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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

Deal Adele Lindenmeyr sits at her desk.

DEAN'S WELCOME

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

Graduate students walking Villanova's campus

GRADUATE STUDIES

This is a photo of a student outside the Vatican in Rome.

STUDY ABROAD OPPORTUNITIES

A female graduate student works side-by-side with her faculty mentor in a biology lab.

RESEARCH

A student works the camera behind the scenes of a news broadcast.

INTERNSHIPS

STORIES OF DISCOVERY

INTERNS IGNITE CHANGE

In a globalized world, learning a language is about more than literacy—it’s also cultural, and students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have the opportunity to apply their linguistic and cultural competencies in a real-world setting. The Community Interpreter Internship is a partnership between the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the five clinics in Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Undergraduate students with advanced proficiency in Spanish and an interest in helping the Hispanic community act as translators between clients and their student lawyers. MORE...

CREATING SOCIAL IMPACT

Social entrepreneurship is a fairly new concept, where a startup business or entrepreneur focuses on a cause such as homelessness, food poverty, health care or the environment. As the field has expanded, so to have the similarities between nonprofit organizations and social entrepreneurs. That’s when Lauren Miltenberger, PhD, assistant professor of public administration, and James Klinger, PhD, a professor from the Villanova School of Business, decided to get together and co-teach a course on this burgeoning topic, “Creating Social Impact,” which intersects the disciplines of their respective work. MORE...

STARSTRUCK

In the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star formation to Earth, stars are born from the collapse of large clouds of interstellar gas and dust. A Villanova University research team led by David Chuss, PhD, ’95 CLAS, professor of Physics, has played a key role in developing a new camera for NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy that measures the polarization of radiation from such clouds, and in doing so unveils the magnetic fields that can affect the star formation process. MORE...

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC POLICY

A team of seven Villanova students in the Master of Public Administration program took first place at the 2019 NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition, a day-long event where graduate students test their skills on real-world data. This year’s competition connected a record 585 students from 11 global host sites—including Dhaka, Cairo and Mexico City—to tackle policy issues associated with forced migration. MORE...

COLLEGE NEWS

This is an image from the social justice documentary "Carrying Tomorrow" that showcases Ethiopian women who defy the odds

Social Justice Documentary Showcases Ethiopian Women Who Defy the Odds

“Carrying Tomorrow," a 2019 Villanova student-produced social justice documentary, shares the hopes and hardships of expecting mothers in rural Ethiopia who are facing barriers to safe, accessible surgical care.

APRIL 11, 2019

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This image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87. (Credit: Event Horizon Telescope)

Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

Event Horizon Telescope reserachers revealed they have succeeded in unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. Villanova physicist Joey Neilsen and his student, Jadyn Anczarski '20 CLAS, contributed to paradigm-shifting observations of the gargantuan black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy Messier 87.

MARCH 12, 2019

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This is the Fulbright logo.

Georgia C. Papaefthymiou-Davis, PhD, named 2019-2020 Fulbright Scholar

Georgia Papaefthymiou, PhD, professor of Physics at Villanova University, has been awarded a 2019-2020 Fulbright Scholar grant by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) to teach and conduct research in Greece. She will be at the National Center for Scientific Research (NCSR-Demokritos) in Aghia Paraskevi, Greece from September 2019 to January 2020.

APRIL 1, 2019

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Pictured from left: Edward Kim, PhD, and Troy Shirangi, PhD

Two Villanova University Professors Named Recipients of Prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Awards

Edward Kim, PhD, (left) and Troy Shirangi, PhD, have been named recipients of the National Science Foundation’s prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. Their research will focus on advances in the fields of artificial intelligence and neurobiology, respectively.

MARCH 18, 2019

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MORE NEWS

AT A GLANCE

60+

GRADUATE STUDENTS PRESENT AT ACADEMIC CONFERENCES EACH YEAR

  

96.9%

SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT RATE
FOR CLASS OF 2018

  

14

FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS IN 2018-2019

  

70%

OF THE CLASS OF 2016
COMPLETED AN INTERNSHIP

  

200

STUDENTS COMPLETE A LAB OR FIELD RESEARCH PROJECT EACH YEAR

  

43%

OF THE CLASS OF 2017 STUDIED ABROAD

  

WHO WE ARE