LMU History
Founded in 1911, LMU is a Catholic university rooted in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions. LMU's enrollment includes 5,746 undergraduate, 1,899 graduate and 1,327 law school students. The 142-acre bluff-top campus is located in West Los Angeles and was recently named in the "10 Most Beautiful Campuses" by the Princeton Review.
The present University is the successor to the pioneer Catholic college and first institution of higher learning in Southern California. In 1865, the Vincentian Fathers inaugurated St. Vincent's College for boys in Los Angeles. When this school closed in 1911, members of the Society of Jesus opened the high school division of their newly founded Los Angeles College.
Rapid growth prompted the Jesuits to seek a new campus in 1917 and incorporate as Loyola College of Los Angeles in 1918. Relocating to the present Westchester campus in 1929, the school achieved university status one year later. Graduate instruction began in 1920 with the foundation of a separate law school. The formation of a graduate division occurred in June 1950, although the graduate work had formed an integral part of the Teacher Education Program during the preceding two years.
In separate, parallel developments, the Religious of Sacred Heart of Mary began teaching local young women in 1923. Ten years later they opened Marymount Junior College in Westwood, which grew to four-year status and began granting baccalaureate degrees in 1948. The school later transferred classes to a new campus on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1960. Eight years later, Marymount College moved again, this time to the Westchester campus of Loyola University as an autonomous institution. At this juncture, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Orange joined the Marymount Sisters as partners.
After five years of sharing faculties and facilities, Loyola University and Marymount College merged and formed Loyola Marymount University in 1973. Through this union, the expanded university maintained the century-old mission of Catholic higher education in Los Angeles.
LMU's Mission: Loyola Marymount's Mission and Goals Statement, approved by the Board of Trustees in 1990, succinctly states in its preamble the university's three-fold mission:
- The encouragement of learning
- The education of the whole person
- The service of faith and the promotion of justice