History

Holy Names University was founded in 1868 when six Sisters of the Holy Names arrived in California from Montreal, Canada. The teaching order, founded to provide education to those living in poverty, had been invited to Oakland by Father Michael King to establish a school for girls and to train future teachers.

The six sisters who made the trek from Montreal to San Francisco by trains and ships, including traversing the rugged Isthmus of Panama on shaky rails, were Sisters Salome, Celestine, Marceline, Seraphine, Cyrille, and Anthony, the oldest at age 31. Sister Salome had made her final vows on the day of departure from Canada. They arrived in San Francisco on the morning of May 10, acknowledged as Founders’ Day by the University and celebrated annually with the Sisters of today serving strawberries and shortcake on campus. The Sisters of Mercy and Father King served the Sisters fresh strawberries and cream upon their arrival in San Francisco.

When the school was founded on the shores of Lake Merritt, Oakland was an outpost of 8,000 people. Lake Merritt was at that time considered to be “far in the country, wild and brush-covered, a thicket for rabbits and quail.”

With the establishment of its graduate division in 1955, the college formally admitted male students for the first time. This was the forerunner of the entire college becoming co-ed in 1971. The Sisters sold the Lake Merritt property to Kaiser Co., and in 1956 purchased a 60-acre property on Mountain Boulevard in the Oakland Hills. The first classes on the hill took place on February 7, 1957.

Since that historic beginning over 150 years ago, HNU has served the Oakland community and the East Bay in many ways. The University has contributed significantly to the professional workforce of the area—graduating thousands of teachers, nurses, and science majors; counseling psychology majors who have gone on to practice as marriage and family therapists; and business majors who have been an important part of the city’s thriving business community.

Timeline

1868	September 18, 1868	Foundation of Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at Lake Merritt Campus, Oakland, California
	September 18, 1868	An album containing portraits of the first boarders of the Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, including Miss Maria Byrne, left, the first student named on a list of enrollees
1876	September 19, 1876	The Convent school census: 21 Sisters, 2 novices, 2 postulants, 80 boarders (becoming 100 boarders by 1878)
1880	September 18, 1880	Empowered by the State of California to grant higher degrees
1886	September 19, 1886	While rowing in August with the Sisters, student Edith Clark dives into Lake Chabot to rescue a drowning classmate who had fallen overboard. Clark’s heroism earns her the U.S. Treasury Department Silver Life-saving Medal
1890	September 19, 1890	The Convent school “fleet” consists of three rowboats: Marie Rose, Dove, and Aloysius
1901	September 19, 1901	Sister Mary Seraphine, known for her beautiful voice, trains students to sing “America” and “Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue” for the expected passage of President William McKinley down Webster Street just outside the school grounds
1906	September 19, 1906	The “great” San Francisco earthquake throws statues and windows to the floor, opens a hole in the roof, and damages rooms. The chapel “suffered severely”
1908	September 18, 1908	Name of the institution changes to Convent and College of the Holy Names
1910	March 16, 1910	Secular students admitted to college-level classes for the first time, and the Alumnae Office opens with its new constitution decreeing that the annual meeting should coincide with Founders’ Day (May 10)
1913	September 19, 1913	A visiting Jesuit lectures on the “new” discipline of psychology
1917	March 16, 1917	Holy Names Junior College formally inaugurated; first secular students admitted
1918	September 18, 1918	Students cheer the end of World War I
1921	September 20, 1921	The College adds a third year to the curriculum (for nursing students)
1925	March 16, 1925	The senior college opens
1926	September 20, 1926	First four-year bachelor of arts degree awarded to Mildred Agnes Smith of Portland, Oregon; HNU’s education program is founded
1929	September 21, 1929	First baccalaureate degrees awarded
1929	September 21, 1929	Associated Students publish the first yearbook; classes in the late 1940s will dub it Excalibur
1930	March 16, 1930	The first College of the Holy Names’ teacher candidates are credentialed by the state of California
1932	September 20, 1932	First issue of College of the Holy Names Bulletin, predecessor to HNU Today, is published by students to keep Alumnae Association members “alumnae-minded.” The editors wrote: “It is to be hoped that interesting items will be contributed occasionally by those of the long ago, as well as by students of
1935	September 21, 1935	The seal of the college — with its motto virtus, honor, nobilitas — is in use
1941	September 21, 1941	A class off 66 individuals graduates, including 34 lay and 32 religious
1941-1945	September 21, 1941	During World War II, Homecoming raffle prize winners often receive a war bond
1943	September 21, 1943	Graduate study begins at the College of the Holy Names when courses are offered for the credential in secondary education
1949	March 16, 1949	College of the Holy Names becomes one of the charter members of the the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
1955	March 16, 1956	The co-educational graduate division formally established
1956	March 16, 1956	Groundbreaking is held Feb. 7 for a new campus in the Oakland hills. Sister Imelda Marie, president for the College, turned the first shovel of soil
1957	September 5, 1957	By April, artist Louisa Jenkins of Big Sur, solicited by Sister Mary Luke and assisted by art students, completes the Sophia mural on the southeast wall of Brennan Hall
1957	September 21, 1957	Bidding farewell to the original Lake Merritt site, campus moves to a new permanent home on Mountain Boulevard
1958	September 21, 1958	Fall semester begins on the new campus
1958	September 21, 1958	Under the headline “Campus Living in Modern Style,” a local newspaper trumpets the opening of Durocher Hall in September, noting that it will accommodate 159 students
1958	September 21, 1958	“Energy, zest, and brilliance” is how SF Chronicle’s art critic referred to California mission paintings by Sr. Mary Luke that now line the Founders’ Hall corridor
1959	September 21, 1959	The Associated Collegiate Press award “First Honors” to the 1959 Excalibur yearbook. The cover design by Editor Carol Hubert ’59 earns honors as a Cover of the Month
1960	September 21, 1960	Raskob Learning Institute opens
1961	September 21, 1961	Peter Grothe, special consultant to the Peace Corps credited with drafting the original name and legislation for its creation, presents “a first-hand report on this new aspect of American foreign policy” to the campus
1961	September 21, 1961	Actor Raymond Burr serves as host for an annual scholarship fundraising barbecue held on campus
1963	September 5, 1963	Margaret Mealey ’33, executive director of the National Council of Catholic Women, receives one of 18 pens President John F. Kennedy uses to sign The Equal Pay Act that made it illegal to pay men and women working in the same place different salaries for similar work
1965	September 21, 1965	Organizers of the annual CoHoNa — short for College of the Holy Names — Ball choose the theme “Royalty and Red Velvet” and extend an invitation to Princess Margaret of England and her husband, Lord Snowden, who “regretfully declined”
1968	September 21, 1968	Campus activists establish THRUST to bring college resources, including literacy expertise, to the community
1968	September 21, 1968	Singer Jack Jones and Count Basie and His Orchestra headline a March 24 Benefit Performance organized by the college and held at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum
1969	September 21, 1969	The Kodály music education program opens
1971	March 6, 1971	The College name changes to Holy Names College and becomes fully co-educational
1972	September 21, 1972	Painted scenes from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales—then valued at over $25,000—that once graced the lobby of San Francisco’s Canterbury Hotel are donated to the University and displayed in Brennan Hall (today they hang in the Valley Center for the Performing Arts)
1975	March 16, 1975	As part of a popular HNU speakers series, pioneering hospice psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, author of On Death and Dying, speaks on campus (Photo: Ken Ross)
1977	March 6, 1977	An interdisciplinary, team-taught program in Humanistic Studies becomes the cornerstone of the undergraduate curriculum
1981	September 16, 1981	The Weekend College (WECO) opens, offering working adults classes on Friday nights and Saturdays – the first such program west of the Rockies for working adults
1982	September 22, 1982	Carol Corrigan ’70 appointed to President Ronald Reagan’s Commission on Organized Crime (she was then deputy DA for Alameda County)
1987	September 22, 1987	The writing across the curriculum program is adopted to ensure that development in writing is a component of all undergraduate programs
1987	September 22, 1987	Then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein speaks on campus for HNU’s Eighth Annual Symposium for Business Leaders
1987	September 21, 1989	The writing across the curriculum program is adopted to ensure that development in writing is a component of all undergraduate programs
1989	September 21, 1989	College faculty ranked No. 1 in the West by U.S. News and World Report
1994	March 16, 1994	Valley Center for the Performing Arts opens, providing the campus and community with a state-of-the-art facility
1994	March 16, 1994	HNU joins the National College Athletic Association and is a founding member of what is now the California Pacific Conference (CAL PAC)
1994	September 21, 1994	HNU students make first annual visits to: Tutwiler, Mississippi, to build homes with Habitat for Humanity; and to Fort Benning, Georgia, joining protesters who demand the closing of the School of Americas, where Latin American government soldiers train
1996	September 21, 1996	A 12-by-12 portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt goes on display in the VCPA for World AIDS Day
1997	March 16, 1997	The Sophia Center graduate program in Culture and Creation Spirituality begins
1997	March 16, 1997	Master of Science in Nursing program begins
2000	September 21, 2000	Accelerated business degree program, Excel, is introduced
2004	March 16, 2004	The name of the institution is changed to Holy Names University
2005	September 21, 2005	Following Hurricane Katrina in August, HNU welcomes 25 students displaced from their home institutions in New Orleans; eight choose to remain at HNU
2007	March 16, 2007	HNU celebrates its 50th anniversary in the Oakland Hills
2008	March 16, 2008	HNU celebrates its 140th anniversary in Oakland
2009	September 21, 2009	Brennan Hall transformed into a 15,800 square f00t, full-service Student Center
2012	March 16, 2012	HNU’s application to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Division II is accepted
2012	May 13, 2012	Newscaster Gwen Ifill, of Washington Week and PBS News Hour and the first African-American woman to host a prominent political talk show, delivers the Commencement address
2012	November 6, 2012	HNU introduces the Early Admit Program guaranteeing admission to 9th graders from Oakland and West Contra Costa school districts
2012	December 6, 2012	By the University’s final year as a California Pacific Conference member, 54 HNU Athletics teams had claimed championships and seven had earned Conference All-Sports Awards
2013	November 6, 2013	U.S. News and World Report recognizes HNU as the most diverse university in the nation for 2012-13
2014	November 6, 2014	Author and Olympic sprinter John Carlos, renowned for raising a fist on the medal stand in 1968 in Mexico City, spoke on campus about his book The Sports Moment that Changed the World
2016	November 6, 2016	Holy Names University Athletics is accepted for full membership in the NCAA Division II
2018	November 6, 2018	Holy Names University celebrates its 150th anniversary in Oakland
2018	November 6, 2018	Prompted by a growing teacher shortage, HNU offers 50 percent tuition reductions to new students planning to teach in public schools, thanks to generous funding from the estate of R. H. “Rock” and Jane Gilmore Logan
2018	December 12, 2018	Pitcher Aiden McIntyre ‘18 makes Hawks history as the first HNU student-athlete drafted by Major League Baseball
2023	May 9, 2023	Holy Names University held its final Commencement for the Class of 2023.