Gannon University was first established in 1933 as the two-year Cathedral College by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie. In 1944, the school became the four-year men's school Gannon College of Arts and Sciences, named in honor of the then-Bishop of Erie, John Mark Gannon, the driving force behind its opening and development. The college became coeducational in 1964 and gained university status in 1979. The all-girls school Villa Maria College, which was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1925, merged with the university in 1989. Its Villa Maria School of Nursing retains the name of the original institution.
