ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — In a historical announcement Monday, St. John Fisher has officially made the switch from a college to a university.
At 10 a.m. on June 20, the now-university president Dr. Gerard J. Roony was joined by Mayor Malik Evans, chair of St. John Fisher’s Board of Trustees Tom Bowles ’71, and other public officials to announce the transformation.
The change comes as St. John Fisher approaches its 75th year as a higher education institution.
While the terms college and university are often used interchangeably in casual conversation, and the differentiation between the two higher-education bodies are not hard and fast, the two terms technically refer to institutions of different structures.
In the United States, a college is predominantly a smaller school focusing on undergraduate studies. They frequently feature more intimate campuses, and tend to have fewer — but not necessarily less rigorous — offerings than universities.
Universities tend to be larger institutions that have graduate programs. Universities tend to be associated more with research and larger offerings, and frequently have several schools, one of which is usually a college that houses the undergraduate students.
The announcement took place in Kearney Hall Courtyard on St. John Fisher’s campus.
