Skip to main content
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

College of

LIBERAL ARTS AND
SCIENCES

DISCOVER YOUR PASSION

Biology professor and student working with high-resolution microscope.

The oldest and largest of Villanova’s colleges, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers more than 40 academic programs and cultivates knowledge, understanding and intellectual courage for a purposeful life in a challenging and changing world.

CLAS undergraduate and graduate students can find opportunities for collaborative research and learning with faculty who are dedicated teacher-scholars and among the most distinguished in their fields. From pinpointing a protein that could hold a key to cancer screenings, to testing the impact of industry on local waterways, to critiquing creative writing alongside published novelists, each experience elevates learning and yields insights.

The College’s dynamic, integrated curriculum encourages creativity and innovation, developing critical thinkers, strong communicators and ethical leaders well positioned for diverse and interesting careers. With an emphasis on faculty-student engagement, experiential learning and a global perspective, CLAS is where students find their passion, path and purpose.

EXPLORE OUR PROGRAMS

BACHELOR'S

Pursue a degree from among more than 40 programs in the humanities, social sciences, math and sciences.

MASTER'S

Choose from more than 20 degrees, including online options in the humanities, social sciences, math and sciences.

DOCTORAL

Find out about our funded, full-time programs in philosophy and theology, and a part-time option in theology.

CERTIFICATE

Enhance your career with graduate certificates in humanities, social sciences, math and sciences, including online options.

MINOR

Complement your major and enjoy an even more interdisciplinary and diversified academic experience by adding a minor.

CURRICULUM

Prepare for a purposeful career with our undergraduate core curriculum, a foundation emphasizing communication and critical thinking.

THE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

Dean Adele Lindenmeyer

ABOUT THE DEAN

A male student experiences virtual reality in the Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology.

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

A student works with her advisor writing a resume

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & INTERNSHIPS

Graduate students walking Villanova's campus

GRADUATE STUDIES

photo of a student outside the Vatican in Rome.

STUDY ABROAD OPPORTUNITIES

A male student works side-by-side with physics professor Amber Stuver.

RESEARCH

Four of the five 2021 CLAS Alumni Medallion Award recipients.

ALUMNI & FRIENDS

STORIES OF DISCOVERY

LEARNING IN THE SANDBOX

No matter how old you get, there’s something fun about playing in a sandbox. Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a group of interdisciplinary researchers will be developing high-tech sandboxes to provide hands-on learning for students. The technology is based around projecting a colorful augmented reality display onto sand in a real sandbox. The box was originally used in public exhibits for science education but has since been adopted by universities and research centers around the world. MORE...

BIGGER THAN BASEBALL

After months of uncertainty and a historic stoppage of play, 14 teams took the field on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. But before the first pitch was thrown, Jennifer Joyce, PhD, associate teaching professor, Department of English, met with students from her long-running Baseball, Justice, and the American Dream course. The conversation was hardly about the dozen-plus teams getting back on the diamond. “To me, I think baseball operates as a microcosm for the larger understanding of American society,” she said. MORE...

BEATING BACTERIA

Disinfectants have been one of many methods deployed to try to stave off infection, with household items during the COVID-19 pandemic. But another public health concern is appearing, antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Bacteria change over time, and the increased use of everyday antimicrobial products only speeds up their ability to survive the disinfectants that have been around for decades. A team of students in the lab of Kevin Minbiole, PhD, professor and chair of Chemistry, is preparing chemical compounds that will kill off these resistant bacteria. MORE...

BLOOMING BIODIVERSITY

The 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show has wrapped up and Villanova’s Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship (CBEST) made a big splash with its educational and award-winning exhibit, “Blooming Biodiversity.” Featuring a bog, a marshy wetland, an upland forest, and an open meadow, the exhibit was designed and implemented by a team of students and researchers at Villanova in order to showcase the variety of Pennsylvania ecosystems. MORE...

STUDYING SLEEP

Less than 10 percent of college students get eight hours of sleep per night, but healthy sleep schedules are very important. So, Irene Kan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, created the course, “Neuroscience of Sleep,” to delve into the many facets of sleep and how it impacts our behaviors. In the course, students debunk prior misconceptions about sleep and learn about the impact of sleep on cognition, physical and mental health. MORE...

COLLEGE NEWS

Aaron Bauer holds a lizard.

Biology Professor Aaron Bauer, PhD, Receives $388,229 Grant from National Science Foundation

Aaron Bauer, PhD, professor of Biology and Gerald M. Lemole, MD, Endowed Chair in Integrative Biology, is the principal investigator on the project, “Collaborative Research: Assessing the Systematics and Diversity of Haemosporida in African lizards.”

AUGUST 9, 2022

SHARE   MORE  >
Fourteen rising high school seniors participate in Villanova's Civitas through Caritas program.

Villanova Hosts 14 Philadelphia-Area High School Students for Three-Week “Civitas Through Caritas” Program

After a two-year deferred start date due to COVID-19, the first cohort of 14 rising high school seniors is spending three weeks on Villanova University’s campus this July to start preparing for the college experience through the “Civitas through Caritas: Cultivating Love, Cultivating Citizens” program.

JULY 13, 2022

SHARE   MORE  >
Alexander Diaz-Lopez, PhD, teaches about permutations at the front of a classroom.

Mathematics Professor Alexander Diaz-Lopez, PhD, Receives $249,937 Grant from National Science Foundation

Alexander Diaz-Lopez, PhD, was named principal investigator on a two-year, $249,937 National Sciences Foundation Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences grant, supporting his project, “Combinatorics from an Algebraic and Geometric Lens."

JULY 12, 2022

SHARE   MORE  >
Hemidactylus turcicus, a Mediterranean species and one of Europe’s few extant geckos. In the “greenhouse world” geckos and other tropical lizards occupied northern Europe. Photo by Annelise Folie.

Biology Professor Part of Research Team to Describe New Gecko from the “Greenhouse World“ of Eocene Europe

A new species of gecko from the locality of Dormaal in Belgium has been described in Royal Society Open Science. This project was a collaboration between researchers from multiple institutions, including Aaron M. Bauer, PhD, professor of Biology and the Gerald M. Lemole Endowed Chair in Integrative Biology.

JUNE 29, 2022

SHARE   MORE  >
MORE NEWS

AT A GLANCE

60+

GRADUATE STUDENTS PRESENT AT ACADEMIC CONFERENCES EACH YEAR

  

97%

SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT RATE
FOR CLASS OF 2021

  

14

FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS IN 2021 – 2022

  

91%

of students seeking an internship participated in at least one

  

200

STUDENTS COMPLETE A LAB OR FIELD RESEARCH PROJECT EACH YEAR

  

92%

of students seeking an international experience participated in at least one

  

WHO WE ARE