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2009-2010 Profile of Mercyhurst College Erie Campus

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

• Mercyhurst College is ranked in the top tier of Best Universities: Master's (North region) in the annual U.S.News&World Report on "America's Best Colleges."
• Mercyhurst attained leadership-level recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership for making a significant commitment to renewable energy initiatives.
• Second largest of the four-year Mercy colleges in the country.
• The Mercyhurst Dance Program is named among the Top 200 in "Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers."

RECENT CAMPUS DEVELOPMENTS

2009

• Mercyhurst College opened the 2009-2010 academic year with more than 800 new students at the Erie campus for only the second time in its 83-year history. The entering class on the Erie campus includes 680 freshmen from 30 states and 15 foreign countries. Of those, 22 percent are from Erie County. In the past four years, Mercyhurst has doubled its complement of Erie County freshmen: 76 in 2006; 104 in 2007; 113 in 2008; and 145 in 2009. Mercyhurst Erie also enrolled 125 transfer students, among them 50 transfers from Mercyhurst North East. Also enrolled at Mercyhurst Erie are 120 adult undergraduates and a record 145 graduate students.

• Mercyhurst College opened its newest building, Frances Warde Hall, this fall. In unveiling the $15 million freshman residence hall, Mercyhurst President Dr. Thomas J. Gamble told the college community: “Warde Hall stands as a sign of the health of this institution. We ended fiscal year 2009 with our best fund-raising year ever; institution-wide we are experiencing one of our best admissions years ever; and our reputation for excellence continues to grow. There is much to be proud of.”

• For the third consecutive year, Mercyhurst College has been ranked as a top tier institution in U.S. News & World Report’s annual guidebook that highlights America’s top colleges and universities.

• Mercyhurst unveiled the new Hirtzel Human Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, a $1.2 million mega-lab at North East that will provide an unprecedented learning opportunity for the college’s science and nursing students while taking its place among the best-equipped and staffed forensic labs in the country.

• Mercyhurst College and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) formed a partnership that delivers new medical education and clinical experiences for Mercyhurst’s sportsmedicine students while bringing LECOM physicians to campus to provide medical care for all students as well as supply team doctors for the college’s athletic department.

• The National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) awarded accreditation to the Mercyhurst dance program.

• Mercyhurst and Southern Methodist University launched a combined archaeology field school at the SMU-in-Taos campus in Taos, N.M.

• New majors in graphic design, studio art, and Russian studies offered, along with new minors in digital media, economics and pre-law.

• Long a collegiate front runner in sustainability initiatives, Mercyhurst earned the Young Erie Professionals inaugural Green Business Award for leading the way in advancing Green initiatives on campus and serving as a model of environmental stewardship for the greater Erie community.

• The NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Committee announced that Mercyhurst College has been selected as the official host of the 2011 NCAA Women’s Hockey Frozen Four. This marks the first time the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four will take place in Pennsylvania. Further, it is the first time that Mercyhurst will host an NCAA Division I championship tournament and the first time that a team from College Hockey America will serve as host.

2008

• Mercyhurst President Dr. Thomas J. Gamble unveiled plans for an unprecedented $32 million in new construction and acquisition projects over the next five years. The projects will add a technology-rich academic building and a 300-bed freshman residence hall to the 70-acre Erie campus. In addition, at Mercyhurst North East, the college has completed construction of a new residence hall and major renovations to its newest acquisition, the First National Bank building at 5999 Station Road, North East.
• Mercyhurst welcomed nearly 1,300 new students at its four campuses - Erie, North East, West and Corry - for the 2008-2009 academic year. Mercyhurst North East achieved an all-time record high enrollment of 1,000 total students. All told, Mercyhurst is home to more than 4,000 students.
• The National Institute of Justice awarded the Applied Forensic Sciences Department nearly $1 million for forensics research, the largest single infusion of grant funds the department has received since its inception six years ago.
• A sweeping new design of the college's communication major - Strategic Communication, New Media and Visual Communication - was unveiled on campus this fall, preparing students to enter the fast-paced industry in three distinct but complementary areas.
• Mercyhurst's Hospitality Management Department earned re-accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA). In addition, the D'Angelo Department of Music was granted full accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).
• Mercyhurst named its first provost: Dr. James Adovasio.
• Mercyhurst increased its wind power consumption from just under 10 percent to 30 percent, a move made possible by a student-enacted Green Energy Fee.
• Mercyhurst opted to participate in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDL), enabling its students to apply for federal student loans from a single source: the federal government.
• Mercyhurst biology researchers engaged in a landmark study on pollution at Presque Isle State Park, producing scientific evidence linking human waste in creeks to beach water contamination.

2007

• Mercyhurst College is one of more than 40 organizations that will receive a gift from an anonymous donor who pledged $85 million to Erie area non-profit groups. The Anonymous Friend Fund gifts will be administered by the Erie Community Foundation and distributed over a three-year period starting in 2009. The restricted part of the grant will be used to increase the college endowment and the endowed scholarship awards. This generous gift will help Mercyhurst College move toward its goal in the strategic plan of ensuring financial stability.
• Mercyhurst received a second major gift in the form of fossils, casts and other specimens from Michael and Barbara Sincak whose continued generosity, beginning in 2006, inaugurated the college's imposing natural history collection.
• Mercyhurst launches a text message emergency notification system, called e2Campus, to extend the reach of existing emergency notification measures like campuswide e-mails and Web page updates to alert students anywhere, anytime.
• Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, SDB, a 2005 papal candidate widely regarded as a rising star in the Latin American church, pays an exclusive visit to Mercyhurst College, embracing the mission of diversity advanced by the administration of Mercyhurst President Dr. Tom Gamble and celebrating the college's annual Mass of the Holy Spirit.
• Mercyhurst enrolls more students than ever, including the second-largest group of new undergraduates on the Erie campus and the largest group on the North East campus. Total enrollment tops 4,000, including 774 new students at Erie, 500 new students at Mercyhurst North East, 125 new adult students, 100 new graduate students and 20 new students at Mercyhurst West.
• Mercyhurst College introduces its sixth graduate program, offering a Master of Science degree in secondary education with a focus on the teaching of science and math. The program is titled Secondary Education: Pedagogy and Practice. The college also offers master's degree programs in special education, anthropology, administration of justice, organizational leadership and applied intelligence.
• Mercyhurst accepts offer to join the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) as full-time members, making the switch from the Michigan-based Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), in which the Lakers have competed since 1995. Mercyhurst will begin full membership in the PSAC beginning in the 2008-09 season.
• Mercyhurst makes a voluntary contribution of a half-million dollars to the City of Erie over a three-year period to help the city meet its fiscal needs and relieve some of the strain on areas that impact its citizens most.

2006

• College inaugurates Thomas J. Gamble, Ph.D., the 11th president of Mercyhurst on Sept. 16.
• Drs. James Adovasio, Barbara Behan, Heidi Hosey and Michael Lyden join senior leadership team.
• College launches Center for Public Safety.
• Mercyhurst West is launched. Classes begin Aug. 30 in temporary site at 824 Main Street East in Girard as college prepares to develop a permanent west county campus on the 405 acres it purchased in May 2005 at a cost of $1.85 million.
• International student enrollment reaches 210; nearly 200 students study abroad.
• The Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center undergoes an estimated $850,000 expansion and renovation project to meet the needs of the estimated 25,000 to 27,000 people who attend PAC events annually.
• College launches Diversity Enrichment Grant Program to build a more inclusive college community grounded in respect for cultural, racial and ethnic differences.
• The boiler and HVAC system that serves Old Main, Egan, Preston, Weber and Sullivan halls is updated at an estimated cost of $1.4 million.
• A new message kiosk welcomes visitors between Hirt and Zurn halls. It features full-color backlit campus maps on two sides, alternating with state-of-the-art LED displays.
• A half-million dollar geology lab is built in Zurn Hall, the third new lab to be constructed in as many years.
• Hammermill Library gets new access control system similar to the Hirt building, freshman residence halls, Mercy Suites and Adult Education Center.
• College tripled the size of its Internet connection.

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