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.
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 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 F. Walsh Science Center
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.
The Walsh Science Center houses state-of-the-art computer science, laboratory and classroom space, biology labs, organic and general chemistry labs, a Natural World lab, a 150-seat indoor amphitheater, and faculty offices integrated with lab space for better student-teacher accessibility.
Walsh stands adjacent to stately De La Roche Hall, the oldest academic building on campus, which underwent an interior top-to-bottom renovation coinciding with the opening of Walsh. The buildings are connected on two floors by glass-enclosed walkways.
The Quick Center for the Arts, an architecturally unique structure located in the middle of campus, offers a rich cache of resources for academic instruction in the visual and performing arts.
The QCA houses a 321-seat theater, spacious art galleries and exhibit halls, instructional space, instrumental and vocal music rehearsal rooms and suites, classrooms, a musical instrument digital interface lab, among other offerings.
Quick Center for the Arts
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.
Here is a sampling of experiential learning opportunities within the School of Arts & Sciences:
- Biochemistry majors earn 4 credits for a year-long independent research project. As a senior capstone, each biochemistry major works with the program director to prepare and deliver an oral presentation of their own research. Students also present
their research findings at regional and international conferences, and coauthor peer-reviewed publications. See biochemistry student research
- Biology majors have the opportunity to participate in research with faculty members each semester, and the Borer Fellowship is a 10-week summer research experience in which students work in the lab with faculty researchers. See biology student research.
- As part of a required core curriculum course, students model the lives of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi by volunteering with an agency or project that assists a marginalized population.
- English students may work on The Laurel, the student-run literary magazine; write, study and perform
poetry with the Chatterton's Poetry Club; or earn academic credit in an internship course.
- Sociology students volunteer at the Warming House, the student-run soup kitchen in Olean, to better understand issues related to social stratification. See sociology experiential learning.
Visit individual academic program websites for additional experiential learning opportunities.
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.
Each spring, St. Bonaventure hosts a science fair for high school students in the Twin Tiers Region of southwestern New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. Projects in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, and other sciences are welcome.
Twin Tiers Regional Science Fair
This program, held each summer, is for high school sophomores and juniors interested in computer science and biology. Students explore career opportunities while working alongside SBU faculty on authentic research.
Student Research Program
This lab development workshop for K-12 math and science teachers, held each summer and led by faculty from the university's departments of biology, chemistry, physics, computer science and psychology, aims to bridge the gap between K-12 and college STEM education.
K-12 Science & Math Teacher Workshop
The Department of Computer Science hosts two exciting events to engage pre-college students in computer science: Girls Day, aimed at nurturing interest in computer science among middle school girls; and a programming contest for high school students.
Computer Science Outreach Programs
The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts conducts a number of fun and educational camps aimed at fostering children's creative and artistic talents and broadening their cultural horizons.
Quick Center for the Arts camps
Presented each year by the Quick Center for the Arts, this activity lets art teachers share best practices and presents them with new practices and techniques they can take back to their classrooms.
Art Teacher Professional Development Day
Gratitude and a guardian angel are key for #Bona’s Shannon Keller
Jan 11, 2019 By Susan Anderson
Shannon Keller will tell you she is blessed to be a student at St. Bonaventure University.
A senior biology and health science double major with a biomedical concentration, Keller aspires to become a physician
assistant. She credits the unwavering support of her parents and family and “awesome” mentors for helping her become a first generation medical student.
One of those mentors was Dr. John Stubenbord of her hometown of East Aurora,
N.Y. Stubenbord served the community for more than three decades as an internal and family medicine physician and before that served in the U.S. Air Force.
Keller worked with him for five years as a medical assistant, loving the family-like
atmosphere of his office and his compassion with patients. But in the fall of her junior year, she received the devastating news that he had unexpectedly passed away.
“That was a very hard thing for me to get over,” she said. "He wanted
to see me reach my dreams of being a neurologist or surgeon."
Keller's interests lean toward neurology and mental health.
“For the future of healthcare, I would like to see more attentiveness to mental issues as well as physical
issues. I think mental health is overlooked in this country,” she said. “I’ve been raised to treat everybody as an individual. I’ve always been very, very passionate about treating everybody from the spiritual, emotional, mental
and physical aspects because I think there are that many parts to a person.”
St. Bonaventure’s Franciscan tenets of building loving relationships and helping improve humanity are important to Keller, so she appreciates when her
instructors bring that to life in a scientific sense.
“My brain works mathematically, so letting me express creativity in my papers is a crucial part of my education here,” she said. She especially enjoyed the Franciscan-Catholic
heritage class taught by Fr. Ross Chamberland, O.F.M., as well as the Intellectual Journey course with Fr. Kyle Haden, O.F.M.
She works with Dr. Sean Ryan in his Zebrafish lab in De La Roche Hall as an undergraduate research assistant, studying
how certain chemicals affect this freshwater fish species, and also helping to ensure that the lab runs efficiently.
“The great thing about Shannon is that she comes in willing to learn,” said Ryan, an assistant professor of biology
who began establishing the lab three years ago when he joined Bona’s faculty. “Shannon is good at applying knowledge in a hands-on situation. I depend on her to show other students what to do as she has more experience in the lab.”
On average, Keller spends about 100 hours per semester in the lab — this is on top of the 21 credit hours of classes this semester.
“What students eventually learn is that science doesn’t happen in a block of time,”
said Dr. Ryan. “They must take it from start to finish.”
Additionally, Keller attended three conferences under Dr. Ryan’s tutelage. They traveled to St. John Fisher College for the Rochester Academy of Sciences conference
last fall, and prior to that Keller presented research posters during conferences at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University.
Zebrafish researchers from across New York state and Toronto attended the latter conference.
“Students find it enriching,” said Dr. Ryan. “They have a chance to network and see a broader scope of research and techniques.”
Keller is also involved with the Olean General Hospital Experience in Clinical Medicine
program, where she rotates through various departments of the hospital every Tuesday.
“It’s been a great opportunity,” she said. “Just this morning I was in the operating room with an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon,
and before that watched several cataract surgeries being performed by an ophthalmologist.”
On a day-to-day basis, though, it is Dr. Stubenbord who is with her every time she steps into the lab or shadows a physician on rounds at the hospital.
And it is he who will be with her in spirit as she walks across the stage in the Reilly Center this May to accept her degrees and prepare for graduate work in physician assistant studies.
“He’s my motivation for realizing my dreams,”
Keller said. “He’s my guardian angel.”
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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, we believe in the goodness of every person and in the ability of every person to do extraordinary
things. St. Bonaventure University cultivates graduates who are confident and creative communicators, collaborative leaders and team members, and innovative problem solvers who are respectful of themselves, others, and the diverse world around them. Named
the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report, we are establishing pathways to internships, graduate schools and careers in the context of our renowned liberal arts tradition.