Assumption University

Early years

Assumption was founded in 1904 by the Augustinians of the Assumption, a Catholic order under the Augustinian Rule dedicated to service through teaching and the hastening of the Kingdom of God, as reflected in their motto "Until Christ be Formed in You". The original campus was in the Greendale section of Worcester, on a tract of hillside land. In these early years, enrollment was exclusively male, primarily of French-Canadian heritage. Most courses were taught in French, with only a small number taught in English. On March 24, 1923, an arson fire destroyed the Greendale building that held both the college classrooms and the student dormitories.

On June 9, 1953, a violent F4 tornado cut a path of destruction through several western and central Massachusetts communities, including the city of Worcester. Several campus buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. Although the previously co-located Assumption Preparatory School stayed on the rebuilt campus until 1970, the college relocated to a new campus off Salisbury Street, on the west side of the city, officially opening in 1956. The old Assumption campus complex was sold to the state after the prep school closed and is today the home of Quinsigamond Community College.

Transition to university

On June 10, 2020, Assumption College officially transitioned to Assumption University. With this transition, the university reorganized into five schools: the D'Amour College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Grenon School of Business, the Froelich School of Nursing, the School of Health Professions, and the School of Graduate Studies.

On October 17, 2022, interim president Greg Weiner was appointed the 17th president of Assumption. President Weiner was formally installed at his inauguration held on March 23, 2023. He is the first Jewish president of a Catholic college or university in the United States.

Assumption's first class of nursing students graduated from the Froelich School of Nursing in 2023 with a 100 percent passing rate on the National Council Licensure Examination for registered nurses (NCLEX-RN). The program was then granted professional accreditation in 2024 from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

In October 2024, Assumption's Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program was granted accreditation-provisional status from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The first cohort of PA students began in January 2025.

In December 2024, five students at Assumption University were charged with kidnapping and conspiracy after an incident in which police said the students attacked an active-duty member of the U.S. military, accusing him of being a sexual predator. Police said there was no evidence that the man was trying to date anyone under age 18, but he had been lured to campus by a student who identified herself on the dating app Tinder as an adult. One of the five students was also charged with intimidation and another with assault and battery with a deadly weapon, after telling campus police that he slammed the victim's head into a car door. A sixth student involved was a minor. Police said the students posted videos of the attack online, participating in a fad on the video app TikTok based on the former reality TV show To Catch a Predator. Assumption president Greg Weiner said the behavior described by police was "abhorrent and antithetical to Assumption University's mission and values."