By Tiffany Razzano
The college held a number of events, all open to students, faculty and the public as well as the alumni of the school, commemorating its fifty years in existence. On Sept. 12, they held the first event, a Fifties sock hop, on campus. Students, faculty and alumni showed up, dressed in clothes from the era, for a barbeque and display of classic cars.
Alumni were also invited to the homecoming in October as well as a high tea in February. They also held a Fall Film Fiesta in October and November, showing movies from the 1950s, such as Vertigo and Roman Holiday. Their annual ball, held on November 5 this year, celebrated the anniversary as well as the Sisters of St. Dominic, who founded the school. The celebrations concluded on May 13 with a Night of Song.
The school opened on Sept. 12, 1955, in a 17-room mansion on North Village Avenue as Molloy Catholic College for Women. Ten pioneer Dominican sisters came to live at the location, including Sister Joseph Dominic Hess, O.P., who lives in Maria Regina Convent to this day. She lived there until 1964, working in the kitchen, before being transferred. She moved back to Molloy in 1991. At its height, 44 sisters lived on campus. Today, including Hess, there are 16 sisters at Maria Regina.
In 1956, the school moved to its current location on Hempstead Avenue. At the time, Quealy Hall was the only building on the property. Hess said that it served as the gym, theater, classroom space and living quarters for all the sisters until other buildings, such as Maria Regina Convent in 1964, were built. "We started the college with nothing," Hess said. "There were 25 acres of absolutely nothing, just wood and bushes. It amazes me [what we built.] I'm proud of it."
Sister Leo Francis Monaghan, who has been at Molloy for 38 years as a biology professor and, for a while, chairperson of the biology department, said that the Sisters made Molloy what it is with their "blood, sweat and tears."
Monaghan remembers when the school became co-ed. She said that the school discontinued its original nursing department in 1968 because it became too expensive to run. They wanted to bring the nursing department back, funded by a state grant. In order to be funded by state money, the school had to be co-ed.
This is when the name changed to simply Molloy College. Monaghan taught the first three male students macrobiology in 1975. She said not only did the male students integrate into the student body with no trouble, but this is when the school really started to blossom.
Still, Monaghan said, while many of the sisters love the students at the school, they have had a hard time adjusting to the changes the school has seen over the years, including changing the school colors to purple and gold. They're happy, though, that the school has retained its Catholic tradition.
"We only lost the Catholic and Dominican tradition in name," she said. She added, "But we don't like to see some of the changes."
The school certainly has seen a lot of changes over the past five years, with many more planned in the future. Drew Bogner, who came on as president of the school in 2000, said the student body has grown from when he first started from 2,200 students to 3,500. The school has begun a graduate program in education and business and has expanded the graduate program to a building on Route 110 in Farmingdale by the Republic Airport.
Molloy has also seen an increase in traditional-aged students. "In the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of the students were older and transfer students," Bogner said. "There weren't as many younger students who come in as freshmen."
Since he's started, the school has seen an influx of 300 new freshmen a year, with that portion of the student population growing from 850 to 1,300. Ultimately, he'd like to see the school have 1,500 traditional-aged students.
The increase in numbers has changed student life on campus dramatically, with new, alternative activities such as battles of the bands and comedy nights, being organized by student groups. "Campus life is very active now," Bogner said. "There is a lot of involvement from students."
This student involvement, along with the student population increase, has spurred the plans for the college's expansion on campus with two new buildings. Bogner said they are building the college's first residence hall, which will house 150 students. Eventually, they'd like to house 300. Molloy will also build a public square, or student union. The addition of these new buildings will help to strengthen campus life.
Also, this past year Sienna Hall, the first new building on campus since 1991, opened its doors. Several academic departments, such as English, Psychology and Theology, as well as the financial aid department, have moved into the new space.
Bogner wants to stress the fact that the school hopes to settle at 4,000 students, only a few hundred away from where they are now. "We're optimum size," he said. "We're big enough for the number of faculty each discipline has, so each student gets to know their professors. We don't want to lose that. Students get a better education in a small institution."
Grace O'Leary, secretary of the Department of Education for 40 years this coming September, says she's seen it all at Molloy over the years.
"When I first started here, it was a jewel of a college," she said. "It was a small, wonderful place when I began working here. Forty years later, I can say that same sentence, but it's no longer small. The growth is phenomenal." She's excited to see the school expand once again.
"It's amazing how [Molloy has] grown," O'Leary said. "But it has maintained the sense of a small school, in a good way."
She added, "The school is still rooted in Dominican tradition and Christian kindness. School values and the integrity of the gospel are still strong."
