Cardinal Stritch University was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Catholic university with its primary campus in Fox Point and

Glendale, Wisconsin Glendale is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,357 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb north of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. History The Glendale area has ...

, United States. Its enrollment as of fall 2021 was 1,365. The university closed in May 2023 due to financial challenges and declining enrollment.

History

Cardinal Stritch University was founded in 1937 as St. Clare College by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi on

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

's south side as an institution to help the order's sisters effectively train as teachers. The sisters opened a reading clinic in 1943 to help promote literacy in the area; Cardinal Stritch University Literacy Centers still existing today throughout the Milwaukee area. In 1946, the college was renamed Cardinal Stritch College in honor of the

Archdiocese of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in southeast Wisconsin in the United States. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan s ...

's Cardinal

Samuel Stritch Samuel Alphonsius Stritch (August 17, 1887 – May 27, 1958) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Chicago from 1940 to 1958 and as pro-prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith from March 1958 until hi ...

. The college opened its programs to lay women for the first time and was subsequently accredited by the

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It ...

in 1953. Stritch established its first graduate program in 1956, offering majors in special education and reading. The university also opened its doors to men that year, becoming fully co-educational in 1970. Stritch moved to a campus in the northern Milwaukee suburb of Fox Point in 1962. This new campus allowed the college to begin many new programs such as the nursing program in 1980 and its College of Business and Management in 1982. Cardinal Stritch College was renamed Cardinal Stritch University in 1997. The university's first doctoral program (devoted to Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service) opened for enrollment the following year. A $14 million expansion and renovation of the university occurred in 2006 with the introduction of online degree programs. In April 2023, university administrators announced that the university would close in May due to financial challenges and declining enrollment.

Campus

The university was located on a campus north of

in the suburbs of Fox Point and Glendale, less than west of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

. In July 2023 the campus was sold to the Ramirez Family Foundation for the construction of a new

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...

school. As of May 2024 most of the former university buildings were being demolished to be replaced with new ones. The gym, library, campus center, and fine arts buildings are slated to be retained.

Academics

Cardinal Stritch University offered more than 60 fields of study throughout four colleges, with bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees.

Athletics

The Cardinal Stritch athletic teams were called the Wolves. The university was a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA), primarily competing in the

Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Its 12 members are loc ...

(CCAC) since the 1997–98 academic year. The Wolves previously competed in the defunct

Lake Michigan Conference The Lake Michigan Conference was an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association. It was located in Northern Michigan and contained eight teams that encompasses six counties: Antrim County, ...

of the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

ranks from 1974–75 to 1996–97. Cardinal Stritch competed in 13 intercollegiate varsity sports.

Basketball

The Cardinal Stritch men's basketball team won the Lake Michigan Conference men's basketball championship in 1987. The men's team was also five-time National Little College Athletic Association (now the

United States Collegiate Athletic Association The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 national ...

) Great Lakes District men's basketball champion from 1983 to 1987. The Cardinal Stritch men's basketball team won the NAIA Division II National Championship in 2013.

Track and field

In 2016, the men's indoor track and field team accomplished a first in Stritch history with a seventh-place finish at the NAIA indoor track and field nationals.

Notable alumni

* Vance Boelter – alleged assassin of Minnesota State Representative

Melissa Hortman Melissa Anne Hortman (née Haluptzok; May27, 1970June14, 2025) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 61st Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2019 to 2025. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party ...

* Rosemary Hinkfuss – Wisconsin State Representative *

John E. McCoy John E. McCoy is a major general in the United States National Guard and is the Air National Guard Assistant to the Commander of Air Education and Training Command. Biography McCoy graduated from Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville, Wisco ...

– U.S. Air National Guard brigadier general * Kimberla Lawson Roby – author *

Anthony Shumaker Anthony Warren Shumaker (born 14 May 1973) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was born in Tucson, Arizona. Shumaker played baseball while attending college at Cardinal Stritch University. He was drafted in the 23rd round of ...

–

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player * Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck – American education professional

Notable faculty

* Thomasita Fessler – painter and chair of the art department *

Tamara Grigsby Tamara D. Grigsby (November 19, 1974 – March 14, 2016) was an American social worker, academic, and politician who served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly by representing the 18th Assembly District from 2005 until 2013. Early life ...

– Wisconsin State Representative * Yasmin Mogahed – author and first female instructor at the

AlMaghrib Institute AlMaghrib Institute is a 501(c)(3) Islamic studies organization founded in Houston, Texas, by Muhammad AlShareef in 2002.Asef Bayat, Linda Herrera, ''Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North,'' p 170. AlMaghrib ...

* Marion Verhaalen – composer and musicologist

Notes

References

External links

* {{Coord, 43, 08, 24, N, 87, 54, 36, W, region:US_type:edu, display=title Franciscan universities and colleges Glendale, Wisconsin Catholic universities and colleges in Wisconsin Universities and colleges in Milwaukee Universities and colleges in Hennepin County, Minnesota Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Universities and colleges established in 1937 1937 establishments in Wisconsin Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee Educational institutions disestablished in 2023 2023 disestablishments in Wisconsin Defunct Catholic universities and colleges in the United States