Mother Theodore had not been the first to step forward when the Bishop of Vincennes asked the Sisters of Providence to establish an academy for young women in Indiana.

Although she had been decorated by the French Board of Education as a highly gifted and efficient teacher, Mother Theodore felt unworthy of the task of founding an institution of learning.

This program served adult women who needed flexible schedules to earn a degree while balancing important family and job responsibilities.

In 2005, the college expanded access to its undergraduate distance and adult programs to men, while maintaining its longstanding mission for the advancement of women's education.

Today, through the renamed Woods Online program, women and men can earn a college degree in a wide variety of majors.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College also offers three master's degree programs, open to both women and men, in the hybrid format.

"Virtus cum Scientia," translated as "Virtue with Knowledge United," appears on the SMWC seal and/or coat of arms.

The left field is blue, showing in the center a poplar tree on a hill or terrace in natural colors, with the first letter of the name of Mary; these latter devices are in gold.

The right half of the shield shows the arms of Madame du Roscoat, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence at Ruille-sur-Loir, France.

The rayed star, charged with the letter "M" in blue, is an emblem of Mary Mother of God, the Stella Matutina, under whose protection Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, represented by a tree, places all its hopes for growth and life.

The crest is the count's coronet of the du Roscoat family and the motto "Virtus cum Scientia," is the one chosen by Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence in America.

SMWC competes in 16 intercollegiate varsity teams: Men's sports include basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, soccer, sprint football, track & field and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, soccer, softball, track & field and volleyball; as well as hunt seat.

Just days before the soccer team brought home the silver cup from Burlington, Vermont, the first-year cross-country squad won the USCAA National Championship in New Hampshire.

[15] The department currently offers seven non-scholarship club sport options; Competitive Cheer, Cycling, Dance, eSports, Powerlifting, Rowing, and Tennis.

[18] More than twenty of the firm's projects, including Foley Hall (1860, 1897) at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[19][20] Campus architects retained its pastoral setting, while a "French influence reminiscent of Georges-Eugène Haussmann" is visible in the "straight walkways and open views".

[17] Anne Therese Guérin Hall, designed by Oscar D. Bohlen in a Renaissance Revival style, is named in honor of the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

[21] The ornate front entrance features heavily carved Corinthian capitals on pilasters, made of Indiana limestone.

[23] The Conservatory was dedicated along with Guerin Hall on October 12, 1913, and contained music studios, practice rooms, classrooms, and offices.

The yellow brick residence hall contains classical balustrades on its stone and decorative metal balconies; its twin towers and tile roof reflects the Spanish Revival architectural style.

[27] Residence hall rooms contain large windows and hardwood floors; more than 75 percent of them are suites with a connecting bathrooms.