The mission of Ursuline College is to offer holistic education that transforms students for service, leadership and professional excellence by providing undergraduate and graduate programs that foster lifelong learning and personal wisdom in an environment characterized by a Catholic and Ursuline heritage, women-centered learning, values-based curricula, and inclusive, global perspective.

Ursuline College was established in Cleveland in 1871 by Ursuline Sisters who had come from France 20 years earlier to establish Catholic schools. As the first Catholic women’s college in Ohio and one of the first in the United States, Ursuline, with an enrollment of 1,100 students, is now the single women-focused college in the state.

Diversity is an essential element of the College’s Catholic and Ursuline heritage. Nearly 33% of its undergraduate students are persons of color, and approximately 32% are the first in their family to attend college. Some 39% of Ursuline students are of non-traditional age. Over 40% are eligible for federal Pell Grants, and approximately one-third are from families whose income is below the federal poverty level.

Under an academic structure with two Schools and the Ursuline College Adult Program (UCAP), the College offers 30 undergraduate majors anchored in a well-established Ursuline Core Curriculum. At the graduate level, it offers Master’s degrees in 9 programs, plus a Doctor of Nursing Practice, which was inaugurated in 2009. The College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and by accrediting bodies in business, education, nursing, counseling and art therapy, and social work. The College is a member of NCAA Division II and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and offers 11intercollegiate athletic programs, plus the recently announced STUNT program. A wide range of student activities as opportunities for student development and leadership is available to students.