Motto | Inspiring Minds, Unleashing Hearts. |
---|---|
Type | Private |
Established | 1963 |
Religious affiliation
|
Roman Catholic |
Endowment | $137,027,000 (2014) |
President | John J. Petillo |
Academic staff
|
802 (full-time and part-time) |
Undergraduates | 5,428 |
Postgraduates | 3,104 |
Location | Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. |
Campus | Suburban 300+ acres |
Colors | Red and Grey |
Athletics | NCAA Division I – NEC, CAA, ECAC, AHA, EIVA |
Nickname | Pioneers |
Mascot | "Big Red" the Pioneer |
Affiliations |
ACCU NAICU CIC NEASC |
Website | www |
Sacred Heart University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. Sacred Heart was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholic university in the United States to be staffed by the laity. Dr. John J. Petillo is the current president.
Sacred Heart is the second largest Catholic university in New England, behind Boston College, and offers more than 70 degree programs to over 8,500 students at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.
Undergraduate students study at Sacred Heart's international campuses in Dingle, Ireland and Luxembourg, including freshmen participating in pre-fall and Freshman Fall Abroad programs. On the main campus, state-of-the-art academic facilities include the Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center and the Center for Healthcare Education.
The University continues to experience dramatic growth in campus facilities and enrollment and has garnered recognition such as The Princeton Review's Best 381 Colleges 2017, the Best 294 Business Schools 2017, as well as U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges in the North and Bloomberg's Best Undergraduate Business Schools 2016.
Sacred Heart University was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport. The University was to be led and staffed by the laity independent and locally oriented. Former American ambassador and Diplomat Thomas Patrick Melady served as President of the University from 1976 to 1986.
Enrollment has risen from the original class of 173 to over 8,500 full and part-time undergraduate and graduate students, and the faculty has increased from 9 to 281 full-time professors and over 520 adjunct professors since 1963.
Sacred Heart has enhanced the undergraduate student experience in several notable ways. The first dorms, Scholars Commons (previously known as J-Hill), were built 1991 giving the university the ability to accept students who wanted the residential experience. It now has 10 residential buildings with 50 percent of the full-time undergraduates residing in university housing.