education in certain concentrations such as in business, education, criminal justice, computer science, and others, allowing enrollment in periodic full-time, part-time, and on-line classes. [ 28 ] The university offers more than 50 areas of study including STEM , business, education, nursing, and humanities and social science liberal arts, with an undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1, and over 90% of the faculty holding a doctoral or terminal degree. [ 27 ] Undergraduate admissions In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university undergraduate admissions as selective with the university regarding an applicant's high school GPA a very important admission factor. High school class rank, as available, as well as letters of recommendation, are considered important. Applicants must submit either SAT or ACT scores or submit a test-optional essay. Of admitted applicants, 23% submitted SAT scores and 3% submitted ACT scores. Of those submitting, the middle 50% SAT scores were between 960 and 1150 and the middle 50% ACT scores were between 17 and 28, with 25% of applicants submitting scores achieving scores above, and 25% scoring below, those ranges. The average admitted student had a high school GPA of 3.31, with applicants required to have completed college preparatory high school coursework. [ 29 ] [ 30 ]