Preparing Transformational Leaders
“Serving the community is the reason the Sisters of Saint Anne founded this College and remains central to our identity as a Catholic institution of higher education. We incorporate service into everything we do in our classroom academics, clubs and activities. Our focus is always outward – where can we help? I often tell our students that they didn’t come to Anna Maria by chance. They chose an institution dedicated to serving the public good.”
— President Mary Lou Retelle
Anna Maria College integrates a liberal arts education with real-life career preparation. The College offers a variety of undergraduate majors, as well as many graduate and certificate programs, both on-ground and online. The small student-faculty ratio allows for a highly personalized learning experience, while the modest class and campus size foster optimal student involvement, collaboration and friendships.
Popular majors are associated with essential careers that drive social impact in communities: nursing, criminal justice, fire science, social work, mental and behavioral health, education, therapeutic arts, business, and more. The College offers an Honors Program and unique study-abroad opportunities. Anna Maria is a member of a Worcester-area College Consortium that allows students to cross-register at other Consortium colleges at no additional cost.
At Anna Maria, you can enjoy all that campus life has to offer and partake in the excitement of the Worcester area. We’re a short drive to Boston, Cape Cod, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island.
More Information
Everybody Has A StoryEverybody Has A Story
At Anna Maria, remarkable stories are being written everyday. Stories of students just like you, who’ve come here for many reasons and discovered something greater. A college that is passionately focused on them. A college built on community, personal engagement and professional preparation.
COMMUNITY
Forensic Criminology and Psychology
Psychology
Sport Management
Health Community Services, MBA
ENGAGEMENT
Early Childhood Education
PREPARATION
Nursing
Business Administration
Fire Science
Fast Facts
Mission & Values
As a Catholic institution inspired by the ideals of the Sisters of Saint Anne, Anna Maria College educates students to become individuals who will transform their world as ethical leaders and community-oriented professionals.
Faith & Reason
Drawing upon the Catholic intellectual tradition, the academic environment provides students an education that honors faith and reason as complementary paths of wisdom in the search for truth and meaning.
Liberal Arts
The College prepares students to adapt to future challenges with creativity and innovation, by integrating a liberal arts education with personal development and professional achievement.
Service to Community
In line with the values of the foundresses, the College stimulates within students a sense of responsibility and dedication to the community through selfless service to family, friends, colleagues and those in need.
Justice & Peace
Acknowledging our place within the world, the College emboldens students to identify injustices and to contribute peaceful solutions to them.
Development of the Whole Person
A balanced education, curricular and co-curricular, aims to inspire holistic personal growth in students as lifelong learners.
Cultivation of Personal Moral Responsibility
We expect students to develop as ethically responsible human beings, through serious reflection and active engagement.
Diversity & Inclusion
We welcome all, regardless of background, and encourage critical thought and ideas in the pursuit of truth.
Heritage
Catholic Roots
In the Canadian province of Quebec, a woman named Esther Blondin, struggled to fulfill a longtime dream “…to empower people – especially the poor illiterate children of the Quebec countryside by teaching them religion, reading, writing, and arithmetic”.
With great passion and audacity, Esther Blondin, known during her life as Mother Marie Anne, pursued this vision, turning it into the exceptional teaching mission of the congregation she founded, the Sisters of Saint Anne.
Pope John Paul II proclaimed Mother Marie Anne as Blessed Marie Anne Blondin at a ceremony in Rome on April 29, 2001.
Planting the Seed
In 1945, with the approbation of Archbishop Richard J. Cushing, the Sisters of Saint Anne, led by Sister Marie Anne Eva Mondor, petitioned the Board of Collegiate Authority of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to amend their 1887 Charter, which allowed them to operate elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, so that they could grant advanced degrees. Under the guidance of the Secretary General of Catholic University of America, all the necessary requirements were met and Anna Maria College opened its doors on September 17, 1946, to its first freshmen class of dynamic and talented women.
Establishing Roots
The 1950s became a decade of rapid expansion for Anna Maria College starting with its move to the then 293-acre campus in Paxton, Massachusetts in 1951. From 1953 to 1959, five new buildings were completed and in 1955 the College became accredited by The New England Association of Schools and Colleges. A teacher training program joined the already robust music program and AMC became recognized by several National Honor Societies.
Establishing Roots
Campus growth continued with the addition of new buildings to meet the demand for program expansion. The first Black Student Union was formed, and with the Class of 1964, Anna Maria College reached a milestone by graduating more than 100 young women. An Ad Hoc committee was set up in 1967 to address academic freedom and student governance with Anna Maria College counted among the first to endorse the Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students.
Growth Years
The early 1970s at Anna Maria were no different than at any other college campus with students participating in programs and rallies to express their views regarding the nation’s military involvements. This time was marked by the physical expansion of the College and the expansion of the curriculum and the co-curricular programs. The most dramatic change to occur in the 1970s was the move to coeducation in 1973 followed a year later by the opening of the graduate division.
Growth Years
The 1980s began with a major change in the corporate structure of Anna Maria College when the Sisters of Saint Anne relinquished to the College its existing charter and degree-granting authority. On April 13, 1980, a newly formed Board of Trustees met with the incumbent Board and the independent corporation was begun. The campus continued to expand with the construction of the Mondor-Eagen Library and the Fuller Activities Center. The College also celebrated its 40th anniversary and continued to move forward and complete successful accreditation reviews with NECHE (formally NEASC).
Branching Out
The 1990s began with the opening of Zecco Performing Arts Center, which became a central site for productions, seminars, and community events. Beyond bricks and mortar, the College needed to address the various changes occurring in the marketplace during this decade. Anna Maria College entered into a partnership with IBM, which helped to jump-start its efforts to purchase and install the necessary technology to provide operational efficiencies in the classroom and keep the College on the forefront of change.
Branching Out
In the early 2000s, the College hosted a re-dedication of its newly designed chapel in recognition of Sr. Bernadette Madore, the College’s fourth president and celebrated its heroes at a 60th anniversary gala. With its rich tradition and solid roots in quality Catholic education, Anna Maria College continued to see its hard work over the years come to fruition. In 2007, led by visionary board members and administrators, the College developed a Strategic Plan: Excellence at Anna Maria College, which continues to guide the growth of the institution. In five short years, Anna Maria opened up three new residence halls, enrolled a record-setting class of 494 students, launched a football team, installed an all-purpose athletic field, and completed another successful NEASC review. The College’s 65th anniversary was celebrated as the campus’ growth and expansion continued with new academic and cocurricular programs.
Extending Our Branches
In 2010, the College launched its first online programs to address the changing needs of adult students.
Trinity Hall, one of the first buildings to house Anna Maria College students, was also rehabbed and reconfigured to accommodate academic advising and student support services so that the College community would continue to effectively touch the lives of more students with its exceptional career-oriented programs that prepare society’s future leaders with the understanding of their role in providing for the common good.
Extending Our Branches
Today, Anna Maria College continues to grow structurally and programmatically, offering 32 undergraduate majors and a dozen graduate studies on-ground and online to its diverse student population of 1,500 learners. True to its heritage, the College continues to offer a highly personalized, liberal arts education that prepares students to ultimately work and serve in their chosen communities across the nation and around the world.
Celebrating the 75th anniversary of its founding in 2021, the College this semester welcomed 320 new students—an enrollment representing a nearly 45 percent increase from the year prior.
Aiming to educate the whole student, Anna Maria College now offers 13 Division III NCAA athletic programs, more than 30 student-led clubs and organization and numerous organized community service opportunities.
The College’s current board, administrators and faculty continue to move forward the traditions set by the College’s foundresses to strengthen and expand Anna Maria College. Such improvements aim to meet the evolving needs the College’s growing student population and its increasing relevance and impact in the greater Worcester community.
