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Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D., President, Gannon University

Dr. Garibaldi interviewed on 30 minute WSEE special [video]

Thank you for your interest in Gannon University. As you will see when you explore this Web site, Gannon is a highly ranked institution of higher education with dynamic faculty and more than 100 strong undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in the sciences, health sciences, education, business and humanities. For the fifth consecutive year, Gannon is ranked overall as a Top-Tier Master’s university in the northern section of the United States by U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2009. Gannon is also ranked as a “Best Value” in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” category for the fourth straight year. These honors are a reflection of both the quality education students receive and the financial support Gannon provides to them. Gannon’s values-centered and student-focused approach to learning empowers students to develop themselves intellectually, professionally, personally, spiritually and socially.

As a University grounded in the Catholic tradition, Gannon’s faculty and staff are committed to offering a holistic approach to teaching and learning and showing respect and care for each student as an individual. In addition to providing a variety of course offerings on our vibrant downtown campus, we also ensure that our students have the most updated facilities and resources to complement their academic programs and to help them obtain their professional and personal goals. For that reason, the University has embarked on an extensive renovation to the Zurn Science Center. When completed, the state-of-the-art facility will provide students with a learning environment that will prepare them for their future careers and graduate school.

In the 2008-09 Academic Year, Gannon has three colleges: the Morosky College of Health Professions and Sciences; the College of Engineering and Business; and the College of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Gannon is also celebrating the opening of the Robert H. Morosky Academic Center, which houses the health professions. Even though the building is still undergoing renovation, many classrooms, laboratories and offices are already in use. When renovations are complete, a Patient Simulation Center will be a featured component of the Morosky Academic Center. The simulation center will provide students in different health professions disciplines the opportunity to work together in a realistic hospital-like setting. That experience will uniquely prepare them for medical school and employment in the health professions fields after graduation. Gannon’s Patient Simulation Center will be one of only a few in the region and in the country.

Gannon’s Fall 2008 total enrollment of 4,197 is the highest in 16 years. This year the University enrolled a class of 624 freshmen, 88 transfer students and 1,373 graduate students. Approximately 20 percent (264) of the graduate students are from other countries.  Over the past four years, Gannon has increased the diversity of the Freshman Class by 40 percent.  The average SAT score of this year’s freshman class is 1037, which is 20 points above the national average. The average high school grade point average of this year’s freshman class is 3.40 and includes 33 high school valedictorians. The first-year students come from 19 states and five countries. I encourage you to read more about some of the outstanding members of this year’s 2008 Freshman Class. Additionally, 52 freshmen enrolled in Gannon’s challenging Honors Program this fall. The average SAT score for the new Honors Program students is 1250 and their average grade point average is 4.00.

Here at Gannon, we take pride in having all the right ingredients for a successful college career including: a 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio; retention, graduation, and employment/graduate and professional school placement rates that are significantly higher than the national averages; a full range of extra- and co-curricular activities, including more than 70 campus clubs and organizations, and challenging leadership opportunities. For those interested in athletics, we have 18 competitive NCAA Division II athletics teams and an active intramural program of more than two dozen sports. Our coaches expect and demand that our student-athletes also perform well in the classroom. Because of this emphasis on academic performance, our 341 intercollegiate student-athletes collectively earned a 3.22 grade point average during the spring 2008 semester. In addition, 69 student-athletes earned a 4.0 grade point average during the 2007-2008 Academic Year and more than 37 percent of them were named to the Dean’s List. Furthermore, Gannon’s graduation rate among student-athletes is 77 percent, which is 21 percent higher than the national average among all NCAA Division II Athletic programs.

Gannon University is dedicated to meeting students’ technological needs. In addition to providing state-of-the-art learning facilities, students can manage their courses on “ANGEL” (A New Global Environment for Learning), Gannon’s intranet; wireless internet access is widely available on campus; the GU Gold program provides student discounts at local merchants; and students can take care of much of their business with the University, such as paying bills or submitting a dorm room inventory, online. Also, the new Erie Technology Incubator (ETI) on Gannon’s campus houses high-tech, start-up companies and is expected to create internship opportunities for students and hundreds of jobs for the region.

As you narrow your college prospects to one institution, please consider this: approximately 31,000 successful Gannon and Villa Maria College alumni reside in every state of the nation and in 46 countries. Whether they are engineers, scientists, lawyers, priests and women religious, teachers, physicians and nurses, business executives, or government professionals, they are leaders in their professions, in their churches, and in their communities. I encourage you to visit campus, and I expect that you, too, will believe in the possibilities at Gannon University.

Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D.
President, Gannon University

Modified: September, 2008