Saint Leo University

Saint Leo University is a private Catholic university in St. Leo, Florida. It was established in 1889. The university is associated with the Holy Name Monastery, a Benedictine convent, and Saint Leo Abbey, a Benedictine monastery. The university and the abbey are both named for Pope Leo the Great, bishop of Rome from 440 to 461. The name also honors Leo XIII, who was Pope at the time the university was founded, and Leo Haid, then abbot of Maryhelp Abbey in North Carolina, now Belmont Abbey, who participated in founding the university and served as its first president.

The first Catholic college in Florida, Saint Leo is one of the fifteen largest Catholic colleges in the United States. It enrolls students at the traditional University Campus, and through its Center for Online Learning. University-wide, Saint Leo educates students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories, and more than 80 countries. As of Spring 2017, total enrollment was 16,207 students, with 2,088 of those at University Campus. As of 2023, total enrollment is 9,523.

Saint Leo was one of the first American universities to provide distance learning opportunities to students, beginning with educating military men and women in 1973 during the Vietnam era at the height of the anti-war movement. Saint Leo University offers more than 40 associate, baccalaureate, and master's degrees, and certificate programs and inaugurated its first doctoral program in 2013. As of Fall 2016, the faculty included 219 full-time faculty and 1,157 fully qualified adjunct faculty members. In 2020, they had approximately 2000 employees.

History

Saint Leo traces its history to August 10, 1881, when Edmund F. Dunne, a former chief justice of the Arizona Territory, gained control of 100,000 acres in Florida. He established a Catholic colony in an area that is now the city of San Antonio and the town of St. Leo.

To accommodate a number of German-speaking colonists, John Moore, Bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, wrote the abbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania to request a German-speaking priest. That request led to the Benedictine monks first arriving in the area. In 1888, Saint Vincent Archabbey transferred control of the colony to Mary Help of Christians Abbey (commonly called Maryhelp) in Belmont, North Carolina.

In February 1889, Leo Haid, Abbot of Maryhelp Abbey, accepted a gift from Edmund Dunne of 36 acres on Lake Jovita for the founding of a Benedictine College. That same month, Benedictine nuns arrived from Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

On March 11, 1889, they founded Holy Name Monastery. Saint Leo College and Saint Leo Abbey were founded on June 4, 1889. St. Leo College, the original name of the institution, opened its doors on September 14, 1890. The first student to arrive was 12 years old. He and six others were enrolled on the first day, and the student body grew to 32 for the 1890–1891 school year. The first five students graduated in June 1893 with Master of Accounts degrees.

In 1898, before it was legal in Florida for black and white students to attend school together, Saint Leo enrolled a black student—Rudolph Antorcha from Cuba. Today, he and the welcoming Benedictines are honored with a sculpture titled A Spirit of Belonging, which was dedicated at University Campus in 2013.

Over the years, the school went through a series of varying focuses and name changes: St. Leo's College initially, then St. Leo Military College (1890–1903), St. Leo College (1903–17), St. Leo College Preparatory School (1917–18), Saint Leo College (1918–20), St. Leo College High School (1920–23), St. Leo Academy (1923–27), Benedictine High School (1927–29), Saint Leo College Preparatory School (1929–64), Saint Leo College (1959–99), and finally Saint Leo University (1999–present). During that time, it served as a military college within three different periods.

Saint Leo College Preparatory School operated from 1929 to 1964. In addition, Saint Leo returned to its college roots in 1959 and opened a junior college, with the first junior college graduates earning their associate degrees in 1961. The monks managed both the junior college and the prep school from 1959 to 1964. The Saint Leo College Prep School athletic teams were known as the Lions, and their colors were purple and gold. The Saint Leo College teams were known as the Monarchs, using green and gold as colors. In 1999, the Saint Leo athletic teams re-adopted the Lions name.

In 2011, Saint Leo University created an anthropomorphic lion mascot named Fritz. The name was a reference to a series of Saint Bernard dogs bearing that name, all owned by Charles Mohr, who served as the first abbot of Saint Leo Abbey from 1902 to 1931.

The Benedictine sisters at Holy Name Monastery, its neighboring community, closed their Holy Name Academy in 1963 and assisted Saint Leo, which transitioned to a four-year program.

Saint Leo College conferred its first bachelor's degree on April 23, 1967, on 51 men and 13 women. The college was accredited by the Southern Educational Association that November, retroactive to the degree date.

In 1973, the college responded to requests from the armed services to offer degree programs on U.S. military bases. More education centers followed—on military bases, on community college campuses, and at stand-alone facilities—in seven states.

In 1998, the university's Center for Online Learning was created, allowing students to take classes online from any location.

The university announced plans in July 2021 to merge with Marymount California University, another private Catholic university. The transition was expected to be completed by January 2023. However, plans for the merger fell through after St. Leo University's accreditor rejected its plans to acquire Marymount California University, and Marymount California University closed in August 2022. St. Leo University has since closed many of its satellite locations, eliminated 111 faculty/staff positions, cut three degree programs, and phased out six NCAA division II teams, facing continuing enrollment declines and financial issues.

Since 1959, when the junior college was started, Saint Leo has had 11 presidents:
* John I. Leonard (1959–61)
* Stephen Herrmann (1961–68)
* Anthony W. Zaitz (1968–70)
* Marion Bowman (1970–71)
* Thomas B. Southard (1971–85)
* M. Daniel Henry (1985–87)
* Frank M. Mouch (1987–96)
* Arthur F. Kirk Jr. (1997–2015)
* William J. Lennox Jr. (2015–18)
* Jeffrey D. Senese (2018–2022)
* Edward Dadez (2022–2025)

Undergraduate admissions

In 2024, Saint Leo University accepted 80.1% of undergraduate applicants, with admission standards considered moderate, applicant competition considered very low,
and with those enrolled having an average 3.1 high school GPA. The college does not require submission of standardized test scores, but they will be considered when submitted. Those enrolled students that submitted test scores had an average 1090 SAT score (8% submitting scores) or an average 23 ACT score (4% submitting scores).

Rankings

Saint Leo is ranked No. 392-434 out of 436 in the National Universities category in the 2025 ''U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges'' rankings. The university was also tied for No. 181 in the Top Performers on Social Mobility.

Accreditation

The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, bachelor's, master's, specialist, and doctoral degrees. The Saint Leo School of Business received initial accreditation by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education in September 1999. In 2014, accreditation was obtained from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

Saint Leo University's degree program in social work is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work Education (MSW, BSW, and bridge programs). The university's undergraduate sport business program and MBA sport business concentration are accredited by the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation. The university has teacher education programs approved by the Florida Department of Education.

In December 2023, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges put Saint Leo University on probation due to "failing to meet financial standards and obligations and poor management of finances". In December 2024, the commission found Saint Leo University in compliance with regulations and removed the probationary status.

Student life

Greek life

There are seven fraternities and seven sororities on campus. Greek life is an active part of campus life. Chapters must meet requirements of a certain amount of social activities, educational programs, and philanthropy/community service each year. First-year students must wait until they have completed a semester before they may sign up for recruitment to join a Greek organization. The undergraduate chapters are only on the University Campus, but graduate students at learning centers may be able to join NPHC graduate chapters if their local area has them.

Athletics

Saint Leo University's athletic teams are known as the Lions. They participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division II in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, and tennis; women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, acrobatics and tumbling, volleyball and beach volleyball. The university discontinued men and women's swim, track, and cross country programs in Spring of 2023 “to help ensure the strength and long-term vitality of the university's Athletics program and is a part of Saint Leo University's larger efforts to streamline and focus its program offerings.” The school won its first NCAA Division II National Title in 2016 when the Lions' men's golf team defeated Chico State, 3–2, in the NCAA DII Championship round at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver, Colorado as part of the 2016 NCAA Division II Spring Championships Festival. Saint Leo also played host to the 2016 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships at The Abbey Course.

Notable alumni and attendees

Saint Leo University has produced thousands of alumni over the years, including Charles Henri Baker, a Haitian industrialist and presidential candidate; former politicians Richard Corcoran and Ed Narain; Cerelyn J. Davis, Memphis Police Department chief; and former Major League Baseball player Bob Tewksbury (attended, did not graduate).

WLSL-LP FM 92.7

In January 2014 Saint Leo University received a construction permit for a low-power FM station to operate on 92.7 MHz. The call sign is WLSL-LP (We Love Saint Leo).

The station's studio facilities are located on University Campus with the transmitter and antenna facilities located at Pasco High School in Dade City. WLSL-LP covers the communities of Saint Leo, Dade City, and San Antonio and can be heard in a car radio as far north as Ridge Manor and south of Zephyrhills. The station was fully licensed on October 19, 2015.

Gallery

File:Entrance to Saint Leo University.jpg, Main entrance
File:Saint Leo Abbey Church seen from Saint Leo University.JPG, Saint Leo Abbey Church
File:Saint Leo University main campus.JPG, Saint Francis Hall on University's main campu
File:Saint Leo University Church.jpg, The St. Leo Benedictine Abbey Church
File:Newport News.jpg, The Newport News (VA) Education Office
File:Aerial view of the main Saint Leo University campus.jpg, Aerial view

References

External links

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Athletics website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Leo University

Universities and colleges established in 1889
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Benedictine colleges and universities
Buildings and structures in Pasco County, Florida
Education in Pasco County, Florida
1889 establishments in Florida
Catholic universities and colleges in Florida
Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg