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The Corporation of Saint Marys College (Saint Mary's) is a Catholic, residential, women's college in the liberal arts tradition. A pioneer in the education of women, Saint Mary's is an academic community where women develop their talents and prepare to make a difference in the world. Founded by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1844, Saint Marys promotes a life of intellectual vigor, aesthetic appreciation, religious sensibility, and social responsibility.

The University of Portland, an independently governed Catholic university guided by the Congregation of Holy Cross, addresses significant questions of human concern through interdisciplinary studies of the arts, sciences, and humanities and through studies in majors and professional programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a diverse community of scholars dedicated to excellence and innovation, we pursue teaching and learning, faith and formation, leadership and service in the classrooms, residence halls, and all activities of campus life. Because we value the development of the entire person, the university honors faith and reason as ways of knowing, promotes ethical reflection, and prepares people who respond to the needs of the world and its human family.

IONA COLLEGE IS A CARING ACADEMIC COMMUNITY, INSPIRED BY THE LEGACY OF BLESSED EDMUND RICE AND THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, WHICH EMBODIES OPPORTUNITY, JUSTICE, AND THE LIBERATING POWER OF EDUCATION. IONA COLLEGES PURPOSE IS TO FOSTER INTELLECTUAL INQUIRY, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND AN APPRECIATION FOR DIVERSITY. IN THE TRADITION OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION, IONA COLLEGE COMMITS ITS ENERGIES AND RESOURCES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GRADUATES RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR ETHICS, CREATIVITY AND PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITIES; THEIR INDEPENDENT AND ADAPTABLE THINKING; THEIR JOY IN LIFELONG LEARNING; AND THEIR ENDURING INTEGRATION OF MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT.

St. John's College is unique in American higher education. All classes are conducted as seminars. No textbooks are used; instead, students, along with their tutors (professors) work through the original texts in philosophy, literature, history, mathematics, science, economics, theology, and political science.St. John's College is a community dedicated to liberal education. Such education seeks to free men and women from the tyrannies of unexamined opinions and inherited prejudices. It also endeavors to enable them to make intelligent, free choices concerning the ends and means of both public and private life.At St. John's, freedom is pursued mainly through thoughtful conversation about great books of the Western tradition.

On October 1, 1891, Stanford University opened its doors after six years of planning and building. In the early morning hours, construction workers were still preparing the Inner Quadrangle for the opening ceremonies. The great arch at the western end had been backed with panels of red and white cloth to form an alcove where the dignitaries would sit. Behind the stage was a life-size portrait of Leland Stanford, Jr., in whose memory the university was founded. About 2,000 seats, many of them sturdy classroom chairs, were set up in the 3-acre Quad, and they soon proved insufficient for the growing crowd. By midmorning, people were streaming across the brown fields on foot. Riding horses, carriages and farm wagons were hitched to every fence and at half past ten the special train from San Francisco came puffing almost to the university buildings on the temporary spur that had been used during construction. Just before 11 a.m., Leland and Jane Stanford mounted to the stage. As Mr. Stanford unfolded his manuscript and laid it on the large Bible that was open on the stand, Mrs. Stanford linked her left arm in his right and held her parasol to shelter him from the rays of the midday sun. He began in measured phrases: "In the few remarks I am about to make, I speak for Mrs. Stanford, as well as myself, for she has been my active and sympathetic coadjutor and is co-grantor with me in the endowment and establishment of this University..." What manner of people were this man and this woman, who had the intelligence, the means, the faith and the daring to plan a major university in Pacific soil, far from the nation's center of culture ? a university that broke from the classical tradition of higher learning?