Gwynedd Mercy University (GMercyU) is 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 recorde ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

university in

Lower Gwynedd Township, Pennsylvania Lower Gwynedd Township ( ) is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 11,405 at the 2010 census. The township comprises four villages: Gwynedd, Gwynedd Valley, Penllyn, and Spring House. While its posta ...

. It occupies a campus in the

Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well a ...

. Gwynedd Mercy University was founded in 1948, as Gwynedd-Mercy College, by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

as a junior college. In 1963 the college was rechartered as a

baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...

institution. The school later renamed itself Gwynedd Mercy University. GMercyU offers more than 40 undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing, education, business, and the arts & sciences.

History

Dating to the early 1900s, the grounds were originally owned by Frances Bond, an investment banker, and were known as Willowbrook Farm. The farm hosted a large Gregorian mansion, formal gardens and outbuildings that were designed by Philadelphia architect

Horace Trumbauer Horace Trumbauer (December 28, 1868 – September 18, 1938) was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of ...

, the architect of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Bogaert, Pauline Pinar
"Walled Garden Thrives After Rejuvenation But Could Use A Cleanup"
retrieved August 21, 2012 The mansion is over one hundred years old and was the home of the Bonds; it is still in use by the university today as Assumption Hall. For a time Frances' son and respected ornithologist James Bond lived on the land. When birdwatcher and author Ian Fleming needed a name for his famous protagonist he turned to a notable bird-watching guide written by Bond. "I was looking for a name for my hero – nothing like Peregrine Carruthers or 'Standfast' Maltravers - and I found it on the cover of Birds of the West Indies by James Bond," wrote Fleming in the book ''Ian Fleming Introduces Jamaica.'' Frances Bond's wife Margaret died in 1910, a few years after the Gregorian Mansion was finished in 1906–1907. Two years after her death, Bond sold Willowbrook Farm to Roland and Anita Taylor. The couple renamed the farm Treweryn, after the creek that flows through the property. Mr. Taylor was an enthusiastic landscaper who planted many ornamental trees and shrubs, including 53 varieties of Rhododendron. After the death of the Taylors, their daughters sold the mansion, outbuildings and additional land to the

in 1948.

Academics

Espousing the ideals of a liberal education, the university offers baccalaureate and associate degrees in more than 40 programs. The university also offers master's degrees, post-masters certificates, and doctorate-level degrees Gwynedd Mercy University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Facilities

*Keiss Library and Academic Resource Center. *The Lincoln Library in Assumption Hall contains a large adjunct collection of books on

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. *Julia Ball Auditorium, a small-in-the-round theater. *Frances M. Maguire Hall is home to the Frances M. Maguire School of Nursing and Health Professions, natural science, and math and computational science. *University Hall houses the Schools of Business and Education. *Four residential-halls, Alexandria (built in January 2006), Siena, St. Brigid and Loyola, provide on-campus housing to students.

Athletics

Gwynedd Mercy is a member of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

and

Atlantic East Conference The Atlantic East Conference is an NCAA Division III collegiate athletic conference in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. History Beginning play in July 2018, the league consists of seven private universities, each former members o ...

(AEC) with 19 sports teams that compete at

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

level. In the spring of 2009, Gwynedd Mercy opened its doors to a new turf athletic

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

and the addition of Men's Lacrosse to their athletic department. The Griffins most successful athletic program is Women's Basketball, which captured the CSAC championships in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2012. Men's Basketball captured the title in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2016. The Gwynedd Mercy Women's Soccer team won their only title in 2001. The Griffin Baseball team has had back-to-back championship seasons in 2000 and 2001, then again in 2007 and 2008. Men's Cross-Country team has won four consecutive league championships from 2008 to 2011. The Women Griffins ran to a title in 2009 in Cross-Country. The Women's Tennis team has gone on to win four consecutive league championships from 2009 to 2012. The field hockey team has won the past four CSAC championships, in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. The campus has outdoor

tennis courts A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

, outdoor basketball courts, and playing fields for

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, soccer and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

. The Griffin Complex, the university's multimillion-dollar sports facility, contains a full-size collegiate

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor sur ...

; an indoor track; an

aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness ( flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-vascular fitness). ...

room;

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

and

wallyball Wallyball (known in some places as rebound volleyball) is a fast-paced sport that is similar to volleyball played in a racquetball court, where it is legal to hit the ball off of the walls. The word "wallyball" is a portmanteau of the words "wal ...

courts; a weight room.

Student life

The Voices of Gwynedd

The Voices of Gwynedd is a choir composed of full- and part-time students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Gwynedd Mercy University.

Special programs and services

Valie Genuardi Hobbit House

The Valie Genuardi Hobbit House is a child development nursery school (ages 3–5) where the age groups work and play together in a family atmosphere. Located in the college's Trocaire building, the Hobbit House

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...

extends hands-on experience to early childhood development and

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

majors currently enrolled at the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

. Fulfilling its mission to raise a child's awareness of his/her surrounding natural environment, the Hobbit House opens all field trips and special occasions to Gwynedd-Mercy students and

parents A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

who wish to attend. As of October 19, 2012, the Valie Genuardi Hobbit House was licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Academic Schools.

Upward Bound

A comprehensive, pre-college preparatory program designed to aid high school students interested in

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...

, Gwynedd-Mercy offers eligible, Diocesan-city-schooled participants a five-week, summer residential stay on-campus. Program offerings include academic instruction in mathematics,

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and English; tutorial and counseling services; PSAT/

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

workshops;

financial aid Student financial aid in the United States is funding that is available exclusively to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. This funding is used to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the p ...

information; visits to colleges; and cultural and social activities.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwynedd Mercy University Nursing schools in Pennsylvania Sisters of Mercy colleges and universities Catholic universities and colleges in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1948 1948 establishments in Pennsylvania Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities