Cleary University is a private school that specializes in business education. Its main campus is located in Livingston County, Michigan, United States. The university also has an education center in Detroit. Cleary University provides certificate, ABA, BBA, MS, and MBA programs.
History
Founded in 1883 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which is in Washtenaw County, the school was created by Patrick Roger Cleary and named the Cleary School of Penmanship. In 1891, the school was officially registered as Cleary Business College and moved to a building called the Union Block Building in Ypsilanti. In 1933, the Cleary family gave the college’s physical property to a group of people called a Board of Trustees, which made Cleary College an independent, not-for-profit institution. In 1938, Patrick Roger Cleary retired, and his son, Owen Cleary, became the college’s president. The college remained in its original building at 300 West Michigan Avenue (originally called Congress Street) in downtown Ypsilanti until 1960, when it moved to a new building at 2170 Washtenaw Avenue, located west of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. A branch campus was opened in Livingston County, near Howell, Michigan, in 1979. By 1982, the two campuses together served more than one thousand students. In 1998, Cleary College bought property at 3601 Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is next to Ypsilanti. The college left its Ypsilanti campus the following year. In 2002, Cleary College added graduate programs and changed its name to Cleary University. In 2014, Cleary University sold its Ann Arbor campus, which was called Cleary University – Washtenaw Campus. The university’s Howell campus, known as Cleary University – Livingston Campus, is still its main and most important campus.
Detroit campus
The center is located at the Considine Little Rock Family Center, 8904 Woodward Avenue. It helps Detroit residents get ready for jobs by offering different types of programs, including one-year certificates and programs that lead to a bachelor's degree. These programs can be taken online or at the center.
Athletics
The athletic teams at Cleary University are called the Cougars. Cleary is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Most of its sports teams compete in the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) since the 2018–19 school year. The men's wrestling team competes in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC). From 2012–13 to 2018–19, Cleary was also a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). Before joining the NAIA in 2017–18, Cleary competed as an NAIA Independent in the Association of Independent Institutions (AII).
Cleary University offers 17 intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include basketball, baseball, bowling, cross country, golf, hockey, soccer, track & field, and wrestling. Women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, and track & field. Co-ed sports include eSports. Cleary previously offered men's and women's lacrosse and co-ed competitive dance.
Cleary University supported football and basketball in its early years but stopped offering athletics for a time. The current athletic department was created in 2012 and joined the USCAA. In 2012, the university started with men's and women's cross country in the fall and men's and women's golf in the spring. Over the next few years, the athletics program grew quickly.
In 2017, Cleary received the USCAA Director's Cup, which is given to the athletic program with the most overall success in the 80-member association. Points are awarded based on sports offered and results from national championship events. In 2014 and 2015, the women's cross country team placed second at the National Championships. In 2016, the women's cross country team won first place at the National Championships. The men's cross country team competed for the first time at the National Championships and placed third. In 2015, Cleary's men's golf team became the university's first National Champion. In 2013 and 2014, a woman from Cleary won the individual National Championship in women's cross country. In 2015, a man from Cleary won the individual National Championship in men's golf. In the 2019–20 academic year, Cleary University will add men's and women's hockey teams, starting in the fall of 2019.
Alumni
- Vern Buchanan, U.S. Congressman
- Winsor McCay, cartoonist
- Daniel Milstein, entrepreneur and writer
- Linda Puchala, member of the National Mediation Board
- Scott Sigler, author
- Ernie Zeigler, college basketball coach