The University of New England has a rich and varied history, reflecting the determination, creativity, and resourcefulness of its leaders, and of the history of Maine and New England. It is a wonderful story beginning with Franciscan monks on the banks of the Saco River in 1939 who formed the College Seraphique, a high school and junior college to educate boys of Quebecois decent. In 1952, the institution became a four-year liberal arts college called St. Francis College. As the College struggled financially in the late ‘70’s, necessity and opportunity met in the form of the New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. The College of Osteopathic Medicine was opened on the campus of St. Francis and the two became the University of New England in 1978.
