Catholic University of Santa María
private University in Peru

The Catholic University of Santa María (UCSM) (Spanish: Universidad Católica de Santa María) is a local private University in Arequipa, Peru, and has been in continuous operation since it was founded on 6 December 1961. It was founded by William Daniel Morris Christy, an American priest from St. Louis, Missouri.
The University first came to the attention of various archaeological research teams after the American archaeologist, Dr. Johan Reinhard, discovered in 1995, the body of a 500-year-old Inca mummy later named "Juanita" on the top of Mount Ampato near Arequipa. The mummy was later brought to the University for further research and is currently encased in a special glass box and kept at constant cold temperatures to conserve her body.
Founding
The Catholic University of Santa Maria was founded by William Daniel Morris Christy, who was born on 4 November 1910 in St. Louis, Missouri. He founded the university on 6 December 1961.
It is the second oldest private university in Peru, after the Catholic University of Lima (Today PUCP).
“Catholic University of Santa María” enters the record as private University in Peru. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Catholic, University and Santa can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Catholic University of Santa María” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Catholic, University and Santa provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 10, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q5053268. VIAF identifies the subject as 148597249. The Library of Congress control number is n2001100459. Authority coordinates are -16.406, -71.548. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1995 and 1910.
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This entry incorporates text from “Catholic University of Santa María” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.