Quinnipiac University

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From the College

Quinnipiac offers four-year and graduate-level degree programs leading to careers in health sciences, business, communications, natural sciences, education, liberal arts, and law. A curriculum that combines a career focus with a globally oriented liberal arts background prepares graduates for the future, whether they start their careers right after commencement or opt to pursue advanced study.

Quinnipiac is coeducational and nonsectarian and currently enrolls 5,630 full-time undergraduates, 805 full-time graduate and law students, and 921 part-time students in its undergraduate, graduate, professional, and continuing education programs. Twenty-five percent of the students are residents of Connecticut; the rest represent primarily the northeast corridor, in all a total of twenty-eight states and several countries. The emphasis at Quinnipiac is on community. Students, faculty members, and staff members interact both in and out of the classroom and office. Quinnipiac is big enough to sustain a wide variety of people and programs but small enough to keep students from getting lost in the shuffle. Life on campus emphasizes students’ personal, as well as academic, growth. The approximately seventy-five student organizations and extracurricular activities, including intramural and intercollegiate (NCAA Division I) athletics, give students a chance to exercise their talents, muscles, and leadership skills. The University has a student newspaper, TV station, and an FM radio station (WQAQ) and twenty-one intercollegiate teams in men’s baseball, basketball, cross-country, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and track and in women’s basketball, cross-country, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track, and volleyball. Teams compete in the Northeast Conference (NEC); men’s and women’s ice hockey teams are members in the ECAC.

Quinnipiac’s 300-acre Mount Carmel (main) campus has fifty buildings. In addition to its academic facilities, the University has twenty-five residence halls of different styles–traditional two-, three-, and four-person rooms; suites; and multilevel suites with kitchens–all with functional furnishings and decor. The residence halls currently house 3,600 men and women, about 95 percent of all freshmen and 70 percent of the total undergraduate population. Housing is guaranteed for three years to incoming freshmen. Construction on the nearby 250 acre York Hill section of the campus will add 1,800 beds plus an additional student center and multilevel parking garage to accommodate seniors as space becomes available in suite-style housing beginning in 2010. The Carl Hansen Student Center, containing recreational facilities, meeting rooms, and offices for student organizations, is adjacent to Alumni Hall, a large multipurpose auditorium used for concerts, lectures, films, and various University and community events.

Facilities for athletic activities are found in and around the gymnasium and recreation center plus the TD Banknorth Sports Center on York Hill, which includes twin 3000-plus-seat arenas for basketball and ice hockey. The Recreation Center includes a 24,000-square-foot recreation/fitness facility with a large free-weight room; an exercise machine center; aerobics studios; basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts; and a suspended indoor track. There are also lighted tennis courts, playing fields, and miles of scenic routes for running and biking.

Career Planning begins in each of the schools with assistance from the deans’ offices in health sciences, communications, business, and liberal arts. It begins with faculty advisement, along with career exploration, a focus on internships and clinical placements, exploring various major and job fields, and exposure to prospective employers and job preparation.

Graduate programs lead to the Master of Science degree in accounting, computer information systems, interactive communications, journalism, and molecular and cell biology; the Master of Health Science in medical lab sciences, cardiovascular perfusion, pathologist assistant studies, and physician assistant studies; the Master of Science in Nursing in nurse practitioner studies; the Master of Business Administration; the Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management, the Master of Business Administration–Chartered Financial Analyst, and the Master of Arts in Teaching. A $22-million, on-campus facility houses the Quinnipiac University School of Law and its library. The school offers full-time and part-time programs leading to a J.D. degree or J.D./M.B.A. degree in combination with the School of Business.

Situated at the foot of Sleeping Giant Mountain in Hamden, Connecticut, Quinnipiac provides the best of the suburbs and the city. The University is only 8 miles from New Haven, 30 minutes from Hartford (the state capital), and less than 2 hours from New York City and Boston. Bordering the campus is the 1700-acre Sleeping Giant State Park, for walking and hiking. The campus shuttle takes students to shopping and restaurants in nearby Hamden and North Haven, plus to New Haven, where they can visit the acclaimed Yale Center for British Art, attend a performance at the Schubert or Long Wharf Theater (which hosts productions by Quinnipiac’s Theater Department), marvel at the dinosaurs in the Peabody Museum of Natural History, dine in fine restaurants, or find easy access to Metro North and Amtrak at the New Haven train station. Quinnipiac’s New England location also makes it convenient to enjoy a day in the surf or on the slopes. The beaches on Long Island Sound are easy to reach, and several ski resorts are only an hour’s drive from campus.

The School of Health Sciences grants bachelor’s degrees in athletic training/sports medicine, biomedical science, diagnostic imaging, microbiology/molecular biology, nursing, occupational therapy (5½-year entry-level master’s), physical therapy (6½-year entry-level doctorate), and physician assistant studies (6-year freshman entry-level master’s). Students who wish to prepare for entry into medical, dental, chiropractic, veterinary, or other medical schools work with a premed adviser and take classes that prepare them to sit for the various entrance exams.

The School of Business (accredited by AACSB International) offers bachelor’s degree programs in accounting, advertising, biomedical marketing, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems management, international business, management, and marketing. The school also offers a five-year combined-degree program in which students may be awarded the B.S. degree in business and a graduate degree in accounting, business administration, or computer information systems (M.S. or M.B.A.).

The College of Arts and Sciences offers bachelor’s degree programs in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, criminal justice, English, gerontology, history, interactive digital design, legal studies (paralegal), liberal studies, mathematics, political science, psychobiology, psychology, social services, sociology, Spanish, and theater. Students can also design their own majors. Certification for teaching elementary and secondary education is offered through a five-year program with the School of Education, resulting in a Master of Arts in Teaching (accredited by NCATE). Students can also continue their study in graduate programs in business, law, journalism, or interactive communications.

The School of Communications offers undergraduate majors in journalism, media studies, production (video, film, and interactive media), and public relations and graduate programs in journalism and interactive communications for writing and design in the journalistic community.

All degree programs at Quinnipiac University are offered through one of the five academic schools. The academic year consists of two 15-week fall and spring semesters and two summer sessions. All baccalaureate candidates are required to complete the University Curriculum, which consists of up to 46 of the 120 semester hours of credit generally needed for graduation at the bachelor’s degree level. The University Curriculum promotes the achievement of college-level competence in English and mathematics and requires study in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The foundation of the University Curriculum is three university seminars, which focus on the broad theme of community: individual, national, and global in scope. The Writing Across the Curriculum initiative (WAC) stresses the improvement in writing skills in all subject areas. The University honors program addresses the needs and interests of the most academically talented and committed students. Honors students take a minimum of 21 credits in their existing core curriculum or major courses. Academically talented students are identified during the admission process and are invited to participate in the University honors program. Approximately 60 full-time freshmen enter the honors program each fall.

Advanced placement, credit, or both are given for appropriate scores on Advanced Placement tests and CLEP general and subject examinations as well as for scores of 4 or higher in the International Baccalaureate higher-level subjects.

Students in any of the five undergraduate schools can get hands-on experience in their field through off-campus internships. The University is affiliated with outstanding health and scientific institutions–such as Children’s Hospital (Boston), Yale–New Haven Hospital, Hartford Hospital, Gaylord Rehabilitation Hospital (Wallingford), and the University of Connecticut Health Center–throughout the state and the nation. Opportunities for internships also exist in industry, large and small businesses, media outlets, and social and governmental agencies. Academic credit is available for internships and affiliations, which are often part of degree requirements.

Academic life focuses on the Bernhard Library, which opened in the fall of 2000. This attractive facility provides users with 600 seats, arranged as individual carrels and small rooms for group study and is open 24/7 during the fall and spring semesters. A wireless network provides access to automated library systems and extensive Web-based resources. In addition, students use the workstations in the library’s Cyber Café for online research and classroom assignments. The library houses an extensive collection of books, periodicals, government documents, films, tapes, and microforms. Members of the Quinnipiac University community may also draw on resources from local and statewide institutions through interlibrary loans and shared electronic resources.

Quinnipiac University was identified as one of the top ten most-wired campuses in the country by PC Magazine in January 2007. All incoming students must purchase a University-recommended laptop computer for use in the classroom, residence halls, and library. A ‘help desk’ offers support to the laptop program. Students can register online, access library resources, course-related materials, complete assignments, and view their grades.

More specialized student-computing facilities are located in classrooms throughout the campus. Tator Hall has five computer classrooms and four teaching laboratories containing approximately 200 computers. The multimedia and video laboratories in the Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center each have fourteen Apple MacIntosh G5 and G4 workstations. The computer cluster in the Financial Technology Center at the School of Business is a high-tech, simulated trading floor providing students with the opportunity to access real-time financial data, conduct interactive trading simulations, and develop financial models in preparation for careers in finance.

The Echlin Health Sciences Center houses physical and occupational therapy, nursing, and related fields of study. Many of the science labs are located in Buckman Center. A clinical skills lab, for use by nursing students and the physician assistant program, simulates a critical care hospital center. Also in the center is the Buckman Theatre, which holds plays, concerts, and lectures. The Lender School of Business has satellite capabilities and the Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center, which contains a state-of-the-art, fully digital, high-definition TV production studio; audio production, print journalism, and desktop publishing laboratories; and a news technology center.

The basic 2008–09 cost is $42,700, of which tuition and fees (12–16 credits per semester) are $30,900, and room and board average $11,800. Other expenses, estimated at $1200 per year, included books, laboratory and course fees associated with specific courses, and personal travel expenses.

Quinnipiac designs financial aid packages to include grants and scholarships that do not have to be repaid, self-help financial aid programs such as federal and University-based work study, and loans. Quinnipiac uses the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine need. Transfer students are eligible for the same need-based financial aid consideration as first-time freshmen. Quinnipiac also offers a number of renewable scholarships to new, full-time freshmen and transfer students, awarded on the basis of academic merit.

The faculty is characterized by its teaching competence and outstanding academic qualifications. Of the 290 full-time faculty members, 75 percent have earned a Ph.D. or the appropriate terminal degree in their field. The faculty also includes a number of part-time teachers who are practicing professionals and experts in their fields. Classes are taught by these scholars and professionals and not by student instructors, and a low student-faculty ratio promotes close associations among faculty members and students.

The Student Government is the student legislative body of Quinnipiac. It represents student opinion, promotes student welfare, supervises student organizations, appropriates funds for student groups, and provides voting student representation on the Board of Trustees.

Quinnipiac seeks students from a broad range of backgrounds. Candidates are reviewed for admission once their application is complete. On average, freshman students have a 3.4 GPA or better average in college preparatory courses (transfer students have a 3.0 GPA or better), rank in the top 30 percent of their high school class, and have an average combined score of 1120 on the SAT (critical reading plus math). Visits to the campus for either an interview, open house, group information session, or a campus tour are strongly encouraged. Transfer students are welcome to make an appointment to discuss requirements and the transfer of credit from previous institutions. Quinnipiac sponsors four open house programs during the year and several Saturday morning information sessions followed by a campus tour.

Quinnipiac generally receives between 14,000 and 15,000 applications for admission and admits just under 45 percent, to enroll an incoming class of 1,500 freshmen and 200 transfer students. Quinnipiac has a rolling admission policy for its undergraduate programs but recommends that freshman applicants submit their application materials well before the deadline of February 1 and that students applying to the physical therapy, nursing, and physician assistant studies programs submit their applications by November 1. Applications can be filed early in the fall of the senior year of high school. Applications begin to be reviewed as soon as they are complete, and the University begins notifying students of decisions in early January. For most programs, a completed application consists of a Quinnipiac application form; a transcript of completed high school courses, including grades for the first quarter of the senior year; a score report for either the SAT or ACT; a personal statement (250-word minimum essay); letter(s) of recommendation; and the application fee: $45. Quinnipiac is a member of the Common Application. Students placed on a waiting list are notified of any openings by June 1. When reviewing applications, the University uses the results of the critical reading and the mathematics sections of the SAT and/or the composite score on the ACT for admission and scholarship purposes. Transfer students must forward a transcript of college course work undertaken. Quinnipiac subscribes to the May 1 Candidates Reply Date Agreement. For information about full-time undergraduate study, students should contact: