Canisius College
Buffalo, New York
Get to know Canisius College
College Highlights
RESEARCH
A junior biology major recently received an undergraduate research fellowship from the American Society of Plant Biology and presented his work at the group’s international meeting, and another group of students produced a national award-winning video on Sri Lankan elephants. These successes are not at all unusual at Canisius; students in math, science, psychology, and other fields engage in meaningful hands-on research all the time. They regularly publish papers in professional journals and attend and present at major conferences. Field research has taken students to South Dakota, Ontario, Costa Rica, Bhutan, the Himalayas, the Galapagos Islands, and many other locales.
SERVICE-LEARNING
As a Jesuit institution, Canisius College maintains a philosophy that is embedded with service to the community. And, with the economic and social issues that are typical of urban environments, the city of Buffalo has many areas of need to which students can contribute. In any given semester, faculty members can be found guiding hundreds of students from over 70 class sections at a time to apply their classroom learning to a wide variety of community-building endeavors. For example, business students have planned, organized, and managed a project to benefit a not-for-profit, while education students have transformed a barren elementary school courtyard into an urban oasis/outdoor teaching environment. Others have helped immigrants prepare for job interviews, tutored school children, and run workshops to prevent violence. The possibilities are endless.
College-sponsored trips to Jamaica, Mexico, New York City, Appalachia, and El Salvador offer additional opportunities for students to serve people in great need. Alternative Spring Break is one of the most popular and most rewarding experiences, opening up the chance for students to travel and serve communities all around the world.
PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS
Canisius is consistently ranked in the top 10% of Northern Universities, but the College’s true sense of pride lies in its students’ recognitions for their own unique, exciting, and world-changing ideas. Students have received 18 National Student Awards, and Canisius is tied for 5th nationwide for the number of Fulbright scholarships awarded to its students.
STUDY ABROAD
Sure, most colleges offer study in foreign countries, but at Canisius the experiences are both varied and exceptional. Taking advantage of opportunities in more than a dozen countries, students can spend a few weeks or a whole semester abroad. A couple of examples include interning with Parliament in London and teaching English to school kids in Poland, France, or China. Some students can even extend their stay in Europe through their participation in EuroSim, an international competition that simulates the European Union. From pre-trip orientations to post-trip evaluations, Canisius offers extraordinary resources for students who wish to travel abroad.
HONORS PROGRAM
Through the Honors Program, students take an advanced, challenging core curriculum and finish up with a senior thesis that is based on independent research. Most Honors classes are conducted as seminars, and many explore interdisciplinary topics that cannot be found anywhere else. “Technology and Literature,” “Disease and Medicine in American History,” and “Pirates and the Atlantic World” are just a few of the unique course examples offered to Honors students. Enriching extracurricular and co-curricular cultural experiences, field trips and scholarly travel are also integral to the program.
ENROLLMENT BY ETHNICITY
Nonresident aliens: 5%
Hispanic/Latino: 6%
Black or African American, non-Hispanic: 8%
White, non-Hispanic: 70%
American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 0%
Asian, non-Hispanic: 2%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic: 0%
Two or more races, non-Hispanic: 2%
Race and/or ethnicity unknown: 6%
UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES
At Canisius, students can choose from more than 125 majors, minors, and special programs, enjoying a flexible curriculum that can be catered to their overall goals. Dual and even triple majors are encouraged, the combinations of which range from mainstream to ingenious. Inspired students have mixed digital media arts with psychology, music with political science, biology with studio art, and English with European studies and international business.
LIFE-CHANGING COURSES
Canisius professors are remarkably visionary, inventing exceptionally innovative courses that the College supports with special funding. The following are just some examples that are typical of the extraordinary Peter Canisius Distinguished Professorships:
- The Holocaust in History, Literature, and Film—This course combines its studies with tours of Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin, Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, and Auschwitz. Through these exposures, students are “profoundly moved” as they “study the failure of humanity.”
- The Native American Experience: In Their Own Words and in Their Own Ways—Students immerse themselves in Lakota culture as guests on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. This course includes lectures, activities, and events presented by Native American guests.
- Christianity on the Road Less Traveled—This course is “experiential education at its most intense,” according to its professor. Students get a firsthand look at Christianity—and poverty—in such countries as Mexico, El Salvador, India, and the Philippines.
- Canisius College Video Institute—Students produce documentary videos to aid nonprofit or service agencies, ranging from the Buffalo Zoo and the Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse to The Kosciuszko Foundation’s Teaching English in Poland Program.
Contemporary Writers Series—Through intimate, informal conversations with high-profile authors, students are able to “hear first-hand how literature is made.” Emerging, established, and award-winning artists visit this class and give public readings.
FACULTY EXPERTISE
More than 95% of Canisius faculty members hold a doctorate or other terminal degree, a professional certification, or both. Professors actively advance their fields as scientists, artists, economists, attorneys, social and political scientists, researchers, and more. They regularly publish books and journal articles and present at seminars and conferences worldwide. They are highly respected as consultants and sought after as authorities in a variety of disciplines. There are way too many examples to list, but here are a few:
- The range of research exploration and expertise in the sciences is vast. To name a few: physiology, neurobiology, aquatic toxicology, animal behavior, immunology, genetics, vertebrate ecology, plant biochemistry, artificial intelligence, robotics, astronomy, morphometrics, and many, many topics in psychology.
- The economics professors do more legal consulting than those of any other school in the region. They also publish a newsletter of research and analysis, Western New York Economic News.
- In addition to conducting and publishing academic research, the accounting faculty members actively consult with local, regional, national, and international companies.
- Funded by the Canadian government, Canisius international business professors have conducted a study of border security’s impact on international trade.
- Two professors—one education and one psychology—were recently awarded special college funding to advance their research into autism and related clinical disorders.
- Canisius students learn from the professional writers-, artists-, and composers-in-residence at the College. In one major alone (communication studies), faculty members include a Ph.D. with 30 years of advertising agency experience, an attorney who specializes in jury selection, and an expert in daytime TV.
- The athletic training faculty members serve on prestigious regional and national task forces and committees, including the U.S. Olympic Committee.
THE CITY OF BUFFALO
Buffalo, New York’s second largest city, is a vibrant college town. Live music and theatre, clubs, restaurants, shops, professional sports, museums, and the spectacular Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park are all right on Canisius’ doorstep. Lake Erie beaches, Niagara Falls, and fabulous ski slopes are all nearby as well.
STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITIES
Canisius is continually upgrading to keep all of the academic, athletic, and recreational facilities state of the art. Among the countless advantages of the College’s campus include high-tech classrooms, fully equipped science labs with professional-quality equipment, a media center completely outfitted for digital video and audio production, a Bloomberg terminal for access to world financial markets, dedicated labs and equipment for physical education and athletic training, and a great deal more.
CULTURAL TRADITIONS
Among the student body are students from 35 states and 21 countries, fostering a diverse culture that is highlighted by an annual International Fest. This event invites students, faculty, and staff to celebrate ethnic diversity in music, dance, and storytelling. They enjoy foods from around the world and get swept up in such exotic activities as origami, West African dance lessons, Japanese calligraphy, henna painting, and more.
MINISTRY AND SERVICE
Campus Ministry offers plenty of ways for students to get involved with service to the local community. Organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Journey’s End Refugee Services, Catholic Central School, VIVE la Casa, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and many others love Canisius volunteers.
INTERNSHIPS
Canisius believes so strongly in the value of internships that it have employed a full-time director on the job. The school’s location in New York State’s second largest city means that real-world opportunities are practically limitless. Canisius students also intern out of town, out of state, and even out of the country. There’s so much to learn through work at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., in the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland, throughout businesses in Germany, or even on the set of “The Young and the Restless” in L.A.
Admission
FRESHMAN PROFILE
SAT Critical Reading
25th Percentile: 480 | 75th Percentile: 590
SAT Math
25th Percentile: 490 | 75th Percentile: 600
ACT Composite
25th Percentile: 22 | 75th Percentile: 28
Tuition & Cost
Tuition: $33,948
Fees: $1,476
Room: $7,650
Board: $5,372
Contact Canisius College
Contact Admissions
www.canisius.edu/admissions
(716) 888-2200
admissions@canisius.edu
Campus Location
2001 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14208
(716) 883-7000