Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The primary objectives of a Fairfield University education are to develop the creative intellectual potential of its students and to foster in them ethical and religious values and a sense of social responsibility.[8] All schools of the university are committed to a liberal humanistic approach to education, which encourages interdisciplinary learning.

About 3,500 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students[6] study in Fairfield's six schools and colleges: The Fairfield College of Arts and Sciences, The Charles F. Dolan School of Business, The School of Engineering, The School of Nursing, The Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, and The University College. Fairfield academics are notable for its science programs which have produced a MacArthur Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow and its international programs which have produced fifty five Fulbright Scholars since 1993. In addition, two Fairfield faculty members were named consecutive Connecticut Professors of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2009 and 2010 in recognition of their extraordinary dedication to undergraduate teaching