The college was founded by Utica, New York, financier Nicholas Devereux,[6] one of the first to gain land grants in newly surveyed Cattaraugus County from the Holland Land Company.[7] Devereux founded the town of Allegany on the grant, hoping to build a new city. Devereux approached John Timon,[8] the bishop of Buffalo,[9] for assistance. The two invited the Franciscan order to Western New York,[6] and a small group under Pamfilo da Magliano arrived in 1855.[8] The school graduated its first class in 1858. St. Bonaventure's College was granted university status by New York State in 1950. The largest residence hall on campus, Devereux Hall, is named for the founder.
The Franciscan connection
The university is named after Bonaventure (1221–1274), born John of Fidenza, who became a cardinal and Doctor of the Church. A theologian and contemporary of Thomas Aquinas at the University of Paris, he became head of the Franciscan order. Bonaventure was canonized in 1482 by Sixtus IV. The Franciscan friars at the St. Bonaventure Friary belong to the Holy Name Province and are members of the Order of Friars Minor,[8] one of the orders of Franciscans.
The university is also home to the Franciscan Institute. Founded in 1939 by Thomas Plassmann, then president of St. Bonaventure's College, and led by its first director, Philotheus Boehner.
The university has more than 50 academic programs, including programs in the Jandoli School of Communication,[10] School of Arts & Sciences, School of Business, School of Education, and The Dennis R. DePerro School of Health Professions.
Research
St. Bonaventure also has the Center for the Study of Attention, Learning & Memory, a joint initiative between the School of Education and the School of Arts and Sciences, promotes interdisciplinary research and increases awareness of the importance of attention and learning in education.[11] The university also hosts the Franciscan Institute, which provides grants for research on the history and theology of the Franciscan Order.
Rankings
In the U.S. News & World Report's 2025 rankings of colleges and universites, St. Bonaventure University was ranked nineteenth (tie) among "Regional Universities North" and eighth in "Best Value Schools".[12]
Student life
Media
The campus newspaper, The Bona Venture, has been published continuously since 1926. Known on campus as The BV, the newspaper has earned The Pacemaker Award numerous times from the Associated Collegiate Press, the last time in 1994. The school's student radio station is known as WSBU 88.3 The Buzz. In 2019, the Jandoli School of Communication's student-produced newscast, "SBU-TV", became available to television viewers across Western New York.[13]
Popular folklore
Thomas Merton, the Catholic monk and writer, taught English at St. Bonaventure for a year just at the start of World War II, living on campus on the second floor of Devereux Hall.[14] It was at this school that Merton finally gave into his vocation and decided to join the Trappists. He entered the monastery in Kentucky in 1941. A heart-shaped clearing on a mountain in view of campus is linked to Merton in campus myth. Some students call it "Merton's Heart" and claim that Merton visited the place often and that the trees fell when he died. In reality, the hillside had been cleared for oil drilling in the 1920s and trees have since regrown, leaving the bald patch.[15]
Six alumni of the university have received the Pulitzer Prize, including Dan Barry (1980), Bill Briggs (1985), Robert A. Dubill (1958), John Hanchette (1964), Charles J. Hanley (1968), and Brian Toolan (1972).[17][18][19]
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