Fontbonne University

Fontbonne University is a private, Catholic, co-educational liberal arts university located in suburban St. Louis. Founded in 1923 and sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Fontbonne embraces its founders' mission and values, opening its doors and hearts to all and encouraging open communication and personal concern.
Fontbonne’s academic programs, faculty, and community attract students from across the U.S. and around the world — the university’s St. Louis campus is a global microcosm with 20 – 30 countries represented at any given time. Students can choose from 43 rigorous, relevant undergraduate majors and 14 graduate programs, along with numerous minors, certificates, and concentrations, ranging from highly lauded programs like deaf education, dietetics, and fine arts, to new, innovative disciplines like cybersecurity, bioinformatics, and One Health.
Fontbonne faculty members are heavily focused on teaching, and they are committed to reaching every student. Professors devote their time to creating and delivering a curriculum that best serves their students and includes both theory and practical, real-world experience, and application. The 10:1 student-faculty ratio creates ideal opportunities for discussion and personal attention.
As of fall 2017, overall enrollment is 1,375, with an FTE of 1,119. Undergraduate enrollment is 893, 86 percent of those being full-time students. Our overall demographic breakdown includes 66 percent female and 34 percent male, 13 percent domestic students of color, and 9 percent of non-resident aliens. There are 25 countries represented throughout the student body.
First-time, first-year enrollment is 139, all registered full-time. The demographic breakdown includes 50 percent female and 50 percent male, 12 percent of students of color, and 8 percent of non-resident aliens. Fontbonne’s 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio fosters ideal opportunities for discussion and the personal attention needed to help students reach their goals.
Fontbonne University, a Catholic institution sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, is committed to the common good through the daily pursuit of transformative education, inspiring students to become global citizens. They think critically, act ethically, and serve responsibly.
Fontbonne University aspires to be a preferred destination, committed to providing a holistic learning experience rooted in excellence, for those seeking to be educated as leaders to serve a world in need and for those dedicated to educating them.
Fontbonne University honors the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet's values and heritage by fostering excellence, integrity, respect, diversity, community, justice, service, faith, and Catholic identity.
At Fontbonne, it means small classes where professors engage, challenge — and support — you. It means a focus on internships and other real-world opportunities that provide invaluable experience. Moreover, it means a student body that thinks of a college education as a view of the world.
Fontbonne affirms its identity as a Catholic university. Sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, it is founded on the beliefs that all creation reveals God, that the ministry of Jesus began a process of redemption that extends to this day, and that the Holy Spirit continues to impart grace through the daily experiences of women and men. Among the many signs of God’s grace are teaching and learning, which at Fontbonne are pursued by people sharing various religious beliefs and an understanding of the importance of education.
More than 7,500 immigrants and refugees from 80 different countries annually receive services from the International Institute St. Louis, a welcoming center for new Americans. Of the immigrants who arrive in St. Louis each year, many leave war, violence, or poverty behind. Some are documented residents of their new home, some undocumented, adding layers of complexity, fear, and stigma. All must assimilate to a new way of life, often utterly different from what they left behind. Like buying milk and bread, simple tasks become enormous hurdles when you do not understand the language, the currency, or the public transportation system. Education — learning within an English-language school system — becomes even more challenging.
The immigration debate in the United States has become a heated one, and talk of walls and bans has become commonplace. For the Sisters of St. Joseph, Fontbonne’s founders, and sponsors, serving the dear neighbor — whoever that is, wherever she is from — is far less complicated, however, than the legislative debates churning around us. With a nod to the sisters, one Fontbonne alumna, driven in part by her Fontbonne education, has made St. Louis’ immigrant population her priority.
Fontbonne University takes its name from Mother St. John Fontbonne, who, in 1808 after the French Revolution, refounded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJ). More than a century and a half before, in 1650, the Sisters of St. Joseph founded in DePuy, France. During the French Revolution, the sisters were forced to return to their homes, and the community was dispersed. Some 28 years after the refounding, six Sisters of St. Joseph came to the United States in 1836 and established American roots at Carondelet, a small community in south St. Louis, Missouri. Five years later, in 1841, they opened St. Joseph’s Academy for girls.