Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, a Sicilian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the university is named after the young Jesuit saint Aloysius Gonzaga. The campus houses 105 buildings on 152 acres (62 ha) of grassland alongside the Spokane River, in a residential setting a half-mile (800 m) from downtown Spokane.
The university grants bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees through its college and six schools: the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration, School of Education, School of Engineering and Applied Science, School of Law, School of Nursing and Human Physiology, and the School of Leadership Studies.
== History ==
=== Founding ===
Gonzaga University was founded in 1887 by Sicilian-American Joseph Cataldo (1837–1928), who had come in 1865 as a Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. In 1880, Cataldo built a schoolhouse about 10 to 12 mi (16 to 19 km) northeast of Spokane on the Peone Prairie, to serve children of the …