Why Fairfield

‌A Fairfield University education has become more integrated in focus, more global in outlook, and more intentional in its structure than ever before. In the Jesuit tradition, we are committed to creating a student-focused, holistic, and diverse educational environment - intended to educate the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. We want to cultivate in both our undergraduate and graduate students a sense of community and strong ethical and spiritual values to guide them on their paths into the future. Join us in this community enterprise, where all of us are called to come together in the spirit and practice of collaboration.

‌Fairfield University is a Catholic, Jesuit university - one of 28 in the United States. Our mission touches everything we do.

• We're committed to broad intellectual inquiry - so we offer a comprehensive core curriculum.
• We attend to the whole self - body, mind, and spirit - so we offer distinctiveliving and learning experiences like the Sophomore Residential Colleges.
• We believe in lifelong learning - so we integrate Jesuit values in graduate and professional studies.
• We pursue social justice and global citizenship - so we offer an astounding range of opportunities for service and civic engagement.

We ask the hard questions, listen closely, and care enough about the world to study it, work in it, make it better.

Our graduates build vital, meaningful lives. They think critically and independently, they know how to lead and how to work together, and they've done enough important work in the world to know why their work - and their world - matters.

• Our graduates take positions at distinguished corporations, innovative start-ups, and national non-profits.
• Many spend a year or two in global service programs or attend the nation's top graduate and professional schools.
• A startling number of our seniors have won Fulbright Fellowships - year-long scholarships that support post-graduate research in other countries.

As a student at Fairfield University, you'll have access to 50 approved study abroad programs, an expansive list of internships in every field, ambitious initiatives in civic engagement and service learning - the world is waiting!

When students become Stags, they:

• Get a second home. Our Stags love Fairfield University so much, that about 90% of them stay all four years.
• Learn from the best. With a robust faculty of nearly 600 full- and part-time professors—92.6% of which have the highest degrees in their fields, to be exact—Fairfield students are introduced to worlds of knowledge that span a multitude of disciplines.
• Have a team they can root for. With 20 NCAA Division I Varsity teams, 56 overall MAAC Tournament Championships, 42 NCAA Tournament appearances and over 200 student athletes named to the 2017 MAAC Academic Honor Roll—among many, many honors—Fairfield students will always have a reason to say, “Go Stags!”
• Become prepared to start the rest of their lives. In one school year, Fairfield students have completed over 280 for credit internships. And after graduation? 97% have secured full-time employment, launched their postgraduate studies, or pursued volunteer opportunities that allow them to engage with communities all over the world.

We can sum up a Fairfield education in two words: cura personalis. That’s Latin (and Jesuit) for “care for the whole person.”

Fairfield University is part of the Jesuit tradition that began with St. Ignatius of Loyola 450 years ago. Through our strong core curriculum, student groups, diversity and campus ministry programs, we emphasize, as part of our mission, a strong education in the liberal arts, sciences and professions so students can go on to lead their communities with insight, empathy, critical rigor and a determination to serve and promote justice.

We give our alumni the tools to create their stories across every discipline. There are graduates excelling in finance, like Kathleen Murphy ‘84, president of Fidelity Personal Investing, and former CEO of ING U.S. Wealth Management. There are Stags in the arts, like actor Paul Marcarelli ‘92, spokesman for Verizon and Sprint; and culinary mogul Donatella Arpaia ‘93, former Iron Chef America judge and one of the New York Post’s “Most Powerful Women” in Manhattan. Fairfield University graduates further the sciences, like MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner Dr. Peter Provonost ‘87. There are Stags, too, like Rear Admiral Brian Monahan, MC, USN ‘82, who honor us with their service for our country.

Starting as early as your first year, faculty members and the Career Planning office work together with you to explore possible career directions, and then do everything they can to help set you on that path. This includes resume help, networking techniques and opportunities, career fairs, and more.

Whether you're looking to secure employment, enter graduate school, or join a service program, career counselors are available year-round to make sure you get the most out of your Fairfield education.