Graduate study is an essential dimension of the expressed mission and purpose of Saint Xavier University. Graduate programs are built on sustainable strengths of the University, coupled with long-term community needs. The graduate programs at Saint Xavier University prepare students to assume positions of leadership in professional areas such as health care, business, technology and education. Leadership in the profession implies the application of science and the exercise of art in addressing human and social problems of considerable complexity. Therefore, graduate education is designed to foster critical understanding within each field of study, with students expected to synthesize knowledge from their disciplines with current theory and practice in their professions.
Each program is designed to guide students toward advanced levels of: analysis and argument, written discourse, reflective practice and inquiry. Graduate education supports original thinking in each student's field of study, with a research perspective, thus encouraging students to develop lifelong questions about their areas of study. Graduate students are expected to demonstrate expanded leadership skills by initiating activities designed to contribute to the advancement of the profession and fostering changes within organizations.
Responsibility for standards in graduate studies rests with the provost, college deans and with directors of the graduate programs in business, education, exercise science, nursing and speech-language pathology.