Siena College

Siena College is a private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St. Bernardine of Siena Friary is located on campus. The college has 3,000 full-time students and offers undergraduate degrees in business, liberal arts, and sciences.

History


In the late 1930s, Thomas Plassmann, president of St. Bonaventure University in Western New York, sent seven Franciscan friars to New York's Capital Region to establish a satellite campus. They converted the family home on the Garrett estate in Loudonville into classrooms, offices, and living space for the friars. This risky new venture turned into a success when double the registered students showed up on its opening day. The converted farmhouse became so crowded that some friars had to teach in a stairwell. Shortly after, a new academic building was constructed to accommodate the students.

Siena Hall was home to classrooms, laboratories, faculty and administrative offices, a library, a bookstore, a cafeteria, and a chapel. Every year, for the first four years since its opening, the student class size doubled. The gymnasium was completed in 1941 and was home to Siena's first commencement exercises. The all-male day school welcomed coeducational evening and summer courses in 1928–39. In 1942, Siena received its permanent charter from the State of New York.

During World War II, enrollment dropped drastically. It was estimated that around 1,000 Siena students and alumni served in the armed forces. Luckily for the non-traditional students and the women in the evening classes, Siena was saved from becoming a casualty of the war. In 1948, the enrollment peaked at 2,752. This allowed for the construction of a free-standing library and friary with a chapel for the college community. The college also added course offerings with master's degree programs in ten fields.

Siena added three dorm buildings and a dining facility in its third decade, transitioning from a commuter college. The student population doubled once again. A new science building opened in 1967, called Roger Bacon, after a 13th-century Franciscan who was a champion of experimental research. In 1968, the school was officially renamed Siena College. Between 1962 and 1973, Siena expanded its course offerings by adding six majors and eliminating its graduate division to focus more on undergraduate education. There have been many additions to the course list over the past 40 years.

A new rugby pitch was opened in fall 2016, which is home to Siena's men's and woman's rugby teams. In the fall of 2014, a new bookstore was opened. There is apparel, merchandise, and textbooks for sale. In the same year, Siena opened its very own Grotto. This is a special place where members of the Siena community can go for prayer, contemplation, healing, and peace. The college was listed as a census-designated place (Siena College CDP) in 2020. Patricia Gioia Hall opened in the fall of 2022 to serve as the welcome center for prospective students and their families when they visit Siena, as well as the college's primary admissions building.

Academics
Siena College students attend three schools within the college:


 * School of Business: All programs in the school are accredited by AACSB International.
 * School of Liberal Arts
 * School of Science

Athletics
Siena offers 21 NCAA Division I sports, all of which participate in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

The college generally only competed against local schools in athletics until being elevated to the Division I level in 1976. At this time, Siena became a member of the ECAC, and later the North Atlantic Conference, a forerunner to the present day America East Conference. In 1990, the college moved to the MAAC where it has remained since. Siena has not always been known by its present moniker. Athletic teams were first known as the Golden Hurricanes and later as the Indians. In March 1989, the school adopted its current nickname, the Saints.

Many of Siena's athletic teams have experienced success at the Division I level. The college's most well known squad is the men's basketball team. The Saints have appeared in six NCAA tournaments, advancing to the Round of 32 in 1989, 2008 and 2009. Siena has also played in the postseason NIT five times, capturing third place in 1994. In 2014, Siena competed in their first College Basketball Invitational tournament and won the championship defeating Stony Brook, Penn State, Illinois State and Fresno State two games to one in the best-of-three championship series. The women's basketball teams has also had a recent run of success, including a trip to the NCAA tournament in 2001, and appearances in the 1999, 2002 and 2003 WNIT. They finished second in the 2015 WBI.

Another team with recent high achievement is men's baseball. The Saints advanced to the 1999 NCAA Division I baseball tournament and in 2005 saw pitcher John Lannan drafted by the Washington Nationals. Lannan has since become a regular starter in Washington's rotation. They also participated in the 2014 NCAA Division I baseball tournament, after winning the MAAC Championship over Canisius.

Finally, the men's lacrosse team has also improved significantly in recent years. The Saints qualified for their first MAAC tournament in 2007 and their first NCAA tournament in 2009. That season, the Saints secured an automatic berth in the tournament after winning their first MAAC championship during a ten-game winning streak.

Siena College Research Institute
Siena College Research Institute, an affiliate of Siena College, conducts expert and public opinion polls, focusing on New York State and the United States, on issues of public policy interest.

Notable alumni
Siena College has approximately 28,000 living alumni worldwide, including former college president Kevin J. Mullen. In the fields of journalism and literature, notable Siena graduates include William J. Kennedy, 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner; Erich Hartmann, international award-winning photojournalist and former president of Magnum Photos; David Hepp, award-winning journalist and creator of Inside Albany and Ed Henry, senior White House correspondent for Fox News. In the fields of law and government, notable Siena graduates include Francis Bergan, former presiding justice of the New York Court of Appeals; Michael Botticelli, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy; Constantine George Cholakis, former judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York; George Deukmejian, 35th governor of California; former United States representatives from New York Jack Quinn and Gerald B. H. Solomon; and Henry F. Zwack, justice of the New York Supreme Court, Third Judicial District.

Notable faculty

 * Mark A. Heckler, professor of fine arts