The College and Its Mission
Founded by the Jesuits in 1870, Canisius College is an independent, co-educational, medium sized institution of higher education conducted in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition. It offers undergraduate programs built upon a liberal arts core curriculum, leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees, plus graduate programs in business, education and other professional fields, leading to the master’s degree.

Canisius espouses the ideal of academic excellence along with a sense of responsibility to use one’s gifts for the service of others and the benefit of society. It seeks to promote the intellectual and ethical life of its students, helping to prepare them for productive careers as well as for meaningful personal lives and positive contributions to human progress. Its curricular and co-curricular programs are designed to educate the whole person through the development of intellectual, moral, spiritual and social qualities.

It aims to promote the contemporary Jesuit mission of the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

As a Catholic institution that welcomes all who share in its quest, Canisius will:

  • foster an atmosphere of understanding and respect in dialogue with other intellectual and spiritual traditions; 
  • teach the responsible use of human freedom in a value-oriented curriculum and co-curriculum that incorporate concern for spiritual and human factors as well as more pragmatic ones; 
  • continue the Jesuit principle of care for individual persons; 
  • emphasize excellence in teaching, marked by intellectual vigor, close student-faculty relations and an expectation of active rather than passive learning; 
  • prepare students to assume positions of leadership in church and society; • foster a sense of community among its students and staff through personal interaction marked by friendliness, respect, openness and integrity; 
  • take advantage of its location in a major urban center on an international border to serve the community and the world, and to play a significant role in fashioning the world of the 21st century by contributing its own special blend of academic excellence, personal concern and an optimistic commitment to the future.
As an urban college, Canisius enjoys a special relationship with the City of Buffalo. The concept of community service on which the college prides itself is best evidenced by the large number of Canisius graduates who have occupied important positions in the professional, educational, commercial and political life of the city and its surrounding communities. Buffalo’s largest private college is named after Saint Peter Canisius, a 16th century Dutch scholar. The college’s founders were guided by the same educational ideals that inspired several European universities and initiated a tradition of service to student and community.

Starting out as a single building in the center of downtown Buffalo, Canisius College has since expanded to cover the more than 57 acres and 35 academic buildings of its dual campus on Main Street. It is easily accessible by expressway, subway and bus routes.

In addition to the College of Arts and Sciences, Canisius includes the Richard J. Wehle School of Business, the School of Education and Human Services, a Graduate Division and a Summer Session, with a total enrollment for 2009-2010 of nearly 5000 students.

Canisius College is a private, independent Roman Catholic college. It is governed by an independent self-perpetuating Board of Trustees under a charter granted by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.

Institutional Learning Goals
These broad learning goals express the college’s expectations and hopes for all students who study within its walls no matter what path the student takes through the college experience. All of the college’s efforts will be in support of one or more of the goals, but we recognize that not every student will achieve each goal in the same way.

The goal statements are declarative sentences in the present tense. In practice, students move at different paces toward these goals, and assessment of goals will occur at appropriate times and places throughout the educational experience.

Goal 1. Academic Excellence: Canisius students:

a. in the Jesuit tradition, are intentional learners who can adapt to new environments, integrate knowledge and continue learning throughout their lives;
b. demonstrate a breadth of knowledge across many humanistic, scientific and social scientific fields;
c. demonstrate a depth of knowledge in one or more fields of learning; they demonstrate the skills and habits of mind that derive from that knowledge and sustain its further growth.
Goal 2. Communication Skills: Canisius students:

a. demonstrate that they can write and speak with clarity and precision in both their academic disciplines and in more general situations;
b. demonstrate that they can listen and read with both literal comprehension and critical awareness in both their academic disciplines and more general situations;
c. integrate current technologies into research and communication.
Goal 3. Integrity and Civility: Canisius students:

a. demonstrate knowledge of general ethical and moral issues as well as ones specific to their fields of study;
b. act with civility and integrity in pursuit of the responsible use of human freedom.
Goal 4. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Canisius students:

a. synthesize new knowledge and apply it to present and future problems;
b. identify, analyze and comprehend the assumptions and underlying premises in a variety of academic and real-world arguments, conflicts and debates;
c. demonstrate that they can find, evaluate and effectively use information while understanding the ethical and legal issues governing information use.
Goal 5. Community Involvement and Leadership: Canisius students:

a. demonstrate leadership in the service of others, in intellectual and spiritual inquiry and in assuming positions of responsibility in the community and marketplace;
b. use their gifts for the service of others and the benefit of society.
Goal 6. Jesuit, Catholic Intellectual Tradition: Canisius students:

a. demonstrate a familiarity with dimensions of the Catholic and Jesuit intellectual traditions as they occur in literature, art, science and social teaching.

Accreditation
Canisius College received its authority to confer bachelor’s degrees in 1883 when it was incorporated by the Regents of the University of the State of New York. In 1894, the college offered its first course in the graduate program leading to the degree of master of arts.

Canisius College is an accredited member of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools1. All of the college’s programs are registered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York through the State Education Department2. The undergraduate programs in Business Administration and the M.B.A. program are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International3.

The Chemistry major is accredited by the American Chemical Society4 and the the Athletic Training major by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education5. The programs of the School of Education and Human Services designed to prepare students for school-based careers are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education6. The Graduate Program for Teachers of the Deaf is accredited by the Council on the Education of the Deaf7. The Department of Counseling and Human Services is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs8 and offers master’s degrees in School Counseling and Community Health Mental Counseling. The accreditations are for School Counseling and Community Counseling

The college is also a member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of the State of New York, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, the Association of Colleges and Universities of the State of New York, the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration and the Western New York Consortium of Higher Education.

Campus Ministry
Campus Ministry is responsible for supporting the spiritual and religious life of the campus. The activities of campus ministry are open to students and staff of all faiths. Campus Ministry at Canisius College seeks to empower students, faculty, administrators, staff and alumni as persons of faith “for and with others,” in the Catholic, Jesuit tradition.

In addition to providing for a vital Roman Catholic liturgical and sacramental life, the campus ministry team:

  • offers opportunities for spiritual retreats; 
  • organizes opportunities for prayer and small faith communities;
  • promotes opportunities for service to those in need, both locally and through domestic and international service trips;
  • promotes ethical values and educates and organizes around issues of social justice and peace;
  • and provides pastoral counseling and spiritual direction.
Mission statement: Campus Ministry at Canisius College is missioned to empower our students, faculty, administrators, staff and alumni to grow as leaders and persons for others within Church and community. We do this in the spirit of Jesus and the Jesuit tradition. We are guided by the cornerstones of spirituality, community, simplicity of life and service and are committed to work toward justice with people of all faiths.

The Faculty
The college seeks faculty members known to be creative and energetic teachers who also seek to engage their students in their research and scholarship. Modest class size is the norm, and interaction among students and faculty is easy and natural.

Canisius’ full time faculty members have degrees from over 100 different universities, including 24 degrees from Europe, nine from Asia/Pacific, 16 from Canada and two from South America. Each of the 226 full-time faculty members has been chosen for his or her academic competence, ability to teach, interest in research and moral integrity. The college’s present faculty is a group of highly trained, dedicated individuals who take a personal interest in the students under their charge. Over 96 percent have earned doctoral or terminal degrees in their fields.

Over 280 individuals from the fields of law, health care, education, business, government, science, technology and the arts contribute as part time faculty members to the mission of Canisius College.

The Library
The quality of any educational institution is determined largely by the proficiency of its faculty and the excellence of the information resources available to support the curriculum.

The Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library is evolving into a learning commons to better accommodate collaborative learning styles and to provide additional support for student learning. The building now has ample study facilities, computers, a curriculum materials center for K-12 teacher training, group work rooms, audio-visual areas and a Tim Hortons coffee shop. Canisius students have at their disposal an excellent library collection of over 400,000 volumes of books, periodicals, microforms and other materials. The Library subscribes to over 27,000 full text electronic periodicals as well as to hundreds of paper journal subscriptions. Electronic resources can also be accessed from computer labs and residence halls through the campus network and from off-campus via the World Wide Web. The Library has a substantial complement of computer equipment to access these resources, including over 50 laptop computers with wireless network access that may be used by students within the building.

Canisius students have convenient and rapid access to over eight million volumes in the ConnectNY consortium and to the extensive research collections of the Center for Research Libraries. Additional library materials are available via Interlibrary Loan.

When school is in session, the Library is open every day of the week for study and research, and is open nights until 2:00 a.m. from Sunday through Thursday. Assistance and guidance in the use of the Library and its facilities are provided by a highly competent staff of professional librarians and technical assistants.

The Rev. J. Clayton Murray, S.J. Archives, located in Bouwhuis Library, houses information related to the history of Canisius College. Visitors and researchers are welcome.

Computer Facilities
Wireless networking is available throughout the campus. Instructional computing facilities include over 300 personal computers, as well as scanners and printers. Computers in student labs have access to word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, web development and statistical analysis software. There are several Internet Plazas located around campus where students may check their electronic mail or access the World Wide Web. All computers are connected to the World Wide Web and have access to extensive online research databases provided by the Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library. Laptops for loan and wireless networking are available for use in the Bouwhuis Library.

Canisius College has an extensive web site at www.canisius.edu that includes web-based electronic mail, course materials, course discussion boards and course registration.

Residence halls are wired for satellite TV (including several Canisius-oriented channels and Internet access.
Classrooms have been recently renovated and all contain some level of technology. Most classrooms provide video and computer projection for the instructor.

Several departments, including Digital Media Arts and Computer Science, maintain a substantial complement of computing equipment specific to their needs.

Student Retention
Retention from freshman to sophomore years has been as follows for the last three years:

Class of 2009 - 80.4%
Class of 2010 - 80.6%
Class of 2011 - 82.5%
As defined by the federal government, the retention rate is the percentage of first-time bachelors degree-seeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall. Freshmen are defined as those who registered prior to their initial matriculation. Sophomores are those still registered following the drop/add period one year later.

Service Learning: Forming the Complete Student
Service Learning is the incorporation of community service within academic courses, together with structured reflection upon that experience and its connection to the course. The service becomes “a text” within the course.

As an educational method, Service Learning provides students with fertile ground on which to test theories acquired in the classroom and to concretize abstract thought.

Research has indicated that students involved in Service Learning courses agree that their service experience helped them better understand the course, and has benefited them personally. Service Learning is also “values education.” The development and formation of values arise out of a social consciousness of the situation of the other, especially the other who is deprived in some way. Service Learning attempts to make students more aware of social injustices, causes them to consider serious civic engagement in society and introduces them to the challenges and possibilities of systemic change.

The integration of Service Learning into an undergraduate or graduate course has five key components:

1. Service activities may be mandatory or optional. The number of service hours can vary, but the suggested norm over a semester is 15-20.
2. Clear connections exist between service activities and the academic discipline.
3. Service activities benefit the one receiving the service, the students, the service partner and the university, in a significant way.
4. Students engage in a carefully articulated reflection process around the service, the discipline and the way in which the experience has affected them.
5. Assessment of the outcomes of the service experience is done through evaluations by the service agency, the student and the professor.
For more information, go to the Service Learning website at www.canisius.edu/servicelearning.

Nondiscrimination
Canisius College does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion or creed, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran’s status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or disability in administration of its educational policies, employment practices, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs and athletic and other school administered programs.

Canisius admits students of any age, race, religion or creed, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital status, or veteran’s status to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the college.

It continues to be the policy of Canisius College not to discriminate on the basis of handicap. No person is denied employment, admission or access solely because of any physical, mental, or medical impairment which is unrelated to the ability to engage in the activities involved in the education requirements or occupation for which application has been made.

Course Rotations
Certain majors and programs have listed their courses and included the semester of offering, either fall or spring or both. These course rotations are subject to change. Actual offerings are listed in the online course schedule produced each semester by the Office of Student Records.


1Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Telephone: (215) 662-5606
2University of the State of New York, State Education Department, Board of Regents, Room 110EB, Albany, NY 12234 Telephone: (518) 474-5889
3Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International, 777 South Harbour Island Blvd, Suite 750, Tampa, FL 33602-5730 Telephone: (813) 769-6500
4American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth St, NW, Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: (800) 227-5558 (US only) 202-872-4600
5Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, 2201 Double Creek Drive, Suite 5006, Round Rock, TX 78664 Telephone 612-733-9700
6National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2010 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036-1023 Telephone (202) 466-7496
7Council on the Education of the Deaf, Dr. Tony Martin, Lamar University, PO Box 10076, Beaumont, TX 77710 Telephone (409) 880-8175
8 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 1001 North Fairfax Street, Suite 510, Alexandria VA 22314 Telephone (703) 535-5990