1. History of the Stella Maris Polytechnic University

The Arthur Barclay Vocational Institute, later the Arthur Barclay Technical Institute was the first post-secondary institution for the Archdiocese of Monrovia.

In 1972, Mrs. Antoinette Padmore Tubman, former First Lady of the Republic of Liberia donated to the Catholic Church of The Archdiocese of Monrovia, four acres of land on 8th Street, Sinkor, for the establishment of a vocational school for girls. However, instead of becoming an all-girls institute, The Arthur Barclay Technical Institute was coeducational at its onset and was named for Arthur Barclay, uncle to Mrs. Tubman, and former President of Liberia (1904-1912). He was also the Catholic Church’s first legal advisor who during his presidency welcomed in 1906 Catholic Missionaries, the Society of African Missions, (SMA Fathers) to work in Liberia. And they have maintained a continuous presence in the country since 1906, serving Liberia particularly in the pastoral and education ministries. Today, the 8th Street property houses the Don Bosco Technical High School (Established 1991) managed by the Salesians of Don Bosco and the residence of the Archbishop of Monrovia in the rear.

However, the ABTI was not the first Catholic post- secondary training institution in Liberia. At the time when the entire country of Liberia was considered a single ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the Prefecture Apostolic of Liberia (1903) and Vicariate of Liberia (1934) under the SMA Fathers, the St. Peter Clever Teacher-Catechist Training Institute was established in 1927 in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County to prepare teacher-catechists for Catholic Mission Schools. It lasted until the late 50’s before being turned into an elementary, then junior high and finally a senior high school in the 1980s.

When the country was subsequently divided in 1950 into the ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the Vicariate of Monrovia and the Prefecture of Cape Palmas, Our Lady of Fatima College for training teachers at the bachelor level in elementary education was established in 1953 in
Harper, Maryland County and lasted until the early 1970’s due to a gradual decline of student population.

The only other Catholic-run post-secondary institution was the St. Paul Major Seminary established in 1974 in Gbarnga to train seminarians for the Catholic priesthood. Under ITCABIC (International Catholic Bishops Conference) the men came from Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia. But in 1998 Liberia’s Catholic Bishops withdrew from ITCABIC to form CABICOL (Catholic Bishops Conference of Liberia) under which St. Paul College Seminary now operates.

Shortly after the donation of the land by Mrs. Tubman, Most Rev. Archbishop Francis Dermot Carroll, SMA, Vicar Apostolic of Monrovia and Pro-Nuncio to Liberia contacted MISEREOR in 1973 to fund the vocational school which would now be coeducational. The MISEREOR agreed and approved the plans. (MISEREOR super turbam: Latin translation of Jesus words, “I have compassion on the crowd.” Mk 8:2. Hence the mission of MISEREOR, a humanitarian organization of the German Catholic Bishops Conference, established in 1958 is to be at the side of the poor, the marginalized to help them articulate their needs and eventually become less dependent on foreign aid.) It was also agreed between MISEREOR and the Vicariate of Monrovia after several meetings, to establish a technical school with departments in Woodwork, Masonry, Home Economics and Secretarial Sciences. In 1976, Rev. Father Michael Kpakala Francis succeeded Archbishop Francis Carroll as Vicar Apostolic of Monrovia and one of his first acts was to start the construction of the Technical School on 8th Street with funds donated by MISEREOR. In January 1977, he wrote to the then Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Rome, Very Rev. E. Vigano, SDB, for the Salesians to staff the proposed new vocational technical school. The Rector replied and considered the request. In the meantime, the buildings which the Liberian architect, Isaac Wenceslaus Wallace had designed were being constructed under the supervision of Mr. Smyth of APSO (Agency for Personal Service Overseas), a Catholic humanitarian foundation based in Ireland which provides funding for different Church related projects in various parts of the world, which Archbishop Carroll had contacted earlier.

In June 1977, Father Williams, SDB, Counselor for English-speaking countries where the Salesians minister, paid a visit to Liberia. Bishop Francis took him over a great part of the Vicariate and showed him what he wanted the SDB to be engaged in.

The Bishop requested that the Salesians send priests and Brothers to manage this new vocational technical school constructed on 8th Street. Bishop also contacted APSO in Ireland to send an administrator to run the school which building was going up rapidly. Mr. Byrnes of APSO succeeded
Mr. Smyth, as supervisor of the construction, and Mr. Hayes were sent by APSO to be the first Administrator of ABTI. He arrived in 1978.
In June 1979, two Salesians arrived – Father Carona, SDB of Malta and Brother Paul Dacosta, SDB of the USA. Father Anthony Carona became the Parish Priest of St. Joseph Parish and Brother Paul worked in the Department of Woodwork in the School which started as Arthur Barclay Vocational Institute but was now named, the Arthur Barclay Technical Institute (ABTI).

On August 8, 1978, the Arthur Barclay Vocational Institute was officially inaugurated by President William R. Tolbert, Jr. in the presence of the son of Arthur Barclay, then 95 years of age, and its doors were opened to the first group of students in February of 1979. In late August, Father Anthony Carona, SDB, had to leave due to illness. Brother Bill, SDB, from the USA arrived and started working at the Institute.

In May 1980, Mr. Hayes, the Administrator of Arthur Barclay Vocational Institute, had to leave for Ireland because of ill health. The diagnosis was not good, but he came back to gradually settle things before leaving finally.

In July 1980, the Salesians of Don Bosco in Liberia were entrusted to the British Province. The Provincial, Father Cyril Kennedy, SDB, along with former Provincial, Father Higgins, SDB, visited Liberia late that year and in September 1980, Father Joseph Brown, SDB, arrived in Liberia. Mr. Hayes left and Father Joseph Brown, SDB, was appointed the Administrator of the ABTI.

In 1985, there was a request from some Catholics to raise St. Patrick High School to a college. Bishop Michael K. Francis, now titled Archbishop of Monrovia since 1981 appointed a committee headed by Sister Shirley Kolmer, ASC, to study the proposal. The findings of the committee zeroed in on the establishment of a Teacher Training College. This was accepted and Sister Shirley was asked to work out the details.

However, the Archbishop had a different plan, so he started conversations with Sister Shirley, ASC, Father Joseph Brown, SDB, Victor Emmanuel Wolor Topor, Dr. Phil Droit and Sister Mary Laurene Browne, OSF about establishing a Polytechnic. He proposed the name Don Bosco in honor of St. John Bosco with the hope that the Salesians would undertake significantly it’s financing and provide continuously its administrators. A committee headed by the Archbishop was set up to work out the details for a Charter from the National Legislature. Senator Tambakai Janaba of Grand Cape Mount County was then asked by the Committee to sponsor the Bill to create the Don Bosco Polytechnic consisting initially of five colleges.

On August 15, 1988, by an Act of the 50th National Legislature, the Don Bosco Polytechnic was created with five constituent colleges. The Archbishop named the colleges: the ABTI was incorporated into the Polytechnic and became the Arthur Barclay Business College (ABBC). Mother Patérn College of Health Sciences (MPCHS) was named for the 1st Mother Superior of the Franciscan
Missionaries of Mary (FMM), the Polytechnic itself and the Don Bosco Technical College were named for the founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco, the late Bishop John Collins Teachers College
(BJCTC) was named for the 1st Catholic Bishop of Liberia and the Monsignor John Ogé Agriculture College (MJOAC) was named for the 2nd Prefect Apostolic of Liberia (1911-1931).

The Polytechnic was inaugurated in June 1989 and construction of the 1st college; the then Don Bosco Technical College was begun immediately on fifty (50) acres of land off the Robertsfield Highway in the Thinkers Village Community. The Liberia Telecommunication Corporation (LTC) donated the land. But it was later discovered that although LTC had been generous in its donation to the Polytechnic, it had not paid fully the owners for the land, so they in turn did not relinquish their title deed. Besides the Polytechnic also decided that 50 acres would be inadequate for its future, so the area was abandoned.

Unfortunately, the Civil War put an end for the time being to the full development of the Polytechnic. In early 1992, Sister Shirley Kolmer, ASC, then appointed to be the Dean of the Bishop John Collins Teachers College (BJCTC) started preparations for the opening of the College on the St. Patrick High School Campus. Her tragic death in Gardnersville at the hands of National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebels during Charles Taylor’s infamous Octopus threw things back. In 1993, the Archbishop invited Sister Barbara Brillant, FMM, to inaugurate the Mother Patérn College of Health Sciences (MPCHS) and she got things moving. It was the only College of the Don Bosco Polytechnic (DBP) in operation until the April 6, 1996, very bloody phase of the Liberian Civil War.

But in January 1997, the Board of Trustees met and took the momentous decisions to open the DBP. It was opened in November 1997 on the St. Patrick High School Campus on Capitol Hill as a temporary arrangement.

Credit for the establishment of the Polytechnic must go to Father Joseph Brown, SDB, Sister Shirley Kolmer, ASC, Sister Barbara Brillant, FMM, and Sister Mary Laurene Browne, OSF who gave all support to the Archbishop to get this project off the ground. Credit also goes to the members of the Board of Trustees, past and present, for their continued interest.

When Father Joe Brown, SDB, resigned in April 2001 after serving the institution for twenty years, the Salesians of Don Bosco did not designate his replacement, and because the Polytechnic remains technically and legally the property of the Archdiocese of Monrovia, Archbishop Michael K. Francis thought it best to divorce it from the Don Bosco activities in Liberia, as these focus mainly on youths to give them skills and also to rehabilitate them where necessary for fruitful living.

To this end, the Board of Trustees met on June 29, 2005, and deliberated on Archbishop Michael K. Francis’ choice of name for the institution and voted unanimously to accept the name of Stella Maris for the Polytechnic and Msgr. Stephen Kyne for the Technical College. Dr. Mohammed Sheriff, a
member of the House of Representatives of the National Transitional Legislative Assembly (NTLA), was then asked by the Administration to sponsor the Bill to amend the Charter by giving recognition to Stella Maris Polytechnic and to Monsignor Stephen Kyne Technical College (MSKTC)*. On November 18, 2005, the Bill was approved by the NTLA and handbills issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November.

Upon Father Brown’s resignation, Sister Mary Laurene Browne, OSF, then the Vice President for Administration and Dean of the Bishop John Collins Teachers College (BJCTC) was inducted as President shortly before the Commencement Convocation on August 31, 2001.

Supported fully by the founder, Archbishop Michael K. Francis, and succeeding Fr. Harry O’Brien, SDB, Chancellors Msgr. Andrew J. Karnley and Archbishop Lewis Jerome Zeigler, by the Board of Trustees, able Administrators, Faculty, Staff and Students, Sister Mary Laurene Browne, OSF, proceeded to expand the Polytechnic in all directions: student population, faculty training, infrastructure development, academic programs, financial stability, acquisition and development of the Kpo River Main Campus (600+ acres), all of which are still ongoing.

The development of this Kpo (Po) River Main Campus began on December 19, 2018, with the groundbreaking and subsequent erection of the Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis Memorial Center for Justice, Peace and Human Rights.

At its regular Board of Trustees Meeting held on February 19, 2019, Sr. Mary Laurene Browne, OSF, the President and Secretary to the Board of Trustees proposed that the name of SMP be expanded to include “University” now that the Dean of Mother Patérn College of Health Sciences, Sr. Barbara Brillant, since 2010 had been successfully executing the nursing program at the graduate level and with the Social Work degree program in the process of being raised to the graduate level.

The Board deliberated. Some members wanted the word, “Polytechnic” to be replaced by “Catholic” but the majority felt, and rightly so, that the word “Polytechnic” remains because it is specific to the vision of the founder of the Polytechnic, Archbishop Michael K. Francis, who wanted middle level as well as highly trained professionals to enter the job market rapidly with confidence in their acquired skills.

On May 20, 2019, the Administration requested the Representative of Maryland County, Hon. Patrick Mike Jurry of the 54th National Legislature to sponsor the Bill to amend the Act that established the Stella Maris Polytechnic and to grant a Charter to the Stella Maris Polytechnic University (SMPU). The Act was approved on July 17, 2019; handbills were issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and printed on July 25, 2019.

Due to the Corona virus pandemic, SMPU, like all other institutions globally, had to make major adjustments in the execution of its activities and programs. SMPU was no exception. The non-
traditional Commencement Convocation of January 29, 2021, saw the retirement of the SMPU’s 1st
President, Sister Mary Laurene Browne, OSF and the installation of its second President and 1st layman in the person of Franklin T. Dalieh, Sr. Ph.D.