Archives and Records
1957: College of Sister Formation at SU

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In 1957 the College of Sister Formation was established at Seattle University in response to a growing need for certification and higher levels of education for women religious.  In 1961 a separate campus was created at Providence Heights in Issaquah by the Sisters of Providence.  The College of Sister Formation program at Providence Heights offered liberal arts degrees to women religious as an institutional branch of Seattle University.  The College had its own faculty and facilities, but the degrees were granted by Seattle University.

The Sister Formation program illustrated the mid-century trend of women religious pursuing higher education in increased numbers and growth in the professionalization of teaching, health care, and social work undertaken by religious institutes.

Sources:

• Sisters of Providence Archives 
• O'Connell Killen, Patricia. Abundance of Grace: The History of the Archdiocese of Seattle 1850-2000
• Schoenberg, Wilfred, S.J., A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest 1743-1983, Pastoral Press, 1987.