Ave Maria College is a private Catholic college that was founded on March 19, 1998: it currently offers undergraduate degrees in eight majors, and is home to a law school. It has campuses in Ypsilanti, Michigan and Naples, Florida and maintains a branch campus in San Marcos, Nicaragua called Ave Maria College of the Americas. Ave Maria was founded and is funded by Tom Monaghan, founder of the Domino's Pizza chain. A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellows and still are in some places. ... March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Ypsilanti is a city located in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ... Naples is a city located in Collier County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 20,976. ... San Marcos is a city in the province of Carazo in Nicaragua. ... The Ave Maria College of the Americas is a branch of Ave Maria College located in San Marcos, Nicaragua. ... Tom Monaghan (born March 25, 1937 in Ann Arbor, Michigan), formally Thomas S. Monaghan, is a Michigan entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded Dominos Pizza in 1960. ... Dominos Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) is an international pizza delivery franchise and fast-food restaurant chain headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. ...

Recent developments at Ave Maria College suggest that the school is experiencing problems and might be headed towards closing down. Nevertheless, commencement exercises for the first graduating class were held on May 8, 2005. The University bestowed an honorary degree upon L. Paul Bremer, one of the architects of the war in Iraq. L. Paul Bremer Lewis Paul Bremer III, known simply as Paul Bremer, (born September 30, 1941) was the U.S.-installed chief executive of Iraq following the Iraq War of 2003. ... There have been three conflicts in the late 20th century and early 21st century called Gulf War, all of which refer to conflicts in the Persian Gulf region: Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) (aka First Gulf War). ...

External link

• Ave Maria College's official web site (http://www.mi.avemaria.edu/)
• Ave Maria University, Naples official website (http://www.naples.avemaria.edu/)
• Town of Ave Maria (http://www.avemaria.com/)
• [1] (http://www.cruxnews.com/articles/peters-03june04.html)
• [2] (http://www.cruxnews.com/rose/rose-28may04.html)