Education Department Records

The Education Department was first paired with Philosophy in 1914, and then was paired with Psychology until 1944. Education then remained its own department under the Division of Community Service until 1969, where it remained a department but did not belong to a division. The department went from offering two areas of teaching, Primary and Secondary, to four different areas for a major, two areas for a minor, and multiple types of licensures and endorsements. In 1994 the graduate program for the Education Department began, its main focus started out as helping prepare teachers at the elementary level to recognize students that may be at risk for not being successful in their education, and being able to help these students not fall behind. Sister Ann Harvey was an important figure early in the education department’s history, establishing and becoming the first director of the Laboratory Pre-School and Kindergarten when the program, restructuring the program as a possibly informal Montessori school in 1955, working there and in the education department until 1971. Though early on some teacher’s courses had been offered, prior to 1950 kindergarten certificates, with training in the on campus kindergarten, were the only option for official certification, but in 1950 the College of St. Catherine officially affiliated with the St. Paul Diocesan Teacher’s College, with the diocese’s Hill House as the elementary education center for the College. In 1958 the program was moved to St. Catherine College, officially expanding the options for education students beyond just a kindergarten certificate, to eventually result in the many programs offered today. Although separate today, and threatened with cancellation in 1979, up until at least 1985 the Early Childhood Center and Montessori Program were considered part of the education department, with students from various departments still doing observations there currently.