In recent decades, many educators and church leaders have expressed concern that Catholic colleges and universities are in danger of losing their religious identity, and do too little to meaningfully engage Catholic thought and traditions in their classrooms. Institutions have found it increasingly difficult to uphold their faith-based mission statements and to identify, recruit, and develop new faculty who can both articulate and expand the vision of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Collegium, a national organization of Catholic colleges and universities, was founded in 1992 to respond to these challenges. The faculty drawn together to found Collegium believe that much more should be done to foster lively discussion about Catholic mission on campus. Our primary means of doing this is through our annual weeklong summer colloquy on faith and intellectual life. We extend this mission through publications, talks and other means of support for faculty, graduate students and member schools.

Collegium engages faculty from all traditions to discover how they can make a particular contribution to their institution's identity that respects and explores Catholicism's traditions and goals, while also respecting and taking advantage of their own religious perspectives and talents. Since its founding, Collegium has developed into one of the most significant national institutions for fostering the integration of faith and the intellectual life on Catholic campuses.

Collegium today comprises 65 member Catholic colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Our annual summer colloquies of faith and intellectual life have welcomed nearly 1,500 faculty and graduate students.

In July, 2002, Collegium became a part of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), which includes over 200 members in the United States and Canada. This affiliation provides us contact with a wider scope of Catholic institutions, college presidents, and educational organizations.

Though the ACCU is headquartered in Washington, D.C., Collegium's offices and ongoing operations are located at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

.