Institutional

Named One of 40 Transformative Institutions

Saint Mary’s was chosen as one of only 40 U.S. institutions in the 2013 edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Saint Mary's is the only Catholic college – and the only California college – in the history of the 40-school compilation, which was originally created by former New York Times education editor Loren Pope to highlight exemplary liberal arts colleges that break the traditional Ivy League mold. It is widely recognized for identifying colleges that offer life-transforming educational experiences. Read the complete entry.

SEBA Achieves Milestone with AACSB Accreditation

SEBA was awarded AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation. With this new honor, SEBA joins only five percent of business schools recognized as representing the highest international standard of instruction and scholarship in business education. 

SMC Listed Among the Top 8% of U.S. Colleges for Value

Payscale.com listed Saint Mary's in the top 8 percent of all U.S. colleges and universities for return on investment. The College ranked 117 of 1,511 colleges surveyed.

President's Community Service Honor Roll

Saint Mary's was listed on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the seventh year in a row. In the past academic year, Saint Mary's students provided almost 40,000 hours of service to communities in the U.S. and abroad. The award particularly recognized SMC leadership initiatives as well as a School of Science environmental education project and math camp. The College was also named in the top 20 for community service by USA Today.

High in Academic Engagement

Saint Mary's students rate their College experience high in terms of academic engagement. That’s the consensus from the National Survey of Student Engagement, which polled freshmen and seniors in spring 2012. Our students scored above other colleges in the poll on most measures, especially “level of academic challenge.”

Student-athlete success

SMC student-athletes graduate at the second-highest success rate among all California Division I institutions, according to the data released by the NCAA.

Debate program ranked 19th

The National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) has ranked the SMC debate program 19th in the nation, the highest ranking in the team’s history.

Top 10 for Study Abroad Programs

The Institution of International Education's Open Doors Report ranked Saint Mary's seventh among colleges that grant master's degrees, up from 11th the year before, noting that 55 percent of undergraduates had participated in study abroad programs.

Listed Among "Green Colleges"

Saint Mary's was included in the Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2012 Edition, which profiles 322 institutions of higher education in the U.S. and Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.

Academics

Trans-Global MBA

Hanover Research has profiled Saint Mary's College's Trans-Global Executive MBA program as one of the Top Thirteen (13) International Executive MBA Programs in the United States in 2011.

Hybrid MBA

Saint Mary's College of California's Hybrid Executive MBA program is ranked among the Top 25 Online MBA Programs of 2012 by Online MBA, and director Barry Eckhouse is often cited as an expert on the hybrid model of educating business students.

Faculty

A Home to Distinguished Teacher-Scholars – Recent faculty achievements and recognition include:

Professor Kathleen Taylor (education) is an internationally quoted expert and researcher on adult learners and won a 2013 Fulbright award to study adult education in Greece.

Professor Jyoti Bachani (business) received a 2011 Fulbright Award to India to study how the practice of "jugaad" has contributed to the rise of India as a global economic power.

English Professor Lysley Tenorio’s debut collection of short stories, Monstress, garnered national praise from a multitude of news outlets, including The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and NPR.

Kathy Perez, director of the M.A. in Teaching Leadership, was a featured speaker at the 56th International Council on Education for Teaching World Assembly in Cape Coast, Ghana. Her talk focused on "Transforming School Cultures through Teacher Leadership."

Brenda Hillman, Olivia Filippi Professor of Poetry, was awarded the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for poetry and named one of “50 of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World” by Poets & Writers magazine.

Professor Barbara A. McGraw (business) a renowned scholar of social ethics, published Rediscovering America’s Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic America