The Catholic University of America

Welcome to The Catholic University of America, the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States. Our founders’ ambition was to create a faithfully Catholic and thoroughly American institution of higher learning in the heart of the nation’s capital. We’ve been delivering on that promise for more than 130 years.

Our students make distinctively Catholic contributions to the rapidly expanding world of knowledge – contributions that advance the common good and help our country and Church aspire to their highest ideals. Our students and faculty develop innovative solutions to today’s most complex challenges by applying the wisdom of tradition to cutting-edge research.

Our location in Washington, D.C., makes this possible. Our students live and learn on a 176-acre residential campus – the largest and greenest in the city. Our Brookland neighborhood, with restaurants and retail shops adjacent to campus, is the perfect complement to on-campus living.

And the city itself serves as our extended classroom. Catholic University students have easy access to the world’s most influential centers of politics, policy, business, art, science, and technology. They participate in internships at major hospitals, the NIH, NASA, Congress and the White House, federal agencies, and an array of corporate and nonprofit organizations. They take advantage of cultural opportunities from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Smithsonian museums to Nationals Park.

Catholic University has a global reach. More than 500 international students study in our undergraduate and graduate programs each year. From our own campus in Rome to our education abroad programs, our students experience a world of possibilities in every hemisphere.

Our University is home to students from diverse backgrounds who share a common desire for excellence. They want to study with world-class faculty at the forefront of their fields. They want to have a front-row seat at political and cultural transformations and to make scientific discoveries. They want to win NCAA Division III athletic championships and to serve their community through Campus Ministry.

At The Catholic University of America, you can count on a supportive academic and faith-filled community that will help you discover how you can put your talents in the service of others. A Catholic University of America education helps you aim higher.

St. John Paul II summarized your opportunity to join our community of students, scholars, researchers, and global agents of change, clearly and simply as “learning to think rigorously, so as to act rightly and to serve humanity better.”

The Catholic University of America welcomes all to study, grow and thrive at the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States and to pursue what St. John Paul II called “ the selfless search for truth and for the wisdom that comes from above,” regardless of one’s faith.

At The Catholic University of America, one of America’s oldest and strongest major research universities, the search for truth ranges across 12 schools, 120 disciplines, and every continent. Founded in 1887 as a graduate institution, not just a college, we offer undergraduate and graduate students a scholarly experience, where those serious about their education will find unique opportunities to conduct scholarly and scientific research in their fields of study, working closely with faculty.

A National Research University in the Heart of the Nation's Capital in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.The Catholic University of America is unique among universities in the United States — even among Catholic universities. And it’s not just because we're located in Washington, D.C. — a city of global significance and a place of extraordinary educational opportunity.

Our university was founded by the Catholic bishops of the United States, with a charter from then Pope Leo XIII, to be the national university of the Catholic Church in America. For more than 130 years, we have lived out our mission to discover and impart the truth through excellence in teaching and research. Catholic University scientists, engineers, nurses, philosophers, theologians, historians, architects, social workers, musicians, artists, and scholars in all fields embrace both reason and faith as they apply the inexhaustible resources of the Catholic intellectual tradition to help solve the problems of contemporary life and enrich the culture around us.

The Catholic University of America is unique as the national university of the Catholic Church and as the only higher education institution founded by the U.S. bishops. Established in 1887 as a papally chartered graduate and research center, the University began offering undergraduate education in 1904.

As the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States, founded and sponsored by the bishops of the country with the approval of the Holy See, The Catholic University of America is committed to being a comprehensive Catholic and American institution of higher learning, faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ as handed on by the Church.

Dedicated to advancing the dialogue between faith and reason, The Catholic University of America seeks to discover and impart the truth through excellence in teaching and research, all in service to the Church, the nation and the world.