1904: With an initial investment of $5,000, Edmundite priests open Saint Michael’s Institute. Enrollment: 34 students ages 10 to 22. Tuition and board: $105.
1911: Julian R. Miller, Saint Michael’s first African-American student (and first African-American varsity athlete) graduates.
1926: Saint Michael's begins to offer graduate programs. Today, the College offers five master’s degree programs (in addition to all its undergraduate degrees) in Theology, Business Administration and Management, Education, Teaching English as a Second Language, and Clinical Psychology.
1942: Biology professor Elsa Kiel Sichel becomes Saint Michael’s first female full-time faculty member, leading the way for a faculty that is today 46 percent women.
1947: Saint Michael’s Playhouse opens, bringing professional summer theatre to Vermont and giving students the chance to work behind the scenes. Saint Michael's students still intern with the Playhouse each summer.
1952: Federal government gives $10,000 grant to the College for a cancer research project. Last year, the College spent nearly $1 million in grant money for research and other projects.
1954: Students from around the world begin learning English in a new program, today called the School of International Studies. SIS graduates to date: 15,000.
1958: The “Iron Knights” basketball team fights to second place in the NCAA college championships, putting Saint Michael’s on the athletic map.
1969: An SMC athlete dies in the midst of an athletic event, prompting members of the College community to form the Saint Michael's College Fire and Rescue Squads. The squads respond to an average of 2,000 emergency calls annually.
1970: 22 women enroll for the first time as full-time students. (Today, women slightly outnumber men.)
1971: Sunday night students Masses begin in the Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel, starting a long and popular tradition. Hundreds of graduates have returned to the Chapel to be married.
1974: Patrick Leahy ’61 elected to U.S. Senate, becoming the youngest person ever to win that post in Vermont. Among all Saint Michael’s graduates, government services is among the top 10 career fields.
1988: MOVE office formed to spearhead volunteer efforts by members of the Saint Michael’s community. 70 percent of our students volunteer at some point during their college career – for a total of 6,000 hours annually.
1989: Saint Michael’s first included in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings as a “top northern university.”
1995: Jeffrey Good ’81 wins Pulitzer Prize for editorials exposing abuses in Florida probate courts.
1996: Wilderness Program launched, teaching leadership skills to students via wilderness adventures.
1997: Templeton Foundation first names Saint Michael’s as one of only 328 character-building colleges, particularly citing its substance abuse programs.
1999: Two athletic firsts: The Ice Knights claim the NCAA Div. II hockey championship (the first national title in College history), and women’s lacrosse wins the NE-10 Conference Championship.
2000: The Luce Foundation awards Saint Michael’s $224,000 in support of women’s pursuit of science, math, or engineering careers. Awards cover complete educational costs for the junior and senior years.
2003: Saint Michael's named a "Hidden Treasure" by Kaplan/Newsweek, and is also invited to establish a Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus. The College is only one of three institutions in Vermont and 220 Catholic college nationwide to house a prestigious PBK chapter.
2004: Saint Michael’s celebrates its Centennial in an 18-month long celebration featuring special lectures, musical performances and convocations.
2005: Saint Michael's is selected to appear in The Princeton Review's Best 361 Colleges guidebook.