Marian University (Wisconsin)
Marian University is a private Roman Catholic university in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1936 by the Congregation of Sisters of Saint Agnes, which continues to sponsor the university today. Marian University has an enrollment of approximately 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Seventy-one percent of students are women. Ninety-four percent of students receive financial aid. Approximately 32% of undergraduate students live on campus. History Marian University opened as Marian College of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on September 8, 1936, with 17 full-time and 25 part-time students and eight faculty. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes founded the college in response to a Wisconsin Department of Instruction decision that nuns were not allowed to teach in public schools while wearing their religious habits. Marian became accredited in elementary education in 1941. The first graduating class in August 1941 had eight nun graduates. The first lay students graduated in 1942. Marian had 86 full-time and 145 part-time students in 1950, who attended classes in a convent next to St. Agnes Hospital. Although founded as a women's college, the superintendent of Fond du Lac schools attended art and music classes with his wife in 1940. Increasing enrollment caused the