Founded in 1888, The University of Scranton is a Catholic and Jesuit university animated by the spiritual vision and the tradition of excellence characteristic of the Society of Jesus and those who share its way of proceeding.  The University is a community dedicated to the freedom of inquiry and personal development fundamental to the growth in wisdom and integrity of all who share its life.

Spirituality is at the core of Scranton’s mission as a Catholic, Jesuit institution of higher learning. The chief characteristics embedded in the Ignatian vision include: the concept of the Magis, or a restless pursuit of excellence grounded in gratitude; Cura Personalis, individual attention to students and respect for the uniqueness of each member of the University community; seeking God in all things; liberal education; service of faith and the promotion of justice; and contemplation in action.

Magis
The magis, characterized by a restless desire for excellence and grounded in gratitude for all God’s gifts, is at the heart of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit education. Ignatius’ awareness of God’s deep love for him – not just the general love of God for all people, but a personal,  intimate call by Christ to follow him – grew throughout his life. This call filled Ignatius with great zeal and enthusiasm to serve God in whatever way would give Him greater glory. 

Seeking God in All Things
At the beginning of his religious conversion, Ignatius discovered that God worked with him through his deepest desires. As his faith grew, he recognized that God worked in all that was good in the world around him. Ignatian spirituality and, therefore, Jesuit education, is shaped by an attitude that the reality of God can be seen and felt everywhere – in every relationship, situation and experience of one’s life. This guiding principle challenges students, faculty and staff to recognize that everything good in the world can be celebrated as the locus of God’s loving activity.

Education of The Whole Person Through a Liberal Education
During his conversion, Ignatius experienced God not as distant and removed, but as a teacher personally involved in his life, directly educating him in the way of prayer. Jesuit education is always concerned with the development of the whole person – mind, body and spirit. This developmental perspective applies to students, faculty and staff alike. The Latin phrase associated with this Jesuit focus on the individual is cura personalis (literally, “care of the person”). Caring for the person means knowing the student beyond what a transcript can reveal. It means that faculty and administrators strive to know students personally – their backgrounds and life histories, their strengths and limitations, their struggles and hopes.

Service of Faith and The Promotion of Justice
The University of Scranton hopes to graduate “men and women for others.”

Dedication to service 
A concern for the common good, and a commitment to promoting justice have always been implicit in the Jesuits’ works and world view. To be a companion of Jesus today “is to engage, under the standard of the Cross, in the crucial struggle of our time: the struggle for faith and that struggle for justice which it includes.”4 This assertion continues to reinvigorate Jesuits and those with whom they labor so that all people might participate in the promise of Christ, who came that we “may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Contemplation In Action: Learning That is Both Active and Reflective
Ignatian pedagogy not only requires students to read, take notes, and write papers and exams, it also motivates them to think and learn on their own. Such active learning empowers students and instills in them a confident sense of their own ability to change the world – to engage it and work fruitfully in the struggle to make it more just and gentle. Ignatius often closed his letters with words intended to challenge and inspire, fitting words for every Scranton student: “Go forth and set the world on fire.”
Ignatius also believed that the deeper truth of the world is best discovered when we engage in serious and sustained reflection on our reality. He encouraged prayerful consideration and frequent examination of conscience. In the words of T.S. Eliot, he did not want us to “have the experience but miss the meaning.”