GRADUATE LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University is an ideal place to pursue your graduate education. Program offerings in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics and sciences include more than 20 master's degrees, more than 40 graduate certificates, and PhD programs in Philosophy and Theology. While many of our programs are fully on-campus, online and hybrid options are available in some programs. Take the next step in your career with a graduate degree or certificate from Villanova!
YOUR PASSION. YOUR FUTURE.
- Applied Statistics and Data Science
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Classical Studies
- Communication
- Computer Science
- Counseling
- Education
- English
- Environmental Science
- Gender and Women's Studies
- Health Informatics
- History
- Human Resource Development
- Liberal Studies
- Mathematics
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Public Administration
- Software Engineering
- Theatre
- Theology
- Competitive tuition rates
- Graduate assistantships and research funding
- Flexible courses of study, including online options in HRD, MPA, and Classical Studies.
- Evening classes that meet once per week
- Study full-time or part-time
- Personal attention from a faculty of internationally recognized scholar/teachers
- All the cultural and intellectual assets of the Philadelphia region, including nearly 90 higher-education institutions
- A learning experience you design to meet your intellectual passions and educational goals
Visit Villanova to learn more about what Graduate Liberal Arts and Sciences has to offer you! Schedule a campus tour, attend an open house or join us for an online information session.
The graduate programs seek to integrate general education, cultural improvement, and professional excellence. The aims of these programs are:
- To extend and deepen knowledge by scholarly research;
- To assist those who wish to secure specialized training in order to improve their occupational competency;
- To supply the need of advanced training for special purposes, especially in the fields of teaching and other human services;
- To offer the graduate students the opportunity to join with the faculty of the University in the common pursuit of learning wherein the students are encouraged to develop according to their individual capacities and to learn to live and work together in a community of scholars.
NEWS AND EVENTS

Liberal Studies Master’s Degree Helps Recent Grad Align Career and Life Goals with Personal Values
Krista Cantrell ’22 MA began her graduate studies in the summer of 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic and civil unrest. During this time of isolation and uncertainty, Villanova’s master’s program in Liberal Studies served as both an opportunity to connect with others and as a path to align her career with her personal values of equity and justice. Cantrell’s academic excellence led to her induction into the National Honor Society of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs, and, today, she works for a national nonprofit focused on changing the conversation about mental health.

Villanova University Graduates First Theology PhD Cohort
On Saturday, May 20, 2023, the three inaugural graduates of the Villanova University doctoral program in Theology will gather on stage at the Master's and Doctoral Degree Commencement and Recognition Ceremony inside Villanova Stadium. University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, ’75 CLAS, will bestow upon them their academic hoods—a symbolic act recognizing their successful completion of the program and their transition from students to colleagues of the faculty. The Rev. Rebecca Irwin-Diehl '23 PhD, Andre Price '23 PhD and Sister Theresa Dung Trang, LHC, '23 PhD, who all entered the program in 2017, will make history as the first cohort of Theology PhD students to graduate.

Chemistry Master's Student Advances to 3MT Nationals
Villanova University graduate Chemistry student Eliana Uriona was the first runner-up at the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on April 28, 2023. Uriona advances to the Council of Graduate Schools national 3MT competition in December.

Whether it is because of similar research interests, connections within the field or other, more nuanced factors, faculty play a large role in students’ choice of graduate school and are also instrumental in shaping the graduate student experience. Villanova English master’s student Theo Campbell points to the kindness, generosity and support of Villanova faculty for helping them to flourish as a scholar and to gain acceptance to the English PhD program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they will be starting in the fall.
AT A GLANCE
2
PHD PROGRAMS IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
24
MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMS
43
GRADUATE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
25
SUMMER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED EACH YEAR
60+
STUDENTS PRESENT AT ACADEMIC CONFERENCES EACH YEAR
1,300+
GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE COLLEGE