Fairfield University is a comprehensive Jesuit institution that prepares students for leadership and service in a constantly changing world. Founded in 1942 after the purchase of the adjoining estates of Jennings and Lashar off North Benson Road in Fairfield, the University has grown from an initial class of 303 undergraduate male students admitted to the College of Arts and Sciences in 1947 into a coeducational university of more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Along the way, the University has awarded more than 45,000 degrees since 1951, and has developed a reputation for educational excellence both regionally and nationally.

The Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx, S.J., assumed the presidency of Fairfield University in July 2004, becoming the eighth Jesuit to hold the position since the institution's founding in 1942. He succeeds John McEleney, S.J. (1941), James H. Dolan, S.J. (1944), Joseph Fitzgerald, S.J. (1951), James Fitzgerald, S.J. (1958), William McInnes, S.J. (1964), Thomas Fitzgerald, S.J. (1973), and Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J. (1979).