Greetings from the President

In the sum of a few specific attributes, Bellarmine is a university like no other.

We are an independent university unequivocally committed to academic freedom, and to the search for truth, wherever that search may lead.

We are a university in the catholic educational tradition, the oldest and best in the western world. Our Catholic identity is in the spirit of Thomas Merton, the trappistmonk, a highly educated, sophisticated intellectual, whose manuscripts and art works are a valuable legacy, and a resource housed on this campus.

Merton’s life and work exemplified values that Bellarmine holds dear: the pursuit of excellence in all things; a multi-cultural, international sensibility; hospitality in the broadest sense; recognition of the dignity of each individual person; a commitment to social justice; and a deep, abiding respect for the global environment, in all its beauty, complexity and interdependence.

It is in this spirit that students, faculty and staff at Bellarmine University strive for academic excellence and ethical awareness in everything we do. We believe that “the smartest person in the room” can also be a good person.

From these reflections and considerations, we work to develop for you an education that prepares you for the future – to create a very meaningful and successful personal life, a good society, an enriching culture and an economy that makes sense and helps make the world a better place.

In the pages that follow, we present our current best thinking about the wisdom, knowledge and information we believe is most important for you to know as you prepare to make your way as an educated, ethical person in an international, interconnected, interdependent world.

You will read descriptions of our curricula, programs and courses that will help you make intelligent and creative course selections in the educational area of your choice.

This letter welcomes you – to Bellarmine University, to this valuable academic resource, and also to the most exciting and challenging educational experience of your lifetime.

By engaging your imagination and scholarly responsibility in the careful selection of curricula, programs and courses described in this document, you will, among other things, enhance your ability to discern the great common ground, interconnection and interdependence that we share with our sisters and brothers throughout the world.

It is my personal hope for you that as an essential and enduring consequence of your Bellarmine learning through the courses described herein, you will become an ever better and more loving person, an ever more fully human being, and an ever more responsible, caring and effective citizen of the world. Choose well and bon voyage!

Dr. Joseph J. McGowan