The College Mission

Mission Statement

Mount St. Mary’s College offers a dynamic learning experience in the liberal arts and sciences to a diverse student body. As a Catholic college primarily for women, we are dedicated to providing a superior education enhanced by an emphasis on building leadership skills and fostering a spirit to serve others. Our measure of success is graduates who are committed to using their knowledge and skills to better themselves, their environments, and the world.

Mission in Context

A Mount St. Mary’s College education is a transforming experience. Students explore ideas in a richly diverse, close-knit community that supports and inspires them to discover their place in a world of challenge and opportunity. Mount students come to understand themselves as leaders with a responsibility to the common good and to view their professional lives as a means of service to others.

A strong liberal arts focus informs every course of study. The college is distinguished for its integration of the whole person through its curricular and co-curricular programs fostering intellectual, spiritual, social, and civic development. These programs respond to both educational and societal needs.

Founded in 1925 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Mount St. Mary’s College offers associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degree programs in the arts, sciences, and selected professions. Housed on two beautiful campuses, the college contributes to and benefits from the rich diversity of the region. The traditional baccalaureate program is offered at the Chalon Campus in west Los Angeles. Associate, weekend college, and graduate programs are offered at the Doheny Campus on the historic Doheny estate near downtown Los Angeles. Today, Mount St. Mary’s is the only Catholic college primarily for women in the western United States.

The college takes great pride in its more than 15,000 graduates. Carrying on the commitment of the Sisters of St. Joseph to compassion, engagement, and justice—which are at the heart of our mission—these graduates testify to the ideals of the college through their lives of leadership and generous service to their communities and our world.