Profile: University of Sacramento

The University of Sacramento is a Catholic academic community whose primary mission is to prepare men and women to exercise an enduring and transformational leadership in society and thus contribute to the establishment of a civilization of justice and charity. 

This leadership preparation is embodied in the concept of Integral Formation, the hallmark of the educational charism of the Legionaries of Christ.  We aspire to form men and women of character, leaders who are mature in their faith, competent in their field, principled in their morality, and dedicated to service.  Consequently, Integral Formation aims at the balanced and harmonious development of the intellectual, human, spiritual, and service-oriented dimensions of each student. 

In addition to our formational programs, the University of Sacramento is also an institution dedicated to the search for knowledge through faculty research and publication as well as the application of this knowledge to solve the pressing needs of society.  

It is our goal that students will emerge from their experience here ready to embody in their personal and professional lives the motto of the University of Sacramento: Vince in bono malum – conquer evil by doing good.   

Integral formation at the University of Sacramento consists of the following:

Intellectual formation. The University of Sacramento is a community in which students, faculty and staff collaborate in a rigorous and creative intellectual environment. While safeguarding the genuine autonomy of each discipline, we give pride of place to interdisciplinary approaches and to upholding the ultimate unity of human knowledge in fidelity to the genuine Catholic tradition of higher learning (see Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Part I, paragraph 17). The University of Sacramento believes that a thriving intellectual culture on campus hinges on a conscious pursuit of academic excellence. That excellence entails the acquisition of:

• a broad exposure to general culture, drawing from the riches of the classical tradition and delivered in a dynamic, four-year core curriculum experience;
• a thorough understanding of the theory and practice of one´s professional discipline, its local and global reality, and its limitations;
• an ongoing mastery of that profession´s state-of-the-art technological means for researching, exchanging and communicating ideas;

Human formation. Academic excellence must rest on the foundation of a well-rounded personality. Our graduates will be men and women of strong moral character and robust conscience. The cornerstone of leadership is authentic human maturity, which is best attained by the practice of the human virtues and the acquisition of crucial habits of the mind and heart:

• the balanced integration of one´s faculties
• the capacity to think systematically and for oneself;
• the ability to express ideas with order, elegance and persuasiveness in respectful and sincere dialogue;
• the habit of principled reflection necessary for a balanced, critical view of one´s times and culture.

Spiritual formation. In the fertile soil of human and intellectual formation, grace can yield its harvest. The University of Sacramento provides Catholic students and faculty with an atmosphere in which they can come to understand, love and live their faith with interior conviction. It provides non-Catholics an environment in which to practice their own religion and to benefit from a personal and vibrant encounter with the Catholic faith (see Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Part I, paragraph 26).

Formation for service. We believe that our students are called to solidarity and service, to forge a culture worthy of mankind´s transcendent destiny. Generous and joyful service to God and to fellow men and women should be the hallmark of our graduates. Our students will forge this dimension by engaging in service projects designed to have a lasting and transformational impact in the region and beyond, and by preparing to develop their personal and professional life in a spirit of service.