page_title: Dominican University (Illinois)
section_title: History and mission
hierarchical_section_title: Dominican University (Illinois) / History and mission
caption_attribution_description: English: Division Street Entrance of Dominican University
context_page_description: Dominican University is a Catholic university in River Forest, Illinois affiliated with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. It offers bachelor's and master's degrees, certificate programs, and a PhD in information studies. Dominican University offers more than 50 majors in the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences and 20 programs in five graduate academic divisions, offering graduate programs in library and information science, business, education, and social work. Dominican university also has a School of Professional and Continuing Studies.
context_section_description: The school began as St. Clara Female Academy in 1848, chartered by Rev. Fr. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, O.P. in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. It became a college in 1901 and moved to River Forest, Illinois, taking the name Rosary College in 1922 while under the leadership of Mother Samuel Coughlin of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. Trinity High School was founded as the preparatory department of the college before moving to its own campus nearby in 1926 and is still run by the order. The present name of Dominican University was adopted in 1997 as part of a strategic plan by President Donna Carroll to reflect the school's Dominican heritage and its status as a more comprehensive university.
  The university operates under this mission statement:  "As a Sinsinawa Dominican-sponsored institution, Dominican University prepares students to pursue truth, to give compassionate service and to participate in the creation of a more just and humane world."
  The school became coeducational in 1970.
  Dominican University shares a tie to Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. Sister Gregory Duffy famously advised the playwrights to form the Catholic nun background of the lead character, Maria.
caption: Entrance gate to Dominican University
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