The school began as St. Clara Female Academy in 1848, chartered by Rev. Fr. Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, O.P. in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. It became a college in 1901 and moved to River Forest, Illinois, taking the name Rosary College in 1922 while under the leadership of Mother Samuel Coughlin of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. Trinity High School was founded as the preparatory department of the college before moving to its own campus nearby in 1926 and is still run by the order. The present name of Dominican University was adopted in 1997 as part of a strategic plan by President Donna Carroll to reflect the school's Dominican heritage and its status as a more comprehensive university.