Mount Marty Hits Record Enrollment During Academic Year

MAY 12, 2022, YANKTON, S.D. – This academic year, Mount Marty University (MMU) welcomed its largest class in history and saw overall enrollment grow to 853—the highest in a decade.

For MMU President Dr. Marcus Long, peak enrollment has been one of the most exciting parts of the year. "To see that prospective students and families are still excited about what we're doing and where we're growing is humbling," President Long said.

As Mount Mounty prepares for a commencement celebration for 108 undergrads and 62 graduate students in Yankton this weekend, the campus community has a lot to celebrate.

MMU's Career Services reported that 100 percent of 2021 graduates surveyed were either employed, in graduate school, or in a post-baccalaureate internship six months after graduation. In addition, 84 percent of 2021 graduates were employed in a field closely related to their major, and 72 percent were employed in South Dakota.

Aside from seeing success in enrollment and placement rates, the university also implemented its second doctoral degree—a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, began its inaugural football season, and recently celebrated its softball program winning the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament for the first time.

"In the last four or five years, Mount Marty has been doing a lot of things that nobody expected us to do, and seeing that momentum continue is really important," President Long said. "Both undergraduates and graduates come to this community because they're searching for something or they want to be a part of something. Over this last year, we certainly have doubled down on being true to who we are and what we offer."

President Long devotes a lot of what the university has been doing to Mount Marty's four core values: awareness of God, community, hospitality, and lifelong learning.

This past July, Mount Marty's campus ministry welcomed the arrival of Fr. Grant Lacey, university chaplain and director of campus ministry, and in April, saw more than 300 high school students gather on campus for Stations of the Cross.

On top of that, the university’s Benedictine Leadership Institute (BLI), which helps students dive deeper into who they are and how they want to impact the world, witnessed nearly 200 students attend transformational trips to the Black Hills and the Rocky Mountains.

With locations in Yankton, Watertown, and Sioux Falls, building and sustaining community is at the heart of Mount Marty's leadership. In recent years, the university's administration has taken a dedicated approach to community involvement.

In fact, on any given day in Yankton, you're likely to run into a Mount Marty graduate. For Rob Stephenson, president and COO of First Dakota National Bank and a member of the university's board of trustees, a number of them are right down the hall.

"It's easy to look around at our company and find a dozen Mount Marty graduates, and I know there's a number of businesses and non-profits in Yankton that can say the same," Stephenson said. "It's huge having young people bringing life and energy to Yankton and choosing to be a part of the community. They work hard at making it a better place."

In this next academic year, Mount Marty's leadership looks forward to fostering the growing relationship between the university and the region. It will shortly be announcing several partnerships that will focus on continuing to better students' education and MMU’s service to the Yankton community.

"Many people have a lot of questions about higher education, and at Mount Marty, we have a very good answer to those questions—that this place transforms you," shared President Long. "You're going to have a fantastic education, you're going to have an amazing experience, and you will really have to ponder who you are and what you're called to do, and that's the story we're going to continue telling."