Catholic University of Santa Maria

The Catholic University of Santa María (UCSM) is a private higher education institution, located in the city of Arequipa, Peru.

The UCSM was founded on December 6, 1961, by the religious of the Society of Mary R.P. William Daniel Morris Christy, who was born on November 4, 1910, in St. Louis, Missouri; but he was nationalized "arequipeño" since in 1960 he came to make his dream of a Catholic University of Santa María for Arequipa come true. Father Morris obtained from the government of Dr. Manuel Prado the D.S. No. 024 of December 6, 1961, which created the university, which became the second oldest private university in Peru. Thanks to the valuable collaboration of the Archbishop of Arequipa, Monsignor Leonardo José Rodríguez Ballón, the UCSM began its work in the Casona de la calle Santa Catalina 410 on April 9, 1962 with two sections of the Faculty of Letters and eight founding teachers.

Thanks to the support of Southern Peru, IPC, Banco de Credito, the German Government and other patrons, the University moved from the Casona de Santa Catalina to its current location (headquarters) Urb. San José s/n, Umacollo; where it has a campus of 75,600 m²; the "Las Esclavitas" building where the Central Administration and the Postgraduate School operate, located at 320 Samuel Velarde Umacollo Street with an area of 3,056 m²; It also has: 55 hectares of agricultural land in the Majes Project; the Fundo Chapioco located in Alto Sumbay in the district of Yanahuara with 661 hectares, an extension of 46 hectares in Huasacahe "Fundo la Banda", Casona in Ugarteche 306 Selva Alegre; The House of Culture (La Merced 110), the House of the Corregidor in La Merced 207, in Ciudad de Dios, houses in Samuel Velarde.