2011-12 | XAVIER UNIVERSITY | GOXAVIER.COM 197 XAVIER UNIVERSITY | 2011-12 XAVIER’S ACADEMIC ADVANTAGE: A TRADITION OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE • Xavier’s 7,000 students choose from 85 undergraduate majors in three colleges, 54 minors and 17 graduate programs, a doctorate program in psychology and three honors programs. • The student/faculty ratio is 12:1 and the average class size is 22 students • U.S. News & World Report has ranked Xavier among the top 10 Midwest Masters colleges and universities for 16 consecutive years, including third in the latest issue. Xavier is ranked among “The Best Colleges in America” by The Princeton Review. • Xavier is included among Forbes listing of “America’s Top Colleges” in its annual rankings, including 16th among best colleges with Master’s degree programs. • Xavier’s Williams College of Business is rated among the Best United States Business Schools by The Princeton Review. • Xavier offers international study opportunities on six continents. HIGH DEMANDS, HIGH STANDARDS... • During the last 10 years, applications for admission to Xavier have increased more than 160%, including a record 9,305 for the class of 2014. • Xavier’s freshman to sophomore retention rate is 87%, versus the national average of 75% for similar private colleges. • Xavier’s latest Student-Athlete Graduation Success Rate, which was announced by the NCAA in October, is an impressive 94 percent. • More than 400 companies request resumes from Xavier students each year. Of XU graduates who apply to medical school, 81% are accepted versus the national average of 46%. 198 5 STRAIGHT A-10 TITLES | 2011-12 | XAVIER UNIVERSITY EXCITEMENT AND GROWTH AROUND CAMPUS... • Xavier University has undergone a tremendous transformation. Bishop Edward Fenwick Place, the new residence/dining hall complex, opened this August. It includes 535 beds in four towers, a new dining hall with a seating capacity of 725, a green roof and a large greenspace. Xavier’s residence halls are recognized as being among the best in the country, with nearly 56% of all full-time undergraduate students living on campus. The James E. Hoff, S.J. Academic Quad opened in fall 2010 at the corner of Ledgewood and Dana Avenues. It includes the Michael J. Conaton Learning Commons, a high-tech, highly social center for learning outside the classroom and Stephen and Dolores Smith Hall, a new hi-tech home for the Williams College of Business, which features the Fifth Third Trading Center, a Wall Street style trading room with 44 Bloomberg terminals. The Hoff Quad and the residence/dining hall complex were built to LEED Silver Standards. • The Cintas Center, which opened in 2000, includes a 10,250-seat arena for men’s and women’s basketball and vol- leyball. The arena is used for Xavier commencement ceremonies and major campus events and is widely used for busi- ness and community events. Cintas Center is also home to the Schiff Conference Center. • The Gallagher Student Center, is a 24/7 student center with office and resource space for Xavier’s 100-plus student clubs and groups, a performing arts center, recreation areas and a variety of food outlets. • Xavier’s entire campus, including residence halls, is completely wireless. • Xavier was honored by the Professional Grounds Management Society as No. 1 in the country for urban university landscaping. ELITE ATHLETICS AND ACADEMICS... • Xavier saw three teams qualify for NCAA Tournament competition this past academic year, including men’s basketball (sixth straight), women’s basketball (fifth straight) and men’s soccer. Men’s tennis has earned NCAA berths three of the last four years. Baseball, men’s golf, track and field, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball are among the other current Xavier sports that have recently earned spots or placed individuals in the NCAA field. • Men’s basketball made its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and its 10th in the last 11 years, including advancement to at least the NCAA Sweet 16 in three of the past four seasons, one of only five schools that can say that: Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina and Xavier. XU made the Elite Eight in 2008 and 2004. • In 2011, men’s basketball won the A-10 Regular Season Championship for the fifth consecutive year. In addition, women’s basketball has won the A-10 regular season and/or tournament title in each of the last five years. • The new NCAA Academic Progress Rates (APR) shows that Xavier student-athletes have continued their success in the classroom as well. Xavier’s men’s and women’s tennis, women’s golf, and vol- leyball earned a perfect APR, while men’s swimming, women’s cross-country, women’s swimming, women’s indoor track, and women’s outdoor track earned scores of at least 996. Eight Xavier teams received scores in the top 25 of their respective sport: men’s tennis, women’s golf, women’s tennis, volleyball, men’s swimming, women’s indoor track, women’s outdoor track and women’s swimming. | GOXAVIER.COM 199 FATHER GRAHAM | 2011-12 University President The Rev. Michael J. Graham, S.J. As president, Fr. Michael J. Graham, Citizen,” Graham initiated the Community to then-President James E. Hoff. In these S.J., is leading Xavier University through Building Institute and established the roles, Graham oversaw a broad range its most ambitious expansion in the insti- James and Delrose Eigel Center for Com- of University activities, which included a tution’s 180-year history. munity Engaged Learning. Through these $125 million capital campaign, the most centers, Xavier is partnering with local ambitious and successful fundraising cam- Graham’s influence is demonstrated most and regional organizations and Xavier paign in Xavier’s history at that time. recently by Bishop Edward Fenwick Place, faculty, students, and staff are becoming the new dining and residential complex in more active citizens and participants in As a parish priest active at Good Shep- the heart of campus across from Bellar- the community. herd Catholic Church in suburban Cin- mine Chapel. This eco-friendly building cinnati and with Xavier student groups, includes a green roof and a dining hall Under Graham, Xavier embarked and Graham carries out his Jesuit pastoral that seats nearly twice as many as the completed a campaign to revolutionize activities as celebrant for weddings, former facility. In 2010, Graham oversaw the student learning experience. The baptisms, and retreats as well as weekly the opening of the James E. Hoff, S.J., result was the Hoff Quad, with focuses on Sunday worship. Graham also serves on Academic Quad, which includes the state- academic excellence, integrated learning, the boards of St. Xavier High School, of-the-art Conaton Learning Commons the most current technology and outside- Center for Holocaust Education at Hebrew and Smith Hall, home to the Williams Col- the-classroom experiences. Union College and United Way of Greater lege of Business. Cincinnati, as well as the Loyola of Chi- Graham’s association with Xavier began in cago University Board of Trustees and the In addition to guiding the University 1984, when he joined the University’s fac- Atlantic 10 Presidents Council. through a major expansion, Graham has ulty as an assistant professor of history. shepherded Xavier’s spiritual growth dur- He left Xavier to pursue a master of divin- “I’m a priest and I’m a teacher,” says ing his tenure. Since becoming president ity from The Weston School of Theology, Graham. “My gifts and experience on Jan. 1, 2001, Graham has invigorated which he earned in 1988. Graham earned intersect with Xavier University at this Xavier’s Jesuit tradition of serving society a PhD in American Studies from the particular moment in time in such a way by educating students intellectually, University of Michigan in 1983 and also that what I think I’ll be able to contribute morally, and spiritually, with rigor and holds degrees in philosophy and psychol- is an enhanced sense of the University’s compassion, toward lives of solidarity, ogy. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Graham excellence as a university, per se, and as service, and success. Under his leader- entered the Society of Jesus in 1978 and a distinctly Jesuit-Catholic university.” ship, Xavier has established an academic was ordained a priest in 1988. vision, increased the number of full-time The photos show Fr. Graham introducing faculty, enhanced interdisciplinary study Graham returned to Xavier in 1989 and U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner and expanded academic service learning has remained at the University since. (Xavier ‘77) at an XU basketball game, and study abroad. In 1994, Graham was appointed vice giving David West (XU ‘03) his XU Hall of president for the Division of University Fame trophy last Fall and cheering for XU Fulfilling his vision of the “University as Relations and in 1999, executive assistant in the NCAA Basketball Championship. 200 6 STRAIGHT NCAAS | 2011-12 | JOHN KUCIA/FATHER HOFF Administrative Vice President Xavier’s NCAA & Athletic Advisory Board Leadership Dr. John Kucia Dr. John F. Kucia is adminis- serves as chief public relations Kucia was named director trative vice president and the officer for the University. for alumni relations in 1984, principal assistant to Xavier assistant to the president in President Michael J. Graham, Kucia earned a bachelor’s de- 1986 and a University vice S.J. Kucia oversees Xavier’s In- gree in political science (1969) president in 1990. Kucia and tercollegiate Athletic Program, and a master’s degree in guid- his wife Mary (M.Ed. ’76) have the Cintas Center, Human ance and counseling (1972) five children: Kristin (’91), John Resources, Community Building from Xavier and a doctorate in (’93), Peter (’95) and twins Sr.