Niagara University educates its students and enriches their lives through programs in the liberal arts and through career preparation, informed by the Catholic and Vincentian traditions.

Enabling goals:
As a university, Niagara prepares its students for positions
of responsibility in the professions and in the broader society.
Through teaching, research and service in programs of study
at the baccalaureate and graduate levels, Niagara seeks to
develop within its students a passion for learning.

The university’s commitment to the Catholic faith provides
perspective in the search for truth and meaning. Catholic doctrine
and its moral code inspire respect for the God-given dignity of
every person and all faith traditions. Students experience the
vision and reality of a gospel-based, value-centered education.
As a Vincentian university, Niagara draws inspiration from
St. Vincent de Paul, who organized his contemporaries to
respond compassionately to people’s basic needs. Continuing
this tradition, Niagara seeks to inspire its students to serve all
members of society, especially the poor and oppressed, in
local communities and in the larger world.

Overall, through its curricular and extracurricular programs,
Niagara University seeks to develop the whole person, mind,
body, heart and soul, for the benefit of one’s personal and
professional life.

Accreditation and Memberships
Niagara University is accredited by the Middle States
Association of Colleges and Schools. Its business programs are
AACSB accredited by The
International Association for
Management Education. Its
program in social work is accredited by the Council on Social
Work Education. Its program in education is accredited by
the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Education. The department of chemistry has the approval of
the American Chemical Society. The College of Hospitality
and Tourism Management is accredited by the Council on
Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE).
The university holds membership in the American Council
on Education, the Association of University Evening
Colleges, the College Entrance Examination Board, the
Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, the
Council of Graduate Studies in the United States, the Middle
Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration,
the American Library Association, and other organizations.

Educational Vision
The Niagara University undergraduate curriculum is based
on the premise that a general education is a necessary balance
to career training and that both are essential to a liberal
education worthy of the name. NU believes the education of
the whole person is possible if we understand that “wholeness”
means searching for and working from a human center
rather than encompassing all knowledge. Every degree program
at Niagara University combines a general education
component with a distribution component and a major component.
This triad, explained in detail elsewhere in this catalog,
is intended to overcome the fragmentation of disciplines
which professionalization generally entails and to encourage in
the student a process of integration and consolidation as well
as expansion of the mind and spirit.

History
Founded in 1856 by the Congregation of the Mission
(Vincentians) Niagara University was first chartered in 1861
as a seminary. In 1883, Niagara was rechartered as a university
for “the instruction of youth in the learned languages and in
the liberal and useful arts and sciences.” In the years since its
founding, NU has retained this tradition of emphasis on both
the liberal and useful arts and sciences while it has grown into
a mid-sized university of approximately 2,600 undergraduates,
800 graduate students, and about 750 students enrolled in
continuing and community education.

Geography
Niagara University is located on Route 104 on the northern
limits of the city of Niagara Falls. The 160-acre campus runs
along the top of picturesque Monteagle Ridge overlooking the
Niagara River gorge just four miles north of the world-famous
waterfall. The location of the campus adjacent to the international
border between the United States and Canada and
relatively near the American and Canadian cities of Buffalo
and Toronto, creates an international milieu.

Organization
The university is governed by a 30-member board of trustees,
of whom not more than one-third may be Vincentian priests.
The president is the chief executive officer of the university.
He is aided in administering the various colleges and schools
within the university by the executive vice president, the vice
president for academic affairs, the vice president for student life,
the vice president for administration and the vice president for
institutional advancement. The deans and directors of each college
and school coordinate the educational affairs of the various
undergraduate and graduate programs. The goals of each college
and school are in harmony with those of the university.

Students
The undergraduate enrollment is approximately 2,600. An
additional 800 students are enrolled in the graduate division.
The most recent Cohort Survival Study shows that 80
percent of the new freshmen entering in the fall of 2001
returned in the fall of 2002. The graduation rate of students
who began in 1996 is 56 percent.

Alumni
Niagara University’s approximately 29,000 alumni have
assumed positions in virtually every career area. Significant
numbers of graduates are employed in the field of education as
teachers, administrators and counselors. A large concentration
of graduates pursue business careers in accounting, sales,
finance, logistics, management, marketing, and information
technology. Many alums find success in the hospitality and
tourism industries, criminal justice, human resources, communications,
social work, and the performing arts. Alumni are
employed in the health care field in the practice of medicine
and nursing as well as in research. Alumni also establish careers
in law, government and military service, religious life or are
self-employed.

The many and varied accomplishments of the alumni are a
measure of the university’s success in achieving its goal of
career preparation.

Niagara University maintains a close relationship with
alumni through the publication of the alumni magazine, the
Eagle. The magazine, which is published four times a year,
keeps graduates informed about university activities through
news and feature stories as well as through a personal message
from the university president. In addition, graduates are
updated on the activities of their classmates through the
“Alumni Notes” feature.

A system of regional alumni chapters exists throughout the
United States to foster camaraderie among alumni as well as to
encourage university support. Throughout the year various
social events are held by the chapters, many of which are
attended by university representatives. Alumni chapters sponsor
sports outings, golf tournaments, cocktail parties, dinners and
Purple Eagle socials as well as events of regional interest.

Faculty
All classes are taught by Ph.D.s or professionally qualified
faculty, which include Fulbright Scholars, a Carnegie Teaching
Fellow and John Templeton Foundation Fellows, as well as
several who earned the highly coveted award of Excellence in
Teaching. Faculty are committed to experiential learning and
many involve students in their research. As a result, students
are made aware of current practices and global issues. A strong
relationship between students and faculty is also encouraged
through advisement which is done by faculty members teaching
in a student’s concentration or major.

Faculty and staff are dedicated to building a better world
community. They serve on national and regional boards of
many organizations including Habitat for Humanity. They
also meet the rigorous standards for the accreditation in their
college. Faculty members draw on their real-world experiences
in their lectures and in designing community service projects
for students in the Vincentian tradition.