# Mercy University

Mercy University (Mercy NY), previously known from 1950 to 2023 as Mercy College, is a private research university with its main campus in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and additional locations in Manhattan and the Bronx. It is a federally designated minority-serving institution and the largest private Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the state of New York. The university was historically affiliated with the Catholic church, but has been independent and non-sectarian since the early 1970s, though it retains its historical affiliation with the Sisters of Mercy.
The university has six schools and offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, on campus and online. Enrollment at Mercy University includes more than 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students representing 40 states and 51 countries throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America.

## History

The college was founded in 1950 by the Sisters of Mercy.
In 2011, Mercy College absorbed the buildings and facilities of Our Lady of Victory Academy. In 2016, Mercy College opened a new $32 million, 100,000-square-foot residence hall, a 5,000-square-foot fitness center and a Starbucks Cafe and convenience store on its Dobbs Ferry campus. Mercy College expanded and renovated its Manhattan campus in 2019. Also in 2019, Mercy College absorbed the College of New Rochelle. In 2023, Mercy College changed its name to Mercy University to reflect its evolution to a research university. In 2024, Mercy University completed $4.25 million worth of campus improvements in Dobbs Ferry, New York, including the construction of a 4,100 square-foot permanent open-aired pavilion in The Grove area of the Dobbs Ferry main campus. Also in 2024, Mercy University started enhancing its athletic fields on the Dobbs Ferry campus.

## Campuses
### Dobbs Ferry main campus

Mercy University's Dobbs Ferry, New York, campus is seated on 66 acres (27 ha). It encompasses numerous administrative, academic and dormitory buildings, as well as indoor and outdoor athletic and fitness facilities.
In 2024, Mercy University completed $4.25 million worth of campus improvements in Dobbs Ferry, New York, including the construction of a 4,100 square-foot permanent open-aired pavilion in The Grove area of the Dobbs Ferry main campus.
In 2024, Mercy University started enhancing its athletic fields on the Dobbs Ferry campus.

### Manhattan

The Manhattan campus is situated in the heart of Manhattan at Herald Square and occupies three floors at 47 West 34th Street totalling 95,370 square feet. The Manhattan campus was expanded and renovated in 2019.

### Bronx

The Bronx campus occupies 125,522 square feet (11,661.4 m$^2$) at the Hutchinson Metro Center, a rapidly developing complex of corporate and health care organizations and businesses. The Bronx Campus’s facilities include health and science labs and anatomage tables and student spaces such as the Veterans Lounge.

### Former locations
#### Yorktown Heights

In 1979, the Yorktown campus of Mercy College moved to a permanent facility at the intersection of Route 202 and Strang Boulevard. This landscaped building was renovated for college use. The branch library at the Yorktown campus was designated a federal depository for government publications. The campus was close to Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park and ceased operations in 2021.

#### College of New Rochelle campus lease

In fall 2019, Mercy leased the College of New Rochelle’s main campus in New Rochelle for up to two years, at $1.8 million a year, and nearly 1,700 students from CNR became Mercy students. In addition to CNR's main campus, Mercy also negotiated leases for two of CNR's satellite campuses, Rosa Parks in Harlem and the Brooklyn Campus in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. However this arrangement proved short-lived as the New Rochelle campus was sold in December 2019 to the Grand Lodge of New York Freemasons in order to pay off the College of New Rochelle's debts. It has since been turned into a senior-living facility for aged and infirm Freemasons.

## Academics
### Schools

Mercy University has six schools:
* School of Business
* School of Education
* School of Health & Natural Sciences
* School of Liberal Arts
* School of Nursing
* School of Social & Behavioral Sciences
The university offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, including more than two dozen that can be completed online. The faculty comprises 227 full-time professors.

### Reputation and rankings

* 115th in Regional Universities North by U.S. News & World Report in 2024.
* 20th in Top Performers on Social Mobility in Regional Universities North by U.S. News & World Report in 2024.

### Admissions

Undergraduate acceptance rate was 85% in Fall 2023. The middle 50 percent SAT Composite scores of enrolled students were 1020–1230. The middle 50 percent ACT Composite score of enrolled students was between 21 and 25. The average high-school GPA of enrolled students was 3.4 on a 4.0 scale.

### Demographics

As of 2022, Mercy University had 8,615 students enrolled. The undergraduate population includes 4,815 full-time and 1,564 part-time students with 30 percent of freshmen and 11 percent of all full-time undergraduates residing in campus-affiliated housing. While the majority of students are come from the tri-state area, students represent 40 states and 51 countries. Mercy University offers small class sizes with an average student/faculty ratio of 15:1. Around 89 percent of students are commuters; 11 percent live in campus housing. Mercy University has 72 percent female students and 28 percent male students.

### Accreditation

All campuses of Mercy University are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

### Research

Mercy University participates in the McNair Scholars Program and is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research. The Office of Sponsored Programs works with faculty members and students to apply for funding to support research programs in a variety of fields. Mercy University conducts cybersecurity research in a number of areas including cross-domain information sharing, data security and privacy, data mining for malware detection, geospatial information security, secure social networks, and secure cloud computing. The university is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

## Libraries

Mercy University's flagship library is on the main Dobbs Ferry Campus. Both the Bronx and Manhattan campuses also have branch libraries.

## Athletics

Mercy athletic teams are the Mavericks. The college is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the East Coast Conference (ECC; formerly known as the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC) until after the 2005–06 academic year) since the 1989–90 academic year.
Mercy University sponsors an intramural sports program, as well as intercollegiate competition in 10 varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, lacrosse and soccer; while women's sports include basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball and volleyball.
The baseball, lacrosse, soccer, and field hockey teams, in addition to numerous local community high school and youth groups, play on a new, eco-friendly turf field on the Dobbs Ferry campus.

### Nickname

In 2007, the university changed its athletic nickname from "Flyers" to "Mavericks" after the administration reviewed suggestions from students and faculty members.

## Student life
### Student government

The Mercy College Student Government Association (SGA) is responsible for protecting students’ rights, advocating for students’ interests, and promoting student life.

### ROTC

Mercy University has U.S. Army ROTC and U.S. Navy ROTC programs on campus.

## Notable people
### Presidents

* Donald Grunewald (1972–1984); Merle King (1984–1985; interim)
* Wilbert J. LeMelle (1985–1990)
* Jay Sexter (1990–1999)
* Lucie Lapovsky (1999–2004)
* Louise Feroe (2004–2008)
* Kimberly Kline (2008–2013)
* Timothy Hall (2014–2023)
* Susan L. Parish (2023–present)

### Notable faculty and staff

* Thomas J. Abinanti, American politician, lawyer, and member of the New York State Assembly from Greenburgh, New York.
* Fernando Cabrera, American politician in the Bronx, New York. A Democrat, he currently represents the 14th District in the New York City Council. Formerly program director for the Mental Health and Counseling program at Mercy College
* Hind Rassam Culhane, lawyer, social and behavioral scientist
* Ira Joe Fisher, winner of two regional Emmys
* Emmanuel Gyimah Labi, Ghanaian composer, conductor, and music professor.
* Adma d'Heurle, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, one of five original faculty members of the college
* Matt Kilcullen, Director of Athletics
* Wilbert J. Le Melle, American diplomat, author and academician. Former President of Mercy College
* Joseph Thomas O'Keefe, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Syracuse from 1987 to 1995.
* Frank Rodriguez, an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball
* Barbara Boucher Owens, American computer scientist
* Victor M. Pichardo, a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly. Former associate director of Public Relations at Mercy College.
* Alfred S. Posamentier, American author and educator
* Judson Rosebush, director and producer of multimedia products and computer animation, an author, artist and media theorist.
* Arthur Rothstein, recognized as one of America's premier photojournalists.
* Boria Sax, American author and lecturer
* Mark Skousen, American economist and writer.
* Rick Wolff, book editor, author, college coach, broadcaster, and former professional baseball player.
* Daniel Callahan, professor of psychology at Mercy University. Played a leading role in developing the field of biomedical ethics as co-founder of The Hastings Center, the world's first bioethics research institute.
* Donna Gabaccia, an American historian
* Esther Rolick, an American painter

### Notable alumni

Mercy University had more than 70,000 alumni as of 2023. The now-defunct College of New Rochelle's alumni have been merged into the Mercy University alumni community.
Alumni in politics and government include Jamaal Bowman, American politician and educator serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 16th congressional district since 2021; Pasquale J. D'Amuro, American terrorism authority, former intelligence agent and television analyst. In a career of 26 years he rose to the third position of the FBI; Robert Cornegy, New York City Council Member for the 36th District, representing Bedford-Stuyvesant and northern Crown Heights in Brooklyn; Mike Kavekotora, Namibian politician and member of parliament. He is the president of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP); David Rosado, American politician from New York; Maria del Carmen Arroyo, the former Council member for the 17th district of the New York City Council; Anna Cowin, former Lake County School District superintendent and served in the Florida State Senate; James Reitz, American judge and politician from Putnam County, New York. He was an acting justice for the US Supreme Court's 9th Judicial District; Mary Donohue, an American retired educator, attorney, politician and Judge of the New York Court of Claims and a former two-term Lieutenant Governor of New York; Patricia Ann Tracey, retired United States naval officer and the first woman to be promoted to the rank of vice admiral in the United States Navy. She held the positions of chief of naval education and training (CNET) (1996–98), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy (1998–2001), and director of navy staff from 2001 until the time of her retirement on October 1, 2004; and Rosario Green, Mexican economist, diplomat and politician.
Prominent alumni in business and finance include Mark Zuckerberg, self-made billionaire, chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Facebook; George Gallego, a world ranked para-triathlete and entrepreneur; Michele Quirolo, President and chief executive officer of The Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley; Carolyn Kepcher, businesswoman who was one of the judges on the NBC television program The Apprentice; Walter Anderson, former publisher and CEO of Parade Magazine; Noreen Culhane, an American businesswoman and current executive vice president of the New York Stock Exchange, directing their Global Corporate Client Group; and Anne Sweeney, American businesswoman. She currently serves as a member of the board of directors at Netflix, LEGO A/S, and the board of trustees at the Mayo Clinic and the J.P. Getty Trust. She was formerly the co-chair of Disney Media Networks and President of the Disney–ABC Television Group, and the President of Disney Channel from 1996 to 2014.
Alumni in the arts and media include Gabourey Sidibe, Academy Award-nominated actress; Olivia Peguero, contemporary landscape and botanical artist; Leopoldo Minaya, poet; Alicia Barney, a Colombian artist based in Cali who focuses her paintings and installation art on ecological questions and problems such as water pollution, deforestation and quality of life; Patricia Breslin, an American actress and philanthropist; Allys Dwyer, an American actress who became a college educator; Clarence Maclin, an American actor known for his role in Sing Sing; Claire Porter, American choreographer/comedian known for blending comedic monologues with dance movement; Mercedes Ruehl, American screen, stage, and television actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, two Obie Awards, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards; Myra Turley, an American film and television actress; Angela Cascarano, Emmy award–winning TV news producer; Maria Mercader, an American journalist and news producer who worked for CBS News for over three decades. For her work producing a CBS feature report about computer spam, Mercader won a business Emmy Award in 2004; Sandra Uwiringiyimana, author; Joan Wolf, author of more than 15 historical novels; Camille Marchetta, a former London literary agent, is a novelist, television writer and producer best known for her work on 1980s prime time soap operas Dallas, Dynasty and Falcon Crest; and Dorothy Kilgallen, an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist.
Notable figures in the field of education include Paul Broadie, president of Housatonic Community College and Gateway Community College; Gregory Howard Williams, 27th President of the University of Cincinnati, and the 11th President of the City College of New York; Meisha Ross Porter, an American educator who served as the New York City Schools Chancellor; Anthony Mullen, 2009 National Teacher of the Year award winner; Madeleine Blais, an American journalist, author and professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst's journalism department; Julia Ching, professor of religion, philosophy and East Asian studies at the University of Toronto. She taught at Columbia and Yale before joining the University of Toronto faculty; Regina Peruggi, an American educator, who was the President of Kingsborough Community College from 2005 to 2014. Prior to that, she was president of Marymount Manhattan College and led the Central Park Conservancy; Teresa P. Pica, Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; Darlene Yee-Melichar, professor and coordinator of the gerontology program at San Francisco State University where she also serves as Director of Long-Term care Administration; Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuban-American theologian who served as professor emerita of ethics and theology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey; and Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo, President of Columbia Theological Seminary.
Alumni in science and medicine include Paule Valery Joseph, an American nurse and researcher at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. She is the 2022 National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Nursing Fellow; Emmeline Edwards, neurochemist serving as director of the division of extramural research at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. She previously researched the neural mechanisms of complex behaviors and characterization of a genetic model of affective disorders at the University of Maryland, College Park. From 2000 to 2010, Edwards was deputy director of the extramural program at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Mary Jane Perry, an American oceanographer known for the use of optics to study marine phytoplankton; Kathleen Ethier, American social psychologist and public health official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2016, she was appointed the Director of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention; and Margaret C. Snyder, American social scientist.
Alumni in sports include Garvin Alston, retired American professional baseball right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB); Dewey Bozella, former amateur boxer; Laura Creavalle, professional female bodybuilder; Rob DiToma, head baseball coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University; Simone Forbes, Jamaican sportswoman, having represented Jamaica in no less than five sports; Stan Jefferson, former center and left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Mets among others; Brian Sweeney, former MLB pitcher; Wesley Walker, former NFL wide receiver; Mookie Wilson, former MLB outfielder/ coach; Joel Serrano, Puerto Rican footballer; Michael Collins, an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. Collins played for at least twelve teams in nearly half a dozen leagues over his seventeen-year career. He also earned two caps with the United States national team in 1988. Collins currently serves as president and general manager of California United Strikers FC; Jude Flannery, an American triathlete who won six consecutive US national championships between 1991 and 1996; and Mary Etchells, first and only woman to win the Star Worlds sailboat racing world championship.
Other notable alumni include two Fulbright Scholars; Jon-Adrian Velazquez, American criminal legal reform activist; Rosemary Dempsey, noted American Activist, has served many roles in second wave feminism, civil rights movements, and anti-war protests; Aulana L. Peters, a retired partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; and Oseadeeyo Kwasi Akuffo III, Ghanaian traditional ruler who is the Omanhene (or paramount chief) of the Akuapem traditional area (Okuapeman) in Ghana.