History of St. Francis College

In 1858, a group of Franciscan Brothers from Ireland came to Brooklyn to educate the large numbers of immigrants arriving in America, opening St. Francis Academy in 1859. It was the first private school in the diocese of Brooklyn. The school, which was opened to educate the boys of the diocese, started in a building on Baltic Street and grew quickly. In 1884, just 25 years later, the trustees of St. Francis received permission from the state legislature to "establish a literary college" under its current name and giving it the power to confer diplomas, honors, and degrees. In June 1885, St. Francis College conferred its first Bachelor of Arts degree, and seven years later the first Bachelor of Science degree was granted.

See a visual timeline of our first 150 years

The College continued its meteoric growth and built a new facility on Butler Street in 1926. In 1957, the Regents of the University of the State of New York granted an absolute Charter to the Trustees of the College. In 1960, St. Francis embarked on an expansion program. It moved to Remsen Street, where it had purchased two office buildings from Brooklyn Union Gas Company, allowing it to double its enrollment. Shortly thereafter, it became a co-educational institution and additional property was purchased on both Remsen and Joralemon Streets. The College expanded its facilities with the construction of a science building, athletics complex and housing to accommodate the Franciscan Brothers and provide more space for faculty.

In 2021, the College announced a transformative initiative designed to restructure academic and programmatic offerings to align with 21st Century career needs while expanding the population whom the College serves, locally and internationally. In conjunction with the strategic plan, the College recognized that to remain competitive and to meet the demands and expectations of today’s students, SFC needed a modern, state-of-the-art campus. SFC undertook a multi-year planning and implementation process to reposition SFC for future success and growth, including the physical relocation of SFC’s primary campus in Brooklyn.

In May 2021, SFC executed a lease for a new, custom-built campus at 179 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn (“New Campus”). With a custom design and buildout that includes state-of-the-art, hi-tech educational amenities, the College successfully relocated to its new home in September 2022. The New Campus is comprised of over 255,000 sq. feet with a dedicated street level welcome center.

Today, St. Francis has more than 4,500 students and 20,000 alumni. Students come primarily from the five boroughs of New York City, although their diverse backgrounds represent over 70 countries and 40 plus languages. Many distinguished public servants, scientists, lawyers, business professionals, nurses, and teachers call St. Francis College alma mater, as do many of the priests and nuns.

The College’s mission of providing a first-class, attainable, high quality education to individuals of all racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds with a special focus on working class New Yorkers; firmly planted in our Franciscan values of community, collaboration, and connection continues today, just as the Franciscan Brothers envisaged more than 165 years ago.

Mission

St. Francis College is an inclusive and diverse institution of higher education rooted in a commitment to academic excellence, compassionate hospitality, and ethical leadership. Inspired by St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, and founded by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, the college prepares students to serve and thrive in a global community and help shape a just society.

Goals

Recognizing the original Franciscan understanding of hospitality as a challenging, risk-taking social contract, we strive for gradient and appreciable success in achieving the following measurable goals:

1. Promoting academic excellence
   • Promoting existing and emerging academic undergraduate programs and exploring further development of graduate programs.
   • Recruiting and sustaining students and professors into a dynamic cooperative of artists-athletes-scholars.
2. Advancing a thriving intellectual community
   • Continual commitment of resources to state-of-the-art technology throughout the campus.
3. Supporting student life and the development of the whole person
   • Enabling the smooth transition of our local, national and global student body into the college community and city.
   • Promoting holistic wellness to develop both leadership and fellowship.
4. Enabling the transition from student to globally conscious citizen
   • Fostering students’ self-confidence and encouraging both responsibility and innovation through mentoring, classroom experiences and internships.
   • Developing collaborative leadership and citizenship by participation in activities, sports, clubs, and student-faculty projects.