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

Enabling goals

Niagara prepares its students for positions of responsibility in the professions and the broader society.

Through teaching, research and service in programs of study…, Niagara University 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…. Students experience the vision and reality of a gospel-based, values-centered education.

As a Vincentian University, Niagara draws inspiration from St. Vincent de Paul…. Continuing this tradition, Niagara seeks to inspire its students to serve all members of society, especially the poor and oppressed, in the local community and in the larger world.

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

The Goals of the General Education Curriculum

The General Education Curriculum follows from Niagara University’s Mission and is designed to meet three goals:  

1. To help students to develop the educational foundation for graduate and professional school and careers in the 21 st century;  
2. To assist graduates to have a lifelong commitment to learning; and  
3. To assure that all students develop the values and ethical foundation to be contributing members of the local and global community.  

Skills Developed by the General Education Curriculum

To achieve these three goals, the General Education curriculum is designed to help students develop four skills. These skills are

1. Critical Thinking Skills: The ability to ask questions, seek answers and develop logical arguments.
2. Information Literacy Skills: The know-how to access, evaluate and use information from a variety of sources to answer questions.
3. Communication skills and the ability to work effectively with diverse groups: The ability to communicate well and work with diverse groups of people in the local and global world.
4. A strong Ethical and Values Foundation: Building on the knowledge of one’s own and other cultures, the ability to form and follow well-developed ethical and moral values including a passion for social justice and a willingness to follow the model of St. Vincent de Paul by serving all members of society, especially the poor and oppressed, in the local community and in the larger world.  

While all 40 courses in general education and the major are designed to help students meet these goals, the 20 courses in the General Education are collectively designed to lay the foundation for developing students’ critical thinking, information literacy, communication skills and to prepare them to work with diverse groups of people as ethical members of the local and global community.  

Critical Thinking is fostered in all courses but most clearly developed in the Introduction to Philosophy and the advanced Philosophy courses where the skills of logic and argumentation are introduced and developed. The Analytical skills courses and the courses in Natural Science, Humanities, and Social Science expose students to the modes of thought in the areas of the liberal arts.

Information Literacyis a component in all courses but is introduced in Writing and Thinking (WRT 100) and fostered in History 199.

Communication and Inter-personal skills for the global world are taught in all courses. The ability to write well is introduced in the WRT 100 and ENG 100 courses and refined in the required Writing Intensive course in the major. The ability to work well with diverse groups of people is supported in many courses that require group activities and by the requirement that all students take a cultural diversity course.

Ethical and moral valuesare the focus of Introduction to Ethics and the three courses in Religious Studies. Students are also required to engage in community service to further develop their commitment to serve.  

The major curriculums and the programs offered by the Student Life sector are designed to further develop students’ skills in critical thinking, information literacy, communication and group skills as well as to develop their ethics and values as they relate to their careers and professions.  

Students are urged to select courses and participate in activities that foster the development of all four skills and help them achieve the goals of the General Education.