About the Campaign

Manhattan University has forged a unique course throughout its history, with our Lasallian Catholic mission serving as a spiritual compass in the pursuit of excellence and service. 

Today, Manhattan has an important task. Like all private universities across the United States, the University must keep its footing in a constantly shifting social and economic landscape. To provide new generations with the outstanding, values-based education their predecessors experienced, Invest in the Vision has three important goals:

• Keep current with new academic technologies;
• Expand student and faculty resources;
• Enhance curricula to meet market challenges;
• Provide the facilities Jaspers need at our north and south campuses.

Following the Compass

Invest in the Vision supports a legacy that stretches back to 1848. That year, four Brothers of the Christian Schools crossed the Atlantic at the behest of the Most Rev. John Joseph Hughes, Archbishop of New York. Followers of Saint John Baptist de LaSalle, the brothers believed that all students deserve access to a quality education, regardless of means.

Aided by a fifth brother, they opened a school for poor, working and middle-class students, including children of immigrants. Quickly outgrowing its site on the Lower East Side, the school followed the compass north, acquiring property on Mulberry Street and then, in 1853, a campus on the Upper West Side. The newly named Manhattan University made its final move to Riverdale in 1923.

Today, the University draws students from 44 U.S. states and territories and 60 nations. To better serve them in a time of change, Invest in the Vision will fund Manhattan’s efforts to enhance resources, expand facilities at its new South Campus, and increase financial aid.

A Tradition of Changing Lives

The value of a Manhattan education is evident in the University’s 40,000 living alumni. They are leaders in virtually every field that touches our lives: the arts, business, the Church, education, engineering, government, the law, medicine and the sciences. They also are philanthropists who share their time, talent and resources through a wide range of charitable causes.

Today’s Jaspers follow the example of their predecessors. In 2019, Manhattan students won three Fulbright Awards, a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a New York City Urban Fellowship, and a Neighborhood 360° Fellowship, among other honors.