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
- 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

A.I. and Higher Education: The Rise of ChatGPT
ChatGPT. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Colleges and universities certainly have. It’s the chatbot that uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) to generate sentences based only on a brief prompt, writing anything from college-level papers to fanfiction. And as one might expect, the popular chatbot is taking the academic world by storm, raising questions about trust, academic integrity and even the future of college admissions. We turned to Seth Matthew Fishman, PhD, assistant dean of Curriculum and Assessment and director of the MA in Higher Education Leadership program in the Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, to get his thoughts.

Villanova Graduate Programs Earn High Marks in Debt-to-Income Study
Is graduate school worth the debt? A recent study by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) shows that, in many cases, it is. In fact, the two Villanova College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) graduate programs included in the study, Human Resource Development and Public Administration, show a strong income-to-debt ratio, meaning that the median income of graduates far exceeds the median debt incurred during their studies.

Theology doctoral student Trevor Williams was recently honored by the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality with its Founder's Circle Prize, which recognizes emerging scholars in the discipline. Williams was invited to present his paper at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meetings this past November in Denver.

Graduate Dean Accepts Advisory Roles with Key Education Organizations
Emory H. Woodard IV, PhD, Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), has recently accepted advisory roles with two organizations that have important connections to graduate education. Dean Woodard was named to the Executive Committee of the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS), which is the regional association of the broader Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). He also joined the Advisory Committee for the Duolingo English Test, which is used to evaluate the language proficiency of international candidates for admission to universities in English-speaking countries.
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