Pursue this challenge and you will do more than make the grade.
You'll Know. You'll Do. You'll Become.
Since 1916, Avila University has existed to serve the mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph: to create opportunities for people to succeed. We help people define success on their own terms and then equip them with skills, knowledge, and conviction to achieve their goals.
You see, we're interested in making the world a better place to live. And that comes from preparing students like you for lifelong contributions to society, not just to your work place, but to your family, your neighborhood, your place of worship, and your government.
A Plan for Your Education.
A few years ago, our entire faculty came together to find ways to make Avila'smission and values even more alive in the classroom. That gathering sparked a process which continues today, and which unearthed a basic, but extraordinarily passionate question: "What do we want the Avila University graduate to know, to do, to be?"
Their answers fell into four areas:
Knowledge
Thinking
Communication
and
Personal, Spiritual, and Social Development.
Avila has shaped every class, experience, and encounter to ensure that your mind will be stimulated with facts and ideas … and that your thinking will be stretched until it is fluid, creative, and intellectually sound. We'll teach you how to express your ideas clearly … and usher you to the edge of your future with the challenge to let your values drive your every action.
This rigorous approach to our curriculum makes sure you'll learn lifelong skills and processes for dealing with tomorrow's challenges as well as today's career demands.
The Avila Core: An Assurance of Quality in The Great Liberal Arts Tradition.
Avila's core curriculum (our general education requirements) is integrated throughout your entire Avila Experience. You'll focus on basic skills and explore the "continuum of knowledge:" the thinkers of the past, the issues of the present, and your relationship to them both.
You'll find connections between ideas in natural science and theories of music appreciation. Something your literature professor tells you may take on extra meaning in your next history class. A psychology experiment triggers a dynamic conversation with your communications classmates. Suddenly you're finding connections among everything you've studied and the whole world takes on a sharper focus.
Eventually, with this inter-relationship of ideas as your foundation, you'll focus on creating the knowledge of the future by studying in-depth issues from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives.
Finally, as your Avila Experience draws to an end, you'll prepare for a remarkable and unique capstone project. A team of faculty, staff, and students will develop activities based on a yearlong theme.
Building on those activities, you'll devote a single day to interacting with leaders from the Kansas City community and to demonstrating what you have learned … what you can do … and who you have become. |
Avila's core isn't just about getting a degree, it's about preparing for life.
Majors You Can Begin -
Right Away.
We've also designed our curriculum so you can study what interests you right away. That means you can begin your major almost as soon as you get here. But don't worry if you're not sure of your major.
From day one you'll survey a wide range of disciplines, career options, and areas of study to see what interests you. You'll have plenty of time to select the path that's right for you. (ClickHERE for a complete list of Avila's majors and minors.) |
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Beyond Kansas City
The Sisters of St. Joseph College Consortium Student Exchange Program lets you expand your educational experience to one or more of the 12 member institutions in places such as St. Louis, Mo.; Los Angeles, Calif.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Albany, N.Y. Avila even offers a special program which allows you to take courses at other Kansas City colleges at no additional cost. |
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Learn to Serve. Serve to Learn.
You'll also explore how you can contribute to society through actual hands-on service projects - by taking what you've learned in the classroom, applying it to the world, then returning to the classroom to analyze your experiences as they relate to your class work.
Your Education Goes Beyond Avila's Campus.
Your Avila Experience is not restricted to Avila's 50 acres. You'll go into the real world so you can put your knowledge into action. You'll come away from your internship, clinical, or practicum with the assurance that your Avila Experience has prepared you for success.
From the Kansas City Chiefs to Sprint, from St. Joseph Health Center to Hallmark Cards, you'll find Avila University students all around the Kansas City area putting their education into action. Kansas City employers appreciate having Avila students working for them in internships - and look for them when they're ready to start their careers.
A Plan for Us, Too.
We assess everything we do by constantly asking ourselves "Have we provided the best opportunities possible for our students to become who they can be?"
We examine the performance of the entire institution - not just individuals - to make sure we're doing what we need to do. We're constantly monitoring the effectiveness of our ability to deliver on our promise: to bring about personal growth and change in our students.
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