About MU

Misericordia University is a Catholic university in northeast Pennsylvania, founded by the Sisters of Mercy, that provides caring, motivated students with a challenging education. We have dedicated faculty and administrative staff whose members put students first. We believe in providing personal attention, support, and opportunities that enable our students to experience success. Service to others is woven throughout all that we do and is a passion for everyone associated with our university.

The university is experiencing notable but controlled growth – achieving the largest undergraduate enrollment in the school's history in 2012. Last year, Misericordia completed construction on a new 118-bed student residence hall and a new athletic field house on campus.

Misericordia University provides a quality education through the tenets of mercy, service, justice and hospitality-charisms set forth by the school's founders, the Sisters of Mercy. The university has been guided by these principles for more than 89 years.

The Religious Sisters of Mercy were of the order of Mercy founded in Dublin in 1831. The Sisters vowed to be of service to the impoverished, sick and uneducated. The Sisters of Mercy came to the Wyoming Valley area of Pennsylvania in 1875, continuing their mission of praying, teaching and caring for the sick. The sisters quickly established a school for children and a night school for adults in the established coal mining region. Having secured a strong foundation of Catholic education, the order recognized that a great need was still waiting to be met.

On August 15, 1924, the Sisters of Mercy established Luzerne County's first four-year institution of higher learning, College Misericordia, on nearly 100 acres of land in Dallas, Pennsylvania, purchased by the Sisters for this purpose in 1914.

More than 2,500 people witnessed the dedication of College Misericordia (whose name means “heart of mercy"). That September, 37 students began their studies sharing the sisters' motto: Mulier Fortis, valiant women trained in scholarship and spirituality.

Misericordia was founded as, and continues to be, a broad-based liberal arts and pre-professional studies university offering superior education to those of all faiths the university has been co-educational since the 1970s. Today, Misericordia University is still located on the original grounds, but has expanded to 123 acres on the main campus, situated in a suburban setting just eight miles from downtown Wilkes-Barre. During recent years, the university expanded on to adjacent Lake Street, establishing a lower campus with both residential and academic facilities. Total enrollment is currently more than 2,300 students, including full, and part-time undergraduate and graduate students.

Classroom size is purposefully small to ensure personalized attention. The student-to-faculty ratio continues to be approximately 12 to one, allowing the instructors and students to better relate in the classroom setting with more individualized attention. And although the classes may be small, MU still gives students the collegiate experience in a big way. There are more than two dozen social clubs and organizations available on campus.

Misericordia realizes that athletics are an important part of college life. The school has had an athletics program since 1932, when it introduced intramural sports. Students can choose from 23 women's and men's varsity sports, including tennis, football, lacrosse and track and field. And as a Division III school, the Misericordia University Cougars compete in the Middle Atlantic Corporation's Freedom Conference.

The university provides a progressive student-focused environment fostered by its 112 full-time faculty. This group of distinguished professors is dedicated to providing excellence in education. In fact, 87 percent of the school's faculty hold a Ph.D. or other terminal degree. Today, students can choose from 36 degree programs in three Academic Colleges: Arts and Sciences; Health Sciences; and Professional Studies and Social Sciences.

MU follows the values instilled by the Sisters to provide high-quality, value-based education to whomever needs access to it. Therefore, today more than 98 percent of the students receive some form of merit and need-based financial aid.

Misericordia University is committed to providing the best scholarly and educational environment possible to students while they are enrolled, as well as preparing them for life after graduation. Graduates not only receive a diploma, but can participate in the school's GPP-Guaranteed Placement Program- assurance as well. The GPP is a promise that, within six months of graduation, students will have a position in the career of their choice or be enrolled in graduate school, or the university will provide a paid internship in the student's field of study. Also, Misericordia's on-time graduation rate is higher than that of many similar institutions.

Since 1924, much has changed in the world, but Misericordia University continues to honor the heart-felt mission of the Sisters of Mercy. In recent national surveys of both traditional and adult students, Misericordia students gave the university top marks in nearly every area of student satisfaction and effective learning environments. The liberal arts school has carried on the legacy and is committed to offering quality education, professional preparation and service leadership to each student who walks through its doors.