"X" is for Xavier

Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA), located in New Orleans, is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college with the distinction of being the only historically black, Roman Catholic institution of higher education in the U.S.  (Xavier University in Cincinnati is a separate university, also a superb one.)

From its founding in 1925, Xavier has embraced a mission to serve the African American Catholic community.  However, qualified students of every race and creed have always been welcome.  Today, 25.1% of enrollment is not African American and 74.3 percent is not Catholic.  More than half of Xavier's students are from Louisiana (58.2%), with non-local enrollment from other states (especially Texas and Georgia) and five foreign countries.

A premier university for educating African-American students in the sciences, Xavier is a national leader in placing African American students into medical school as well as first in awarding African Americans baccalaureate degrees in the physical sciences, the biological/life sciences, and physics. The College of Pharmacy is one of just two pharmacy schools in Louisiana.

Sister Katherine Drexel, using substantial money inherited from her banker father, and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrement founded the coeducational school.  Sister Katherine also used her inheritance to staff many institutions throughout the U.S. in an effort to help educate Native Americans and African Americans.

The high school (then a normal school the nun also established, is now known as Xavier University Preparatory School or Xavier Prep.  At that time, the normal school offered a degree in teaching, one of the few career fields were open to African Americans.  (Wikipedia)

Xavier's creed is a "promotion of a more just and humane society . . . ."  The university's graduates have sterling reputations for their work in the humanities.  In 1987, Pope John Paul II addressed the presidents of all U.S. Catholic colleges at Xavier.  Presidents Bill Clinton and  Barack Obama have received honors degrees from the university.

According to U.S. News and World Report university listing, Xavier University is a Second Tier school (Harvard is First Tier; LSU is Third Tier.)  Xavier's School of Pharmacology is one of the top-ranked in the U.S. and is the signature degree that defines the university's in-depth science programs.

Within the New Orleans area, both Xavier Prep and Xavier University are respected for their high academic standards.  Significant scholarship and grant programs exist to mitigate the $19,900.00 tuition as both schools search for intellectually gifted students to educate.  Present enrollment is 3,216 students.

Science lab and diabetes research.  (U.S. News & World Report)

Library (U.S. News & World Report)

Students in the Quadrangle (Ditto)

The Gothic exterior of the administration building is a landmark in New Orleans.  (Ditto)

Xavier University is often called "Emerald City" because of the number of buildings with green roofs.  (Ditto)