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 recorded ...

Catholic university in Lower Gwynedd Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It occupies a campus in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Gwynedd Mercy University was founded in 1948, as Gwynedd-Mercy College, by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

as a junior college. In 1963, the college was rechartered as a baccalaureate 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 t ...

, 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. 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 A liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free () human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment. It has been d ...

, 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 The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education, is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

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 the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

and the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. *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 College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

and

Atlantic East Conference The Atlantic East Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III and is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. History Beginning play ...

(AEC) with 19 sports teams that compete at

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- ...

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 for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

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 Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact 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 w ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

. 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 ...

; 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 (anatomy), flexibility, Muscle, muscular strength, and ...

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 vel ...

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 Summ ...

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 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 (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

extends hands-on experience to early childhood development and

nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

majors currently enrolled at the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

. 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 A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...

and

parents A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. ...

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 Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

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

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

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 Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

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 purs ...

information; visits to

colleges A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

; and cultural and social activities.

References

External links

*
Athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwynedd Mercy University Nursing schools in Pennsylvania Sisters of Mercy colleges and universities Catholic universities and colleges in Pennsylvania Universities and colleges established in 1948 1948 establishments in Pennsylvania Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Universities and colleges in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania