University of Scranton

Founded in 1888, the University of Scranton is a higher learning institution of Catholic and Jesuit affiliation. Scranton itself is a mid-sized city in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania, and is well known as the setting of long-running television show The Office.

Undergraduate study at Scranton is available at the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Professional Studies and at the school of Management. The Graduate School offers support for adults seeking further education, offering both on-campus programmes and online courses for those balancing work with study.

Opened in 2011, the $85 million, 200,000-square foot Loyola Science Centre was the biggest project in the university’s history, and contains 34 laboratories and a rooftop greenhouse. The Institute of Molecular Biology and Medicine on campus houses the most advanced proteomics laboratory in the surrounding area.

The Scranton Retreat Centre is based at the idyllic Chapman Lake, thirty minutes from campus. It can accommodate fifty people for overnight stay, and is popular among both faculty and students.

Athletics teams at Scranton are known as the Royals, and have the support of mascot Iggy the Royal Wolf. The nine men’s sports programmes include wrestling and baseball, and the ten women’s include softball and volleyball. In 2016 a $16 million project was announced that would transform an 11 acre area in South Scranton into a first-class facility for student-athletes, including a multipurpose field for soccer, lacrosse and field hockey.

Notable alumni include playwright and Oscar nominated actor Jason Miller, inventor of mini-golf Ralph Lomma, MLB umpire Nestor Chylak, and children’s writer Susan Campbell Bartoletti. The motto of the university is ‘Religion, Morals, Culture’.