The University of St. Thomas

The Campuses

The University of St. Thomas, founded in 1885, is a Catholic, independent, liberal arts university that emphasizes values-centered and career-oriented education. With 11,079 students, it is Minnesota's largest independent college or university.

St. Thomas' main campus is located in St. Paul where the city's historic Summit Avenue meets the Mississippi River. While situated in a quiet, residential neighborhood, the 78-acre park-like campus is only minutes from the downtowns of Minnesota's Twin Cities: St. Paul and Minneapolis. The  St. Thomas campuses are accessible by public transportation, major freeways, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.  Directions for driving to campus and maps to aid you in getting around once you're here can be found at these highlighted links.

Identification Cards

Students must obtain a University of St. Thomas identification card to use all facilities on campus (i.e libraries, practice rooms, laundry, pool). The Card Office is located on second floor of Murray-Herrick Campus Center.  Summer hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday. There is no charge to get an ID card. For more information call (651) 962-6069.

The Libraries

St. Thomas is home to four libraries. Three of them - the O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center on the main campus, John Ireland Memorial Library on the St. Paul "south" campus, and the Charles J. Keffer Library on the Minneapolis campus - collectively house 466,943 volumes and have seating for 2,200 readers. The new School of Law library has room for 250,000 books and 250,000 volumes on microfiche. Library users have access to hundreds of electronic databases and online resources, including electronic collections of books, newspapers, and journals. CLICNet, the libraries' online catalog, is searchable via the Internet. It serves as the catalog of the holdings of the St. Thomas libraries as well as the collections of an eight-library consortium in the Twin Cities, with a combined collection of 2 million volumes. Library Services for Graduate Students.

Three auditoriums and Foley Theater provide facilities for student theatrical performances as well as speakers, forums, and concerts. Brady Educational Center, where the majority of Master of Arts in Music Education courses are held, houses the Music Resource Center, which contains musical scores, recordings, videos, and reference materials. A special Music Education Resource Room is located in Loras Hall, home of Graduate Programs in Music Education.

Music Resource Center and Curriculum Lab

Brady Educational Center, room 103 is home to the Music Resource Center, where CD players, cassette decks, laserdisc players, Mac computers, and recorded and printed materials are available.

The Music Education Resource Center is located in Loras Hall, room 104. this center houses a variety of music education curriculum materials.

Outreach

St. Thomas generates support for music education at the annual conference of the Minnesota Music Educators Association. Current students, alumni, and faculty share their expertise through state conference presentations and demonstrations with children in conference sessions. Graduate Programs in Music Education faculty and graduates participate in the education efforts of the Perpich Center for Arts Education, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Minnesota Opera. Graduate faculty frequently serve as clinicians, adjudicators, lecturers, or artists-in-residence in public and private schools and universities at local, state, and national levels.

Parking

In general, parking permits are not required during summer term, provided you are not parking overnight. Students staying on campus in the residence halls/apartments must park in the resident lots only. Seminary guests may park in Lot P but will need to obtain a parking permit from the front desk at the Seminary. Morrison hall guests should park in Lot R3, which is the bottom level of the parking garage. Lot A also is available for Morrison guests.  There is no parking available in St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity lots. You can find more information at Campus Parking Information. If you are staying on campus for an extended period of time, it is highly recommended you register your car with Public Safety and Parking Services. For assistance or general questions call (651) 962-5100.

Post Office

St. Thomas has a full service post office. It is located in the lower level of Murray-Herrick Campus Center on north campus. Mail services include receiving, processing, and delivery of USPS, Federal Express, UPS, and internal mail.

Security

The safety of all members of the campus community is of vital concern to the University of St. Thomas. The Campus Security Act Report includes campus crime statistics for the most recent three year period and a broad range of institutional policies concerning campus security. These policies pertain to alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault and more. You can obtain a copy of this report by contacting the Department of Public Safety, Investigations Division at (651) 962-5100 or by visiting their Web site at www.stthomas.edu/psps/.

Service Center

The Service Center provides copying, printing, high-speed scanning, layout/design, bindery, mailing, and courier services to the University of St. Thomas.

Student Health Insurance and Immunization FAQ

  1. Why Mandatory Student Health Insurance?
    1. When uninsured/underinsured students become seriously ill or injured, their academic careers can be significantly threatened by substantial healthcare debt, disability or both. 
    2. It is the right thing to do. In keeping with Catholic Social Teaching, mandating student health insurance coverage provides increased access for all at a reasonable rate.
    3. The American College Health Association conducted a review of the St. Thomas Student Health Service (SHS) in 2004 and recommendations included implementing mandatory insurance for all students.
    4. 95% of private colleges require mandatory insurance and 25% of public universities/colleges require mandatory insurance. 
    5. UST used to have mandatory insurance and the President’s staff and Academic & Administrative Leadership (AAL) have approved re-implementing the policy for Fall 2007.
  2. Who will be required to carry health insurance at UST?
    1. All undergraduate degree-seeking students taking 12 or more credits. Surveys indicate that over 90% of undergraduate students already carry health insurance coverage.
    2. All graduate and professional students taking 9 or more credits (primarily impacts Law, Social Work, Day MBA programs).  Surveys indicate that over 80% of graduate students already carry health insurance coverage.
    3. All F1 & J1 international students (this is not a change from current practice).
  3. How will students prove that they have coverage?
    1. The exact process is still under development, but will probably look similar to the address verification process for undergraduate students.  Students will be asked to enter their information in Murphy Online and audits will be done to ensure accuracy.
    2. Students who are not covered by other policies will have the option of purchasing the UST sponsored health insurance (approximately $875/year, included in the “personal maintenance” budget calculation for financial aid purposes).
  4. Will I need my health insurance card at Student Health Services?
    1. Yes, but there will be no co-payment at time of service – just like it is now.  We don’t anticipate any new cost to students that already carry health insurance, however, those students who are less than full-time and do not have health insurance will be charged for the services they receive.
  5. When will we learn more about the implementation plan?
    1. General announcements will be made via the Bulletin, posters and mailings to current university students, faculty and staff by the end of spring semester 2008.
    2. Specific instructions on how to provide insurance information will be sent directly to students before the start of the fall semester.

For more information on this university-wide process, please contact the Dean of Students Office at (651) 962-6050 or log on to the student health website.

Technology

Computers are available for your use in all campus libraries, the McNeely lab (second floor McNeely Hall) and Koch Commons.  For help and support you can contact Information and Resource Technology (IRT), or call the Tech Desk at (651) 962-6230; on campus.

Weather

Summer weather in Minnesota is as unpredictable as the winter weather. It may be cool and rainy, hot and dry, or any combination thereof. Plan accordingly. Regardless of the outside weather, a sweater may be needed for the air conditioned classrooms. Local conditions and forecasts can be accessed at www.weather.com.