University of Providence history

The most unusual donation, a first in PC history, came when a young fifteen-year-old MGM film star sold “her autograph in front of the Loew’s State Theater” for five and ten dollars a copy on February 18, 1938.

Judy Garland, not yet of Wizard of Oz fame (1939) “came bearing gifts” to Father Dillon’s Aquinas Hall fund.

In 1942, the institution was a single entity under the direction of the Sisters of Providence, and was renamed the Great Falls College of Education.

In this same year, the Sisters of Providence elected to end the usage of the title of “Normal School,” and simply refer to the entire liberal arts institution as the College of Great Falls. As a result, the Diocese of Great Falls would hand over full sponsorship of the college to the Sisters of Providence in 1943.

In 1944, the Sisters of Providence purchased land south of the City of Great Falls on 20th Street.

Providence College overcame the obstacles raised by World War I, survived the Great Depression and plummeting enrollment caused by World War II. The college grew from eighteen to forty-five and a half acres, from one building to seven, and produced approximately 2,500 alumni by 1947.

WDOM began broadcasting in April 1949.

The first and innovative Summer School of Theology for Religious Women started classes in 1950.

A Liberal Arts Honors Program for gifted students began in 1957.

Under the leadership of Sister Rita of the Sacred Heart, third president of the college, the College of Great Falls moved from its location on the campus of the Columbus Hospital to its new eleven-building campus in the Fall of 1960.

When faculty, friends, students, and the State of Rhode Island mourned his death on April 24, 1961, Robert Slavin’s indelible mark raised Providence College to new horizons of excellence and national recognition.

With the growth of a formal men’s intercollegiate basketball team, the College selected the Argonaut as its mascot in 1967.

Father Haas remained at Providence College for 1971-72, teaching and guest lecturing, until official canonical laicization approved his retirement from the priesthood.

Doctor McCaffrey had a significant impact on generations of Providence College students, both as a faculty member and as a residence director who helped integrate women into the student population in 1975.

The devastating Aquinas fire of December 13, 1977, took the lives of ten Providence College women, traumatized the Providence College community and the state of Rhode Island, and was garishly ranked in the “top 10 news stories” of the decade.

A native Rhode Islander, former academic dean, former assistant provincial, satirical wit, philosopher, and thespian, John F. Cunningham, O.P., was inaugurated president in September 1985.

In 1991, the 287 teaching faculty members consisted of 217 full-time and seventy visiting and adjunct professors, including forty Dominican Fathers and eight Dominican Sisters.