Salve Regina University, located in Newport, Rhode Island in the Diocese of Providence, is a Catholic, co-educational, private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of Rhode Island. In 1934 the Sisters of Mercy obtained a charter for the school and in 1947 acquired Ochre Court. The school was opened as Salve Regina College and welcomed its first class of 58 students. By a 1991 amendment to the Charter, the college attained university status and the name was changed accordingly, becoming Salve Regina University.