Classrooms in Plassmann Hall, the liberal arts core of the university, have been redesigned and refurnished to provide comfort and encourage collaboration.

St. Bonaventure University

School of Arts & Sciences


Welcome to the largest and most diverse school at St. Bonaventure University. With some 40 majors and minors, excellent faculty and multidisciplinary programs, we offer something for everyone.

  • We service most of the courses for the General Education curriculum and the Honors Program. In addition, all university students, regardless of the school in which they're enrolled, take many of their classes within our school.

    In the driver's seat


    Flexibility and opportunity await you as a major in the School of Arts & Sciences. No matter what your choice, you'll feel right at home.

    Preparation for wherever that next step leads


    Arts & Sciences is an excellent source for professional training for any number of careers and for graduate school preparation.

    Students moving about a Quick Center galleryStudents looking ahead to post-graduate study in the health care field may take advantage of the university’s Franciscan Health Care Professions Program, and our Center for Law and Society prepares our students for law school.

    We develop programming that responds to changing societal demands and student interests. We offer bachelor's and master's degrees in the increasingly important and popular field of cybersecurity. We also offer an early assurance program in cybersecurity, guaranteeing qualified high school seniors placement in our master's program upon completion of their bachelor's degree.


    William A. Walsh Science Center at SBU

    William F. Walsh Science Center

    Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
    Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

     

    Modern centers for the arts & sciences


    State-of-the-art facilities not only accommodate student research, creativity and performance, but serve as regional hubs for student and community engagement.


  • Two students pesent their research at the 2022 Expo

    Experiential learning: The Expo & much more


    Our annual Arts & Sciences Exposition is a celebration of our students' exceptional research and creativity, and just one of many ways in which an Arts & Sciences education extends beyond the classroom at SBU.

    Held each spring in the University Conference Center, the Expo is a popular two-day event that allows the campus community to review outstanding work of students mentored by faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences.

    Experiential learning in the School of Arts & Sciences doesn't end with the Expo. Many of our academic programs require internships, mentored research or capstone projects. Others encourage public service, emphasizing the personal growth that comes from using your knowledge and talents to help others.
  • High school STEM students holding certificates

    Programs for area school students and teachers


    The university hosts a number of annual events that foster interest in the arts and sciences among high school students across the region, and that aid the professional development of teachers in STEM fields.


  • News-Publications-Research- Banner

    SBU history prof explores roles of pandemics in 1920 and 2020 presidential campaigns

    Jul 22, 2020 In a paper posted Tuesday (July 14) by the Jandoli Institute, Phillip G. Payne, chair of the Department of History at St. Bonaventure University, examined how the flu pandemic of 1918 impacted the 1920 presidential campaign and how the coronavirus may affect the 2020 race for the White House.

    “When comparing 1920 and 2020, context is vital,” Payne wrote. “In 1920, people lived in a different world. We can learn from their experiences, but it is not the same.”

    Payne’s paper, The Politics of Remembering the 1918 Pandemic and Forgetting the 2020 Pandemic?, is the fourth post in the Jandoli Institute’s summer Media Studies Across Disciplines project, a collection of research essays connecting different academic disciplines with the field of communication.

    Payne said the 1920 and 2020 presidential campaigns are similar because they forced candidates to adapt to new media landscapes and social climates defined by a pandemics, social unrest and economic uncertainty. 

    However, the flu pandemic was less of a factor in 1920 than it is likely to be in 2020.

    “It could be that one of the reasons the 1918 pandemic was forgotten is that it seemed normal, more extreme, but normal,” Payne explained in the essay. “Americans in 1918 lived in a society in which plagues, wars, and famines regularly killed.”

    “In 2020, for most Americans, epidemics and pandemics have been a remote thing from other parts of the world, not something that forced them to stay home and shutter the economy,” he said.

    Payne will present his paper on Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday in a format modeled after academic conference presentations. He will summarize the paper and then take part in a panel discussion with Louis Jacobson, senior correspondent at PolitiFact; Brad Lawrence, a political consultant and strategist who owns Message & Media, and Joseph Marren, a professor in the Communication Department at Buffalo State University.

    The session is open to the public and may be accessed at https://sbu.zoom.us/j/99687232637.

    The institute will post a new Media Studies Across Disciplines essay on its website every Tuesday through Aug. 11. Thursday Zoom presentations will follow several of the presentations.

    The essays were authored by St. Bonaventure faculty members who used their knowledge and expertise to provide insight and analysis from their own individual perspectives. Faculty from biology, history, nursing, philosophy and sociology contributed to the project, which was funded by the Leo E. Keenan Jr. Faculty Development Endowment and the Jandoli School of Communication. The essays were selected through a blind peer-review process.

    The Jandoli Institute serves as a forum for academic research, creative ideas and discussion on the intersection between media and democracy. The institute, accessible at jandoli.net, is part of the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University.