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St. Bonaventure University

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St. Bonaventure University is located in Cattaraugus County in western New York. The university was established by the Franciscan Brothers in 1858 and is a private, Catholic university, located near Olean, New York. It has roughly 2,750 students. The current president is Sister Margaret Carney OSF, the 20th president and the first religious sister to hold the position. Its sports teams, the Bonnies (formerly nicknamed the "Brown Indians") play NCAA Division I sports in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Students and alumni refer to the university with an affectionate nickname — "Bona's" — which originates from the school's original name (St. Bonaventure's College).

Contents

Location

The campus sits on 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) in the town of Allegany, just over the line from the city of Olean. The area around campus is known as St. Bonaventure, New York, with a population of 2,100.

The south edge of campus lies on the Allegheny River. Campus buildings are designed in red brick with Italianate roofs, to reflect the architecture of St. Francis' native Italy. Most of the campus is wooded, and it contains a cemetery, a 9-hole golf course, an old airport, among academic and dormitory buildings. The expansive front lawn has been cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest front lawn in North America.

The university also owns a plot of land on an Allegheny Mountain foothill in West Clarksville, New York called Mount Irenaeus. "The Mountain," as it is lovingly referred to by students, faculty and alumni, provides a peaceful retreat for students of all creeds and backgrounds.

St. Bonaventure University has its own U.S. Post Office. Mail may be addressed to St. Bonaventure, NY 14778.

History

The university was founded by Utica financier Nicholas Devereux, one of the first to gain land grants in newly surveyed Cattaraugus County from the Holland Land Company. Devereux founded the town of Allegany on the grant, hoping to build a new city. A great city needed religious instruction, so Devereux approached John Timon, the bishop of Buffalo, for assistance. The two invited the Franciscan order to Western New York, and a small group under Father Pamfilo da Magliano OFM arrived in 1856. This was the first group of Franciscan brothers to settle in the United States. The school graduated its first class in 1858. St. Bonaventure's College was granted university status by New York State in 1957. The largest dormitory on campus, Devereux Hall, is named for the founder.

Once one of the nation's most prominent Catholic colleges, St. Bonaventure ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s, to the point when it almost declared bankruptcy in 1994. Since then, the school has been put on a more solid financial footing and has seen record growth and campus improvements in the past five years.

Thomas Merton taught English at St. Bonaventure for a year just at the start of World War II. It was at the school that Merton finally gave into his vocation and decided to join the Trappists. He entered the monastery in Kentucky in 1941. An unusual botanical phenomenon on a mountain in view of campus, where the trees have fallen and left a clearing in the shape of a heart, is linked to Merton in campus myth. Some students call it "Merton's Heart" and claim that Merton visited the place often.

St. Bonaventure is strongly identified with the Western New York region. A notable proportion of the student body are from the Buffalo and Rochester metro areas, and references to Buffalo and Rochester — and their Catholic high schools — are common even among students not from those areas.

Athletics

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St. Bonaventure has been long known for a successful basketball program that plays in the Atlantic Ten Conference. Nearly every member of the spirited student body attends home games, leading ESPN to call St. Bonaventure one of the top-five "worst places to play" in the country, along with Duke and Michigan. Bob Lanier played at St. Bonaventure, leading them to the Final Four in 1970, as did Tom and Sam Stith. In addition to these, and other, NBA players, other St. Bonaventure players played in the top European leagues. The last St. Bonaventure player to reach the NBA was J.R. Bremer, who played for the Boston Celtics in 2002 and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.

Mike Gansey, who finished his college career in 2006 as a star at West Virginia, played his first two years of college basketball at St. Bonaventure, but transferred along with several teammates in the wake of an academic scandal in 2003 after it was found that the university had accepted a junior-college transfer player whose only academic credential was a welding certificate. Dismissed after this affair were the university president, the basketball coaching staff, and athletic director Gothard Lane, who was later absolved of culpability in the situation.

The men's and women's basketball teams, among others, play at the Reilly Center Arena. The Arena seats around 5,900, and is usually sold out during basketball season. Many people from the Olean area have been season ticket holders for years. The current men's basketball coach is former Notre Dame assistant Anthony Solomon.

The University today

The school is renowned in New York State and the mid-Atlantic region for its journalism, business and education programs, having produced five Pulitzer Prize-winning writers. Often traditionally considered a "Buffalo and Rochester" school, the school has seen significant enrollment gains from New England and the [[Midwest]

St. Bonaventure is home to the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Its campus newspaper, The Bona Venture, has been published continuously since 1926. The school is also home to The Laurel, the nation's oldest continuously published college literary magazine. The school's student radio station, WSBU 88.3 The Buzz, is consistently ranked in the top five nationally. Lastly, the school has a unique organization known as [SFM] (Students for the Mountain). It allows students of all religions to come and meet so that they may discuss any topic they seem prevalent. This group also holds retreats on a daily basis and all students are welcome.

The Franciscans & the university

The school is the largest Franciscan-affiliated institution of undergraduate higher education in the English-speaking world. The friars at the St. Bonaventure Friary belong to the Holy Name Province, OFM. Franciscan brothers at the school are members of the Order of Friars Minor, one of the orders of Franciscan brothers.

The Bonaventure friars are involved in a number of activities in the greater Olean community, besides ministry on campus. They administer St. Bonaventure's Parish in Allegany, called "Little Bona's". There is a strong Franciscan presence at Olean General Hospital, and the university operates the area soup kitchen. Also adjacent to campus is the Motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, a group of Franciscan religious sisters.

St. Bonaventure himself (1221-74), born John of Fidenza, was a cardinal and Doctor of the Church. A theologian and contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas at the university in Paris, he became head of the Franciscan order and did much to institutionalize that order. His most famous work is Itinerarium mentis in deum, or The Soul's Journey to God. Bonaventure was canonized in 1482 by Sixtus IV.

The university is also home to the Franciscan Institute. Founded in 1939 by Fr. Thomas Plassmann, O.F.M., then President of St. Bonaventure College, and led by its first Director, Fr. Philotheus Boehner, O.F.M., the Franciscan Institute stands as the preeminent center in North America of teaching, research and publication on the history, spirituality and intellectual life of the Franciscan movement.

St. Bonaventure University is recognized nationally as one of the best places on earth to be, that's why most people who attend never want to leave.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of St. Bonaventure University include:

The school also boasts five Pulitzer Prize winners as alumni.

Four Members of the United States Congress also attended St. Bonaventure.

External links

 

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