University Convocation celebrates faculty and staff, looks at the year ahead

Loyola University Chicago’s annual University Convocation brought together faculty, staff, and administrators on August 21 as part of Ramblers Welcome Day to reaffirm the University’s academic mission and celebrate the achievements of the past year. Held in Gentile Arena at the Lake Shore Campus, the event featured remarks from University leadership, updates on Loyola’s Strategic Plan, and recognition of this year’s faculty and staff award recipients.

Fundraising, formative education, and the core curriculum

President Mark C. Reed’s remarks focused on three themes: philanthropy, formative education, and the core curriculum.

He reported that FY26 was a record year for giving to Loyola: fundraising progress (cash and pledges) totaled $115 million, including a $50 million pledge; and cash received totaled $65 million, resulting in the second-highest cash total in Loyola’s history. Loyola’s comprehensive campaign, still in its quiet phase, has raised $450 million to date and will go public in May with the most ambitious goal in the University’s history. “Philanthropy is ultimately about inviting people to invest in what happens here,” Reed said.

Turning to formative education, Reed described what he believes distinguishes a Loyola education: an integration of the academic, ethical, social, spiritual, and physical dimensions of student life, meant to help students “become the best version of themselves.” He connected this directly to the ongoing core curriculum revision, calling the core “the most sustained expression of what we believe every Loyola graduate should know, encounter, and be able to do, regardless of major,” and one that should be “formative and integrative and not just a buffet of choice.”

Reed closed by sharing words Pope Leo XIV offered Jesuit university presidents during a private audience in June, blessing their work forming students to be “men and women for others.”

More than 20 years of financial strength

Wayne Magdziarz, senior vice president and chief financial officer, reported that Loyola’s fiscal year ending June 30 marks its 23rd consecutive year of positive financial results. He credited the results to disciplined, proactive budgeting rather than reactive decision-making. Student financial aid will top $350 million this year, a 30 percent increase over four years, and the University’s endowment has surpassed $1.5 billion after posting nearly 10 percent investment returns.

Magdziarz connected that financial strength directly to campus growth. The University is now constructing a $230 million integrated science building at 1144 W. Loyola, set to open in August 2028, with nearly 120,000 square feet for nursing, chemistry, biochemistry, and forensic science. A separate $23 million, three-year classroom upgrade project has completed 62 rooms this year, with 112 more planned over the next two summers. Magdziarz also previewed a new University welcome center for undergraduate admissions and financial aid, along with a future student recreation complex and center for student success.

Pointing to two decades of bold moves, he expressed confidence in the University’s ability to adapt on the challenging road ahead.

A challenging year, a strong response

In his remarks, Provost Douglas W. Woods opened with a candid review of the last year: shifting federal policies, funding uncertainty, a program array and core curriculum review, and the community’s grieving the loss of a student.

“Last year was stressful,” he said. “Yet, you continued to show up for our students, for this University, and for each other.”

Despite the challenges, the University saw major academic successes: 99 percent of graduates were employed or continuing their education within six months, and Loyola awarded the most doctoral degrees and the most bachelor’s degrees to historically underserved students in its history. Research expenditures hit an all-time high, the School of Law launched a Holistic Immigration Hub, and the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing’s BSN was ranked 13th nationally.

Strategic Plan progress

Woods highlighted major milestones and work ahead on the four-pillar Strategic Plan For the Greater Good launched last year:

• Jesuit Education: A new Center for Faculty Development is fully staffed and rolling out the Brightspace learning platform (replacing Sakai) University-wide by spring 2027. A full core curriculum revision is underway, targeting governance approval this year and a Fall 2028 launch.
  As a result of the work of nearly sixty faculty and staff, a new institutional Student Success Strategy will soon begin the implementation phase, led by newly appointed Vice Provost for Student Success Andy WIlson.
• AI Strategy: In line with Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical, Woods announced a multi-pronged initiative to jumpstart Loyola’s institutional response to AI. These efforts will include AI-literacy events, draft AI-use policies heading to shared governance this fall, an environmental-impact study led by Dean Malini Suchak, new faculty grants for ethical AI integration, a new AI-focused faculty leave program, and a steering group exploring a future AI policy center.
• Research: Last year, Cayuse, a modern research management software platform, was launched and new bridge funds were established to help offset funding losses.
• Jesuit, Catholic Culture: Faculty of color grew 9 percent year-over-year. Woods spoke candidly about the findings from last year’s campus climate survey, with Loyola’s Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and a new steering committee leading the response.
• Institutional Capacity: In addition to the facility improvements and expansion, implementation is underway for Workday, new financial HR system, and a revitalized student information system. This year will also see the evaluation of the optimal administrative structure needed to oversee graduate education at Loyola.

Woods closed by invoking the Ignatian “presupposition,” which means assuming good intentions in one another, even amid disagreement, and returned to Loyola’s mission as “our North Star.”

Faculty and staff recognitions

David Olson (BS ’88) was awarded Faculty Member of the Year. A professor of criminal justice and criminology in the College of Arts and Sciences, Olson has spent 29 years on the faculty and 40 years conducting criminal justice research, mentoring dozens of undergraduate and graduate research assistants along the way.

In accepting the award, Olson reflected on his family’s deep connections to Loyola: “75-years ago, my parents met at Loyola. 42 years ago, I moved into Loyola’s Mertz Hall next door as a college freshman. 10 years ago, my oldest daughter Mollie graduated from Loyola, followed by her sister Robin 4 years later.”

 “Being named Faculty Member of the Year is a much-appreciated recognition,” said Olson.  “But what Loyola has given to me and my family over the past 75 years is appreciated even more.”

Brenda Jervier (BA ’11) received Staff Member of the Year. Office coordinator in the Department of English, Jervier has worked at Loyola for 29 years, 27 of them in the English department, where colleagues describe her as its institutional memory and its steady hand.

Jervier, who will retire later this year, called the honor “a beautiful full-circle moment,” adding, “the greatest rewards were never found in job titles or years of service” but in the people and the opportunity to serve others.

Alongside the Faculty and Staff Members of the Year, Markeda Newell, vice provost for Faculty Affairs, recognized faculty awards from the Office of the Provost, and Janice Parks, vice president of Human Resources, presented Staff Excellence Awards from University Staff Council. The program also recognized new faculty and staff, promotions and tenure, service milestones, and recent retirements. Read the full list of faculty and staff awards and recognitions on the University Convocation website.