MISSION STATEMENT

Xavier University of Louisiana is Catholic and historically Black. The ultimate purpose of the University is the promotion of a more just and humane society. To this end, Xavier prepares its students to assume roles of leadership and service in society. This preparation takes place in a pluralistic teaching and learning environment that incorporates all relevant educational means, including research and community service.

GOALS

So that they will be able to assume roles of leadership and service, Xavier graduates will be:

• prepared for continual spiritual, moral, and intellectual development;
• liberally educated in the knowledge and skills required for leadership and service; and
• educated in a major field so that they are prepared to complete graduate or professional school and to succeed in a career and in life.

HISTORY

There are 103 historically Black colleges and 222 Catholic colleges in the United States, yet only one is both historically Black and Catholic. That distinction belongs to Xavier University of Louisiana, which strives to combine the best attributes of both its faith and its culture.

Located in New Orleans, this small liberal arts college dates back to 1915, when Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament initially founded their coeducational secondary school from which Xavier evolved ten years later in 1925. Mother Katharine came to the city at the request of the local archbishop to provide African Americans – at the time denied admission to existing local and state as well as Catholic colleges – with opportunities for Catholic higher education.

Although the Sisters maintain a vital presence on campus, today Xavier is governed by an independent, lay/religious Board of Trustees on which the Sisters have representation. Its president, Dr. Norman C. Francis, himself a Xavier graduate, is a nationally recognized leader in higher education.

Even with its special mission to serve the African American Catholic community, Xavier's doors have always been open to qualified students of any race or creed. Currently more than 70 percent of Xavier's students are of other religious affiliations and 20 percent are not African American.

Recent years have seen a growing influx of out-of-state students, yet one-half of Xavier's nearly 3,000 students are from Louisiana. The balance comes from some 40 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight countries.

Prospective Xavier students can obtain academic support as early as junior high school. Highly popular and successful pre-college programs – each designed to improve the analytical reasoning skills of students – are offered each summer in science, mathematics and the humanities.

Enrollment has increased by more than 100 percent since 1986, with the freshman class exceeding 800 for the past several years.

Xavier students are nurtured in the type of environment available only at a small college. A full-time faculty of educators, religious and lay, of diverse ethnic and racial origins – 92 percent of whom hold doctorates – provides a comfortable student/faculty ratio of 15/1.

Opportunities exist for students to participate in relevant research under faculty mentors. All students are encouraged to supplement their Xavier experience by serving internships or attending summer programs at other colleges and universities.

Xavier's undergraduate curriculum is centered in the liberal arts, with all students required to take a core of prescribed courses in theology and philosophy, the arts and the humanities, communications, history and the so­cial sciences, mathematics, and the natural sciences, in addition to more intensive work in their respective majors.

More than half of Xavier's students currently major in the natural or health sciences, especially in biology, chemistry, and pharmacy. Other popular majors include business, psychology, mass communications, political science and computer science. Students interested in majoring in the humanities will find that Xavier has superior programs there as well.

Xavier is recognized as a national leader in the field of science education, and has been featured in such national publications as USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education, Changing Times, Money Magazine, and U.S. News & World Report.

Currently, there are more than 18,000 African American pharmacists practicing in the United States. Xavier has produced nearly 20 percent of all Black pharmacists receiving the Doctor of Pharmacy degree since 1995.

For the last five years, Xavier has awarded more undergraduate physical science degrees and for more than a decade it has placed more African Americans into medical school than any other college in the United States. Equally impressive, a full 92 percent of those Xavier graduates who enter medical and dental school complete their studies and go on to become practicing physicians and dentists.

Although Xavier is best known for its various science programs, there are also very strong programs in the non-science areas. Xavier’s education program is NCATE accredited, its Business Department is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, its music program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, and its Chemistry program is approved by the American Chemical Society. Xavier faculty in the growing creative writing program have received prestigious national awards for their work, as have faculty in art and music. Mass communications majors have developed the Xavier Herald into the only student newspaper from a Historically Black College that is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame.

Xavier graduates can be found in virtually every state and several countries. They teach and administer at schools on every level of education; they direct large corporations and small businesses; they hold leadership roles in national, state and local government; they command in the armed services, and they serve in the judicial system. They are actors, musicians, writers, engineers, counselors, social workers, and much more.

Xavier's College of Arts and Sciences, College of Pharmacy, and Graduate School offer preparation in varied fields on the undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree level. Approximately 45 percent of Xavier's students continue their education by attending graduate or professional school.

Xavier is a member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, which is affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). It offers three intercollegiate sports – basketball, cross country and tennis – with equal opportunities for both men and women.

Tuition and room and board compare quite favorably with that of other private institutions. A variety of academic scholarships, student grants, and loans are available. More than 75 percent of all Xavier students receive some form of financial aid.

LOCATION

Despite the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the continuing rebuilding challenges facing South Louisiana, it is still easy to fall in love with New Orleans. And there are few who doubt that New Orleans – whose history is older than the United States itself – will ultimately become a better city, after billions of public and private dollars have been invested over the next several years in its recovery. The midtown campus of Xavier University, for example, underwent extensive repairs and reopened for classes less than five months after Katrina. Xavier students returned to their dormitories in January 2006, after the university spent more than $40 million on those immediate repairs.

One of the great cities of the world, New Orleans will continue to be internationally revered for its food, its music, its festivals and its people. New Orleans' culture, like Xavier's, demonstrates unity in diversity. In New Orleans, African American traditions creatively combine with traditions as diverse as that of the Native American, Spanish, French, Irish and Italian to create a cultural “gumbo” unlike any other in the world.

The diversity is manifest in a variety of ways. In the shadow of a growing skyline of modern skyscrapers, streetcars run on the oldest trolley line in the U.S., and charming buildings of another era stand, with their wrought iron balconies and leafy courtyards – vivid reminders of the French, Spanish, and African influences on the city.

New Orleans continues to feel the impact of other countries, as the nation's second largest port and the gateway to South and Central America. Spanish, for example, replaced French long ago as the city's second language.

New Orleans is living history which is not lost in the tempo of today, either in its bustling port commerce, its oil industry concentration, its growing center of financial institutions or its expanding tourist and convention activity.

Life in New Orleans has rich vitality. It can be sensed from jazz played in the city of its birth and the varied styles of New Orleans musicians.

New Orleans fosters the arts. Museums are becoming increasingly responsive to all people. Theaters thrive. There is lively interest in ballet. A full season of opera and symphony performances is also offered.

New Orleans has sports and recreational outlets too. The Louisiana Superdome is home to the N.F.L. Saints while the New Orleans Arena is the home of New Orleans’ N.B.A. franchise Hornets. The city also hosts a minor league baseball team, the New Orleans Zephyrs. Audubon and City Parks and Lake Pontchartrain are counted among the city's recreational offerings. The Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americas are among the best of their kind.

The higher education complex of New Orleans is comprised of twelve public and private colleges and universities, including schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and theological seminaries.

Xavier's "campus" is, in reality, as large as New Orleans itself.

Students may cross-register for courses at several area universities. They serve internships at city hospitals, with businesses and in government offices; they student teach at area schools; they engage in work and cooperative education assignments; they perform with the local musical and theatre groups; they involve themselves in community service projects.

Students who choose Xavier also get New Orleans – and a chance to be a part of its historic rebirth too.

CAMPUS

Xavier is located near the heart of New Orleans. Situated near major thoroughfares, Xavier offers easy access to several city transit lines, placing the entire city at the doorstep of the Xavier student.

The campus is a short distance from downtown with its commercial, entertainment and sports offerings. A student can see the Louisiana Superdome from his or her dormitory window. Xavier is conveniently located for cross-registration at other universities and research experiences in the city's well-known hospitals and research centers. It lies adjacent to an inner city area, which serves as a learning and service site for the residential community of which it is a part.

The new University Center, the Academic/Science Complex Addition, the Library/Resource Center, and two new residence halls give the impression of a very modern campus. Yet earlier buildings, massive structures of Gothic design, give a feeling of permanence and history.

Two quadrangles – one formed by the distinctive limestone architecture of the original campus buildings and the other formed by more recent state-of-the-art construction – make up the heart of the main campus. It is here where students meet, communicate between classes, and develop lasting friendships.

All residential students live in modern residence halls, with pleasant living quarters and facilities for studying, entertaining, and TV viewing. A cafeteria and recreational areas are located in the new University Center.

A renovated gymnasium is the home of the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets basketball teams. Lighted tennis courts are available for students, for classes, informal play and intramural competition.

Because Xavier is an inner city university, special care is given to providing security for its students, faculty, and staff. The campus is well lighted, and its buildings and parking areas are patrolled 24 hours a day by campus police. Central offices in each residence hall are staffed 24 hours a day. Campus security personnel also provide information and seminars about crime prevention.