Get to know Kana Henning, vice president for Facilities and Campus Management

Kana Henning (BBA ’02, MBA ’04), vice president for Facilities and Campus Management, has called Loyola University Chicago home for nearly 30 years. A two-time graduate of the Quinlan School of Business, her career in higher education leadership at Loyola has involved responsibility for the planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and community relations of the University’s three Chicago-area campuses.  

Following the 2024 release of the Campus Plan and amid several key projects coming to fruition, Henning discusses how the Campus Plan guides the University’s capital priorities and the importance of creating on-campus spaces that foster academic success and belonging.  

How does your experience as an alumnus and now as a University leader guide how you approach your work for current and future Ramblers?  

When I was a student, Loyola was predominantly a commuter school, so it’s thrilling to get to see the energy and life of the campus today and the students who call it home. It’s a completely different place from where I was as a student, and I love having the opportunity to continue to think about what the next phase of Loyola’s campus environment looks like. The campus environment is so critical to students creating connections and community, and I’m excited about how this Campus Plan for Loyola’s future will create more opportunities for collaboration.  

Loyola’s Campus Plan was announced in 2024. How has the plan evolved since then?  

From the start of the campus planning process, we wanted to make sure that people who live and work and study here felt genuinely heard. The Campus Plan was built through a very collaborative planning process, shaped by a tremendous amount from the campus community, Rogers Park and Edgewater communities, and through surveys and feedback on our website.  

Since then, it’s been a continual process of taking our big ideas, our understanding of our deficits, and our needs, and narrowing those into actual, tangible projects. The first of those is the 1144 West Loyola project, which is going to be the new home for the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Forensic Science program. This came out of our understanding that we have some physical infrastructure deficiencies, a genuine opportunity to grow our nursing programs to meet society’s need for healthcare workers, and a chance to deepen Loyola’s commitment to the sciences. We didn’t have the space to do that in the existing space, and now we will.  

We’re also in the conceptual planning stages for the creation of a new welcome center, a new student success center, and a Campus Recreation facility–all of which I’m really excited to see take shape.  

What challenges do you anticipate in implementing the Campus Plan?  

Honestly, I think of it as a puzzle, one with a lot of inputs and moving pieces. The most difficult challenge is the fact that we are a dense urban campus and we have real physical borders, like Lake Michigan to the east. There’s only so much room, which means every project has to account for how it constrains or enables the next one.  

We have to give ourselves a long runway for the building phases and think strategically about how to address infrastructure and facility needs and the needs of our campus community, while trying to cause the least amount of disruption for the people who are here every day. It’s a constant balancing act, but that’s what makes this work interesting. 

How do you see Loyola’s Ignatian heritage and mission reflected in its campus planning and development?  

Core to Jesuit tradition is adapting and responding to the needs of the times, and I think Loyola is doing exactly that. We’re responding to external pressures, including demographic changes, the enrollment cliff, and the need to make college affordable and accessible to students, all while remaining rooted in our commitment to have a campus that is a true home for our students. What I see in the Campus Plan is a resilient and adaptable plan that gives us room to meet our realities head-on while never losing sight of why we’re here: to serve our students and our community. 

What projects or developments are you most excited about right now?  

They’re all exciting, honestly, but I’m probably most excited about the new student success center and the idea behind it. We’re working closely with the Office of the Provost and the Division of Student Development, who are reimagining what student success services look like at Loyola in a way that helps retain students and creates a cohesive support structure.  

Our job in Facilities is to take that vision and build it, creating a physical space that complements the way they want to deliver these services. It’s been an interesting process to go through alongside our partners because I think it’s going to be truly one-of-a-kind.   

What legacy do you hope this Campus Plan leaves for future generations of Ramblers? 

This Campus Plan is centered entirely on students: their needs, the type of experience we want them to have on campus and in the classroom, the support structures that help them thrive academically and feel like they really belong. I think that future Ramblers will see a campus that is very responsive to their input and supports a well-rounded experience at Loyola.   

I think it’s also worth saying that this Plan is only one part of a three-legged stool. The Campus Plan, the Strategic Plan, and the Comprehensive Campaign Plan are all working in tandem to help lift up and drive our overall goals for the University. One can’t work without the other, and I’m really excited that we get to play a part in this moment in Loyola’s history to create an outstanding Jesuit undergraduate experience.  

Learn more about the future of Loyola’s campuses through the Campus Plan website.