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SHU Facts

Basic Facts
  • Founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport. 

  • SHU is the second-largest Catholic university in New England and was the first in America to be led and staffed by lay people.
     
  • The Princeton Review includes SHU in its “Best 377 Colleges: 2013” and “Best 296 Business Schools: 2013” and U.S. News & World Report ranks SHU among the best regional universities in the North in its annual “America’s Best Colleges” publication, making it one of the top New England liberal arts colleges.

  • SHU has been selected for membership in the Colleges of Distinction, among approximately 200 colleges and universities in the country recognized for outstanding student engagement, great teaching, vibrant communities and successful student outcomes.

  • The 2012-2013 student body is made up of 6,434 total students: 3,399 full-time undergraduate students, 693 part-time undergraduate students, 2,342 graduate students; 67% female, 71% out of state, 17% minority students, 42 states and 31 countries represented.

  • The top four states in which first-year undergraduate students, or first-time-in-college freshmen, and their families permanently reside are New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
     
  • More than one-third of the Class of 2016 earned a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher.

  • SHU is ranked one of the top colleges in New England, according to GoLocal's “Super Ranking: Top New England Colleges 2013.”

  • Selected for membership in the Center for Student Opportunity’s “College Bound Coalition”—SHU is featured in the CSO’s College Access & Opportunity Guide, the first comprehensive college guidebook dedicated to highlighting institutions that provides access and opportunity for traditionally underserved student populations.
     
  • SHU is the recipient of the 2010 Innovation Award for its web-based Compliance All-Hazard and Business Continuity Plan from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
Alumni
  • More than 37,000 degrees have been awarded to over 33,500 alumni.
     
  • SHU alumni can be found in every state in the U.S.
Faculty
  • SHU’s 237 full-time faculty members educate and advise students and are engaged in scholarly research.
     
  • The student-to-faculty ratio is 13:1, with an average class size of approximately 22 students.
Academics
Athletics
  • Nearly 800 students participate in the University's 31 Division I athletic teams.

  • For the 2011-12 season, Sacred Heart University won the Northeast Conference Commissioner’s Cup for the fifth year in a row. The cup is awarded to the top-performing athletic program in the conference.
     
  • SHU offers a wide variety of competitive club sports for the undergraduate student body.  There are currently 30 active club sports teams that provide students with the opportunity to compete against other schools and universities, improve athletic ability, and make new friends.
Community Service
  • Sacred Heart was named to the 2013 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes higher education institutions dedicated to exemplary community service.
     
  • SHU's Habitat for Humanity campus chapter has earned a place in the top five collegiate chapters among more than 500 in the nation. In 2012, SHU’s Habitat chapter received the Second Mile Award from Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County.
     
  • New England liberal arts colleges pride themselves on a wide range of educational experiences, and at SHU that goes beyond the classroom and into our local and national community. More than 1,200 students and members of the faculty and staff volunteer in excess of 53,000 hours each year largely within the City of Bridgeport, but also regionally, nationally and internationally.
     
  • Sacred Heart was awarded the NEC Building Communities Award in each of the first two years since its inception. The award is designed to recognize the institution that demonstrates the highest dedication to making an impact in the community through the efforts of its student-athletes, coaches and administrators. 
Campus Housing
  • Approximately 90% of first-year students and approximately 51% of all undergraduates reside in on-campus housing facilities.

  • The University has 10 residence halls on-campus and five additional leased facilities bordering the main campus.
The Campus
  • Sacred Heart University is set on 71.25 acres in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Its main campus is in Fairfield, which ranks among the top places to live in the Northeast and #9 in the country in a Money magazine list of “Best Places to Live.”  Fairfield is 90 minutes from Manhattan and 150 minutes from Boston. 
     
  • The University maintains branch operations for working adults in Stamford and Griswold, Connecticut.
WSHU Public Radio
  • National Public Radio member station -- NPR News & Talk and Classical Music
  • WSHU is the principal public radio source for Fairfield and New Haven Counties, CT, and Suffolk County, NY, and is the 34th most listened-to public radio station in the country.
     
  • The local news team at WSHU boasts a number of awards and honors including regional and national Edward R. Murrow Awards; Sigma Delta Chi Award—a prestigious national award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ); Connecticut Associated Press (AP) Broadcast Awards; Focus on Long Island (FOLIO) Awards; and Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Awards.
     
  • Creator and producer of Sunday Baroque, nationally syndicated, popular program of early classical music heard on 91 stations nationwide and the broadcast home of Frank Deford, celebrated sports writer and NPR commentator.
SHU Abroad
  • Looking at New England liberal arts colleges to study business? SHU has the only American-accredited MBA program in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and a residential study-abroad program in the Irish-speaking community of Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland.

  • International experiences are available to SHU students worldwide and through our varied study-abroad programs located at the John Cabot University in Rome, Italy; the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, Australia; the University of Granada, Spain; and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.