R. Doss McComas

Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 215 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 30,000 students and manages a research portfolio of more than $450 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

Gonzaga College started in 1881 with $936 in hard silver dollars. It bought Gonzaga’s founder, Father Joseph Cataldo, S.J., 320 acres of land and water, what people then referred to as “the old piece of gravel near the falls.” Six years later, the College officially opened the doors of its only building for “young Scholastics, whose ambition it is to become priests.” Exclusively for boys, the College was under the charge of the Jesuit priests. Enrollment for the 1887-88 academic year was 18 boys and young men. Today, it is known as Gonzaga University, a private, four-year institution of higher education. More than 105 buildings dot the 131-acre campus overlooking the Spokane River. Students include both women and men, who can enroll in a multitude of undergraduate or graduate programs. Enrollment for the 2009-10 academic year was 7,837 students. A constant throughout the years is Gonzaga’s educational philosophy, based on the centuries-old Ignatian model of educating the whole person – mind, body and spirit. At Gonzaga, students discover how to integrate science and art, faith and reason, action and contemplation. "Cura personalis," or care for the individual, is our guiding theme.

MOUNT ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY, THE SECOND OLDEST CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE U.S., (SEE SCHEDULE O), OFFERS MORE THAN 60 ACADEMIC MAJORS, MINORS, AND CONCENTRATIONS. GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN BUSINESS, EDUCATION, PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY AND DIVINITY ARE ALSO OFFERED ALONG WITH ACCELERATED UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS IN BUSINESS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN MORE THAN 70 CLUBS AND HONOR SOCIETIES. STUDENTS ALSO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE COMMUNITY SERVICE AND OUTDOOR ADVENTURE PROGRAMS THAT ARE OFFERED BOTH LOCALLY AND ABROAD. IN ADDITION, THE UNIVERSITY HAS 18 VARSITY SPORTS AT THE NCAA DIVISION 1 LEVEL.