By: Ben Solis | Michigan Advance
Financial and operational challenges have led Siena Heights University in Adrian to announce the university’s closure at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.
The announcement came Monday in a news release posted to the private Catholic university’s website. The university said senior leadership assessed its financial situation and its long-term sustainability and concluded continuing beyond the academic year was not feasible.
“For 105 Years, Siena Heights University has been a beacon of light in a world sometimes cast in darkness,” said Siena Heights University President Douglas Palmer in a statement. “The spirit of Siena Heights will continue long after the institution itself closes its doors because it lives in every graduate, faculty member, and staff person who has been on campus – whether in-person or online.”
Current student academic progress and creating transfer pathways with partner institutions with as little disruption as possible will be the priority for the university as it works to close its doors.
The university was founded in 1919 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, which along with the university’s board of trustees supported the move to close the school named after Saint Catherine of Siena.
“We are deeply grateful to the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have worked hard decade after decade to make Siena Heights an incredibly special place,” Palmer said. “We look ahead to the next academic year planning all the activities one would normally get including athletics, residential life, and great events that we share with our alumni and entire community.”