St. Norbert College (SNC) is a private Catholic liberal arts college in De Pere, Wisconsin. Founded in October 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Norbertine priest and educator, the school was named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. In 1952, the college became coeducational and today enrolls about 2,000 students. St. Norbert College was established when Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Dutch immigrant priest from the Premonstratensian abbey of Bern (Netherlands), founded the college to train young men for the priesthood. Frances I. Van Dyke, a seminarian, was the first and, at the time, the only student. St. Norbert is the first and only institution of higher learning in the world sponsored by the Premonstratensian order. Abbot Pennings later started a commerce program at the college for lay students before retiring in 1955. St. Norbert's second president, Father Dennis Burke, expanded the college, anticipating the student population would eventually reach 2000. Dr. Robert Christin, who became president in 1968, implemented the current course system and the academic divisional structure. In 1973, Neil Webb, a former faculty member and vice president, became president.