PRESIDENTIAL EDITION 2018
A special edition introducing
TANIA TETLOW,
Loyola's first woman and lay president, as she prepares to take the helm and lead Loyola fearlessly and by example
Madam President Tania Tetlow has both a long history with Loyola and an exciting future ahead
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President’s Message Know & Tell Alumni Events Commencement 2018 News Roundup A Note from Fr. Carter
Engine of Opportunity
Walking through fire with incoming University President Tania Tetlow
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
PRESIDENTIAL EDITION 2018 Vol. 28, No. 2 Editor Eve C. Peyton Designers Hollie Garrison Linda Lien-Ribardi University Photographer Kyle Encar Contributing Writers Will Glass Associate Director of Public Affairs Patricia Murret Executive Director of Development Stephanie Hotard ’04, M.B.A. ’10 Assistant Vice President for Alumni Engagement Laurie Eichelberger Leiva ’03 Vice President for Institutional Advancement Chris Wiseman ’88, Ph.D. Dear readers, AS I WRITE TO YOU FROM MY SUMMER RETREAT, the Loyola University New Orleans campus is preparing to welcome our 17th president. President Tania Tetlow officially joins the campus in mid-August, bringing a new energy and vision to the university. She is the first woman and layperson to lead Loyola since its founding. And we could not have made a better choice, as her life experiences are steeped in Jesuit, Catholic values and mission. President Tetlow joins the university as we celebrate enormous accomplishments. Over the past two years, Loyola has seen 26 percent growth in enrollment of first-year students, as well as an approximate 6 percent increase in retention of first-year students. We recently opened the brand-new and entirely donor-funded Pan-American Life Student Success Center in the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library (see p. 23). Within the center, our new Office for Accessible Education brings state-of-the-art technology and a philosophical approach that allows Loyola to be even more inclusive. And through this important new hub, we have introduced new benchmark practices, including student success coaching for all first-year students. Most important, the university recently has completed a transformation dubbed Project Magis that has delivered a balanced budget that is strategic and sustainable. The university is poised for continued success and growth. Our commitment to excellence endures, and we continue to “seek God in all things.” It has been an honor to serve this wonderful community the past 14 years. We are excited to have this special presidential issue of LOYNO as a way to introduce you to President Tetlow, and I hope that you will join me in welcoming her to Loyola. Even better, we invite you to come visit our beautiful campus for Wolf Pack Weekend this fall, Sept. 28-30, 2018, so that you can meet her in person. With gratitude,
The Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D. Outgoing University President
Vice President for Marketing and Communications Laura F. Frerichs Outgoing University President The Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D. Incoming University President Tania Tetlow
LOYNO Magazine is published twice per year. View online at loyno.edu/magazine Send address changes and correspondence to: Loyola University New Orleans Department of Alumni Engagement 7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 909 New Orleans, LA 70118 phone (504) 861-5419 email magazine@loyno.edu Submissions of stories and photographs are welcome. Loyola University New Orleans admits students of any race, creed, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability status, marital status, and citizenship status and doesn’t discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.
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Presidential Inauguration Reserve the Date
Tania Tetlow Seventeenth President Loyola University New Orleans Thursday, November 15, 2018 Inaugural Missioning Mass 11:30 a.m.
Friday, November 16, 2018 Inauguration Ceremony 4 p.m.
More information to follow. loyno.edu/inauguration
know&tell Loyno news worth howling about
The Loyola University Trumpet Ensemble
performed in early June 2018 at the 43rd annual conference of the International Trumpet Guild in San Antonio, Texas. The group, under the direction of Dr. Nick Volz, associate professor of classical and jazz trumpet and the Rev. James C. Carter, S.J., Distinguished Professor of Music at Loyola University New Orleans, was chosen by recorded audition to be among a handful of trumpet ensembles from around the world to perform at the conference. One Loyola student, rising music education junior Brian Maassen of Mandeville, La., received the conference’s Stuart D. Shanler Jazz Performance Scholarship Award. A review of the Loyola ensemble stated: “The performance exhibited tremendous enthusiasm, power, and excitement throughout.” Loyola’s trumpet ensemble includes Michael Bauer ’21, Chris Drennan ’19, Brian Maassen ’20, Peter Nionakis ’18, and Jack Wright ’19. In addition to giving a feature performance for an international audience, these students had the opportunity to interact with many of the world's leading trumpet artists and scholars.
On July 12, 2018, incoming Loyola President Tania Tetlow received a proclamation from the New Orleans City Council. At a formal meeting of the council, Tetlow was presented with a framed proclamation at the request of Councilmember Joseph I. Giarrusso III,
“for her many accomplishments, leadership, and commitment to Loyola and the City of New Orleans.” The proclamation underscored Tetlow’s strong and deep-rooted ties to the Jesuit community, as well as the importance of her service as the first layperson and woman to lead Loyola.
Howl!
Loyola Wolf Pack women’s basketball player Zoie Miller ’18 (mass communication) was named the 2018 National Jesuit Player of the Year! This award honors two student-athletes who best display excellence on the court while maintaining core values of Jesuit education. The former guard had an incredible season for the Wolf Pack this past year, leading the team in scoring and steals, averaging 19.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. She led the Southern States Athletic Conference and ranked eighth in the NAIA in scoring with 618 total points this past season.
This summer, Loyola selected Barnes & Noble College, a Barnes & Noble Education company, to manage its instore and online bookstore operations! The new bookstore, still located in the Danna Student Center, will drive significant cost savings for Loyola students, offering a variety of affordable choices for learning materials, including a robust textbook rental program and an extensive selection of new, used, and digital books.
Loyola is one of only 50 institutions to win a 2017 Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Public Space Recycling grant! Selected from among more
than 800 national applicants, Loyola will use grant funds to purchase 30 new recycling bins to be placed in all five residence halls. With the help of weekly pickups and student participation, the 32-gallon bins made possible by the grant from Keep America Beautiful and the Coca-Cola Foundation are expected to help Loyola recycle an additional 45,000 gallons of waste per year.
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Engine
Oppor of
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You lead by example. You ask of people what you're willing to do yourself.
You walk through fire.
rtunity BY WILL GLASS
Walking Through Fire With Tania Tetlow
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I know some things about Tania Tetlow before I arrive at her office. I know that she grew up within the Loyola community, that she's been involved on this campus since she was a little girl. Check out the timeline on the next page to see just how deeply Loyola and the Jesuit tradition run in her family. I know, too, that in the law and scholarship communities, she's sort of major league. Her work in both areas has had tangible positive effects on our nation's judicial processes and our community's prosperity. I know these things because — People are excited. They're excited about change — the change she tends to bring to the institutions she works for, the change she can bring to this one. And when people get excited, they talk. I know more, though, simply because her reputation precedes her. I could probably write this feature from her public biography alone. She's raised millions of dollars in federal grants. She's advised governments and law clinics around the world. She led a complete turnaround of
NOPD's Sex Crimes Unit. Her accomplishments are nearly innumerable, each one as grand as the last. But she and I and the Loyola community are all hoping that the next one will be one of her grandest — that she'll bring the change she's been making in higher education to our university and lead us into a prosperous future. That's what I sit down to talk with her about. “I believe this is a critical moment for Loyola,” she tells me as the conversation deepens. And I agree with her. But before that, just 10 minutes after I've met her and in response to a general question about her legal scholarship, she tells me: “It's always mattered to me to be the kind of academic who still had an impact on the world.” Which, accidentally, is a better mantra for the Jesuit order's academia than most of the Latin presented in their brand standards. And I know, then — that I'm sitting next to our new president.
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President The Making of a
1928
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Her uncle Joseph Tetlow enters the New Orleans Province. Ordained in 1960, he would go on to serve as the dean of Loyola’s College of Arts and Sciences.
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Louis and Elisabeth marry on July 5, 1970. Tania's father, Louis Mulry Tetlow, joins the Jesuit order and serves for 17 years. He left the priesthood in 1970 after feeling the call to start a family of his own.
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Tania moves back to New Orleans, joins the Ignatius Chapel community, and goes on to sing with the church choir.
On Oct. 15, Tania is born. According to her mother, Tania may be the only person actually welcomed as a newborn into a Jesuit community, the Marion Avenue community at Fordham University, composed of Jesuit and lay graduate students. She is baptized at Holy Name of Jesus Church in New Orleans.
1984
Tania’s mother, Tania Elisabeth, attends graduates Holy Name from the of Jesus College of Law. for middle school while her father teaches at City College and her mother teaches classes while attending law school at night. Tania would often walk from school to her father’s office in Monroe Hall once her classes were done for the day.
Tania Tetlow’s grandfather Joe Tetlow received football and track scholarships to Loyola University New Orleans, paving the way for generational success.
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Tania Tetlow has deep Jesuit roots, going back generations, that give her a special perspective on our university and its history and — most important — will help her shape its future.
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Tania graduates magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Tania graduates cum laude from Tulane with a degree in American studies. Tania graduates from Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans and enrolls at Tulane University. She says attending Tulane instead of Loyola was her “one act of rebellion.”
2012
Tania is selected as Loyola's 17th president and the first woman and first lay president.
Tania and Gordon welcome a daughter, Lucy, into their family. Lucy is baptized at Ignatius Chapel. “I’ve received at least one of the sacraments at every Jesuit church in the city,” Tania says. Tania marries Gordon Stewart at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in New Orleans. Her uncle Joe performs the ceremony. She becomes stepmother to Noah, then 4.
Six Degrees of Schools Ignatian Between them, President Tetlow’s mother and father hold six Jesuit degrees: Her father attended Spring Hill College, St. Louis University, and Fordham University, and her mother attended Fordham University, Santa Clara University, and Loyola University New Orleans.
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police departments, a professor who taught students to fight similarly for social justice in her Domestic Violence Law Clinic, a mother who catches her daughter doing impromptu liturgical dances at Mass, and most of all a leader who continuously pursues policy reform that protects and champions every member of her community. “Being a university president is amazing and challenging because you have so many disparate constituencies,” she says. “You have hundreds of employees and faculty; you have thousands of students whom you feel responsible for — the quality of their experience but also their safety and well-being. And then tens of thousands of alumni who want to feel connected to the university and to you. The engagement with those communities is what'll bring me the most happiness. That's what I'll enjoy; that part of the job is what I'll love most.” Her pursuit of excellence, commitment to service, and life as a woman for others has been on clear display both professionally and personally — shaped by the Jesuit tradition that adheres so strongly to those principles — for a long time. And I'll tell you about some of those things. But first — She and I both know what everyone reading this is thinking. Has been thinking. Because she's smart, she knows I'll ask. And because she's fearless, I know she'll answer. She will answer all of you. “So you're here,” I say. “Now what are you going to do to? “How are you going to transform Loyola?”
Being a university president is amazing and challenging because you have so many disparate constituencies . . . .
The engagement with those communities is what'll bring me the most happiness.
That's what I'll enjoy; that part of the job is what I'll love most.
The Hard Question She doesn't waste time, which I expected. There's no kind of padding language at all when she answers my questions, which is a nice surprise. And she's remarkably approachable for someone of her clout, which is disarming. She says of Lindy Boggs, who was her mentor: “She was a genius at connecting to people. She did it by being sincerely fascinated by them, which they felt. So she could talk to people across political differences in a way that few people could. “The most powerful form of leadership is to understand that every single person you talk to is interesting and valuable. And that people then feel that respect and that empathy.” Which is some kind of Jesuit-y version of “more flies with honey . . .” And truthfully, I'll learn that Tetlow is and has been some kind of Jesuit-y version of most things: a child who was sung to sleep with Gregorian chant, a student who went to Harvard Law as a Harry Truman Fellow, a lawyer whose scholarship persuaded the Department of Justice to include the discriminatory under-enforcement of the law in its civil rights investigations of
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The Right Answer “The good news is that the board and the administration have already worked very hard on a plan,” she says. “The trick now is to execute that plan well.” Something else she tells me she learned from her mentor later: “You can get anything you want to done — as long as you're willing to give away the credit.”
And I learn through talking to her that this is another crucial element of her leadership style — to prioritize, above everything else, getting things done and to do so transparently. She believes, I think, not in calming people with words. Instead, to her, people are calm when they know what's going on, and people are calm when things are in motion. It's a relief. And on relief — I'll spare you some grand eight-spread show-and-tell, some prestige or reveal: She has ideas. She answered my question — our question — immediately and directly and with actionable goals backed by research. “The key will be executing the current plans to build new revenue,” she says. Simple enough. “And to diversify the university’s funding, so it’s never too dependent on any one source, like tuition.” “Like what?” I ask her. “Loyola is launching everything from online programs to continuing education to summer programs, which can both raise revenue and create new pipelines of students who are exposed to Loyola as high school students or who come here during college and maybe transfer. Those are what every university in the country is looking at, so it's important to build those programs well and to make sure they fulfill our hopes.” These are simple, immediate steps, she tells me, that we’re taking now to build ourselves toward the future we're all hoping for. “The university has already done extraordinary work to put itself onto firm financial footing,” she says. “Now is the time to come together after that difficult process and to move forward. We have to collectively create our vision for the future, to build on Loyola’s strengths.” First, we do the things that definitely work. We do them quickly, and we do them well. Once we tackle those things, which have been proved to work across the nation, we start building on the things that make Loyola . . . Loyola. “Most problems are not solved by any one discipline,” she says. “You have to be able to toggle in your mind between fields. “The main thing is that Loyola is not going to evaluate students just on how much knowledge they accumulate. It's about the person that you become. And the fact that that matters so much to the university is a real rallying cry for students. It's what draws them here and helps them flourish. And it's not true of every school.” OK.
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The Right Person She knows these things about us because, among other Loyola-related experiences, she taught adjunct at our College of Law for eight years, where she saw firsthand the appeal and impact of our Jesuit academic tradition. She knows our mission inside out, and she believes in it. “I absolutely loved the students I had: how many of them were the first in their family to go to college, much less to law school; how passionate they were; how they opted for Loyola because they care about social justice, whatever their political perspectives. “They're really drawn to making the world a better place.” She fit right in. The joke now, even, is that she's been groomed for this job her whole life. “I have joked that the Jesuits in my family secretly raised me to do this — but without telling me,” she says. “They pushed me to learn more, to study harder, to be disciplined and hard-working — but also to
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feel a sense of duty and willingness to step up to the plate when called upon.” Which is the kind of secret thing the Jesuits might do; I don't know. What I do know, and what we all know who have met her, is that this stuff — this real stuff she's done and lived, this real way that she is — it's stuff that makes her definitively correct for this job. “The work I've done over the years to push the world to do better is important when you're at an institution whose core mission is all about teaching that,” she says. “It matters to have those credentials and those stories to tell students. “I think the advocacy I've done for social justice has always taken the form of solving complicated problems, of finding creative solutions that other people haven't thought about, and persuading people — often from the inside — to come to the table and offer to help. “It's a combination of that Jesuit mission of wanting to use your skills to change the
world and make it a better place. But also I really love solving problems, so finding ways to tinker with the systems we have and make them better has been really important to me.” She is a leader who is humble, direct, and open — one who carries those traits like promises. And when she presents tangible, goal-oriented plans for change, bolstered by research and experience and focused always on care for the individual — she sounds like a Jesuit. The point, though, Jesuit or lay, is that these things can work. And more than that, I believe that she'll execute them. That she is the one to execute them. I believe that because her ideas usually work. I believe it because after Katrina, as chair of the public library board, she raised $7 million in a year-and-a-half to rebuild flooded branches. I believe it because not only did she use her legal scholarship to make tangible change in the Department of Justice, but she also raised $2.3 million in grant funding
with her Domestic Violence Law Clinic, where students learned — by actually practicing law — to protect clients and children of clients who were escaping violent relationships. And then using that clinic as a springboard, she was able to spearhead policy reform in the city, specifically working with NOPD to overhaul its Sex Crimes Unit. I believe it because at Tulane, while doing things like co-chairing a commission on race and values that increased the support available to first-generation students, students of color, and the LGBTQ+ community, as well as working to improve the institution's policies on sexual misconduct, she continued always to focus on the institution's obligations as a major employer in the city. And when talking about it, she says things like it's her responsibility to watch out for the university as a workplace, to make sure it's fair and equitable for its employees. She says these things off-thecuff, like they're givens.
This woman has such a proven record as a change agent in our community. And as a change agent, she's always cared about people — and assumed responsibility for their well-being. Now, she gets to set her ambition on a community that's already important to her. “I have a real head start in knowing this city and this Loyola community so very well already and knowing what makes it special and valuing it at its core,” she says, “but also I've had this varied background of experiences that will be useful.” She's had a career both inside and outside of higher education that's made a real impact. She's taken her expertise across the world, advising law clinics in Egypt, Rwanda, and Iran on domestic violence policy; participating in the U.S. delegation to the Secretary of State’s People-to-People Exchange in Beijing; and serving as the U.S. chair of the British American Project, a bilateral leadership organization.
It's clear enough that she takes the Jesuit ideals of experiential learning and global perspective seriously, that she's got the chops to go anywhere she wants. But it's clear also that she's chosen this city — that she feels that uniquely New Orleanian pull. “I always say that the curse of being from here is that you're never going to be fully happy anywhere else,” she says. “Which is not the guarantee you'll be fully happy here. But if you go away, you'll miss it terribly.” She laughs. And then it's clear, too, that she's chosen not just New Orleans but also Loyola University New Orleans. “It really feels like coming home in many ways,” she says. “Loyola has just been such a big part of my life, and it's also loomed so large in my whole family's life.”
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My sense is that the Loyola community is very excited that I'm coming — because I know so many of them. I'm humbled by that excitement and will spend every hour of the next many years working hard to earn their trust.
And I do have to earn their trust. That will come by being transparent about both our challenges and our successes.
Defining the Future “The opposite of love isn't hate,” she says. “It's fear.” It's a favorite quote of hers that she attributes to Rev. William Sloane Coffin. “It's hard to deal with confrontation,” she continues, “and with people who are diametrically opposed to you. I spend a lot of time trying to put myself into other people's shoes and understand where they're coming from, and it's almost never about you. It's about their own worries and anxieties.” And this is perhaps the thing that comforts me most about this changing of the guard. I feel when she tells me this, that we have a leader who stands face-to-face with problems not to bat them down or
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away but instead to understand them and transform them for our institution's benefit. I'm going to do this simply for a change and just leave you with some words from that new leader, Tania Tetlow. Because she said some things to me that I needed to hear as a member of the Loyola community, and I want you to hear them too, right from her: “My sense is that the Loyola community is very excited that I'm coming — because I know so many of them. I'm humbled by that excitement and will spend every hour of the next many years working hard to earn their trust. “And I do have to earn their trust. That will come by being transparent about both our challenges and our successes: letting them know when things are not going well so
they'll believe me when things are going well. And it's about being engaged and accessible — listening more than talking. “I believe this is a critical moment for Loyola. It's had some struggles and has done wonderful work to overcome them. This is a moment to define our future — to have the community collectively create a vision of how to build on Loyola's strengths. We need to sustain the university that we love so much and make it everything that it can be.” “I know how much Loyola has represented a real engine of opportunity in New Orleans and now the whole country. And it means the world to me, so I'm thrilled to be a part of it.” And she adds— “Finally.”
President Tetlow soon will be hitting the road on a tour to introduce herself to alumni across the country! HOUSTON, TX DALLAS, TX MIAMI, FL NEW YORK, NY SAN FRANCISCO, CA
For the full tour schedule, visit
loyno.edu/TetlowTour2018
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Alumni
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Events
Fr. Wildes' Retirement Party
Members of the Loyola community, including trustees, alumni, and administrators, gathered to say goodbye to Fr. Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D., outgoing president, and to welcome incoming president Tania Tetlow. 1 Tetlow with Fr. Wildes 2 Fr. Wildes, center, with, from left, Robert A. “Bobby” Savoie, M.B.A. ’81; Suzanne Mestayer; Donna Fraiche, J.D. ’75; John Finan, M.B.A. ’70; and Loyola Chief Operating Officer Paul Pastorek ’76, J.D. ’79, H ’12 — the chairs of the Board of Trustees during Fr. Wildes’ tenure as president 3 Tetlow with Frank and Paulette ’59 Stewart 4 Fr. Wildes with party hosts Savoie and his wife, Lori 5 From left, former trustee Robért LeBlanc ’00; his wife, Danielle; and newlyweds Travers Mackel ’98 and Meg Gatto ’06
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Wolves on the Prowl
Loyola’s National Day of Service took place on Nov. 4, 2017. Hundreds of alumni and students across the country participated in community service projects in the New Orleans area and in alumni chapter cities across the country. The New Orleans-area service site was KIPP Central City Primary, an Orleans Parish public school. Alumni chapters in New York; Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Denver; Houston; Orlando, Fla.; Dallas; and Los Angeles participated in Loyola’s annual day of service. Save the date: Nov. 10, 2018, for Wolves on the Prowl 2018. Learn more at alumni.loyno.edu/wolves-prowl
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YAP Christmas
Members of the Young Alumni Pack celebrated at the 2017 Christmas Cocktail.
New York City Happy Hour 2017 New York City-area alumni gathered for a pop-up happy hour at a rooftop bar on Oct. 26, 2017.
1st Pitch Baseball Alumni
Former baseball players gathered at Rock ’n’ Bowl on Feb. 1, 2018, to celebrate the start of the Wolf Pack Athletics Baseball Season.
DC Landrieu Welcome Reception Alumni in the Washington, D.C., area welcomed Dean Madeleine Landrieu, J.D. ’87, H ’05, at a reception hosted by Adams and Reese Law Firm on Sept. 26, 2017.
Music Therapy Happy Hour
Music therapy alumni gathered at the annual American Music Therapy Association Convention on Nov. 11, 2017.
Athletics Hall of Fame
The 2018 inductees to Loyola’s Wolf Pack Athletics Hall of Fame included Ryan Brock ’11 (men’s basketball), left, and the 2002 women’s volleyball team. Both were recognized at the annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Reception on Jan. 20, 2018.
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Dallas Dinner
Elyse Harrison ’17 and Tamara Holmes ’96, top, and John ’61 and Judy ’63 Henneberger enjoyed fellowship and camaraderie at the Dallas Alumni Chapter Lenten Mass and Dinner event on March 3, 2018.
1912 Society
The 1912 Society Dinner, Loyola’s annual gala, took place on Dec. 7, 2017, at the Roosevelt Hotel. Loyola’s most prestigious award, the Integritas Vitae Award, was presented to Drs. Richard Ranney Mize and Emel Songu Mize. Entertainment at the event included a performance by internationally acclaimed violinist and faculty member Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, a silent auction, and a special surprise performance by New Orleans’ own 610 Stompers.
Starlight Racing
Loyola alumni Corwin Dupree ’97; Emanuel Ohlsen ’06; and Edward Morris Gray ’86, M.B.A. ’92, visit at the annual Starlight Racing event on March 9, 2018.
Houston Brunch
Houston-area alumni enjoy the annual Houston Chapter Brunch at Brennan’s event on Nov. 12, 2017.
Lagniappe Wine Dinner
Bob ’72 and Debb Almeida welcome guests at a wine dinner hosted by Lagniappe Peak Vineyards and the Loyola Alumni Association at the historic Opera Guild House in New Orleans. (Sadly, Bob passed away in November 2017.)
Chicago Mardi Gras
Chicago-area alumni gathered at the chapter’s annual Mardi Gras Happy Hour on Feb. 10, 2018. PRESIDENTIAL EDITION 2018 | loyno
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“You’re a beautiful creation of God!” The Rev. James Martin, S.J., speaks at 2018 commencement.
Jesuit priest, best-selling author, and editor at large of America magazine, the Rev. James Martin, S.J., addressed graduates of Loyola University New Orleans at Loyola’s 2018 commencement, held Saturday, May 12, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. In an uplifting and thoughtful address to more than 750 graduates and a crowd estimated at 8,000, Fr. Martin reminded graduates of their unique gifts and intrinsic value as children of God and congratulated the class of 2018, more than one-fourth of whom are first-generation college graduates.
Drawing alternately on life experience, Jesuit values, and the words of Pope Francis, Martin delivered lighthearted yet meaningful advice on: “Seven things that I wish I had known at your age. Seven things that would have made life a little easier…” “Be yourself! Or: Stop trying to be someone else,” he said, in one bit of advice. “‘Boy,’ you think, ‘if only I were like him, or her. Or them. Someone else. That’s who I wish I were.’ But you’re meant to be yourself. You’re a beautiful creation of God. And being holy means being you.”
More than half of the nation’s 28 Jesuit universities and colleges have given honorary degrees to Fr. Martin; Loyola University New Orleans is the 15th Jesuit university to have Fr. Martin as commencement speaker. Honorary degrees also were given to Carlos Miguel Prieto, Nadja SalernoSonnenberg, Courtney-Anne Sarpy, and Charles Rice. In true New Orleans fashion, Loyola capped off commencement with a traditional second-line celebration led by the Kinfolk Brass Band.
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news roundup Loyola Hosts Mayoral Lecture
Student-Athletes Set 10-Year High GPA
To mark the tricentennial, Loyola brings mayors past and present to campus for civic lecture and discussion.
With the conclusion of the 2017-2018 year, the academic performance of Loyola’s student-athletes has matched their success in competition.
In the spirit of celebrating the city’s tricentennial, the Institute of Politics, in collaboration with the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute, hosted an important civic lecture titled “One New Orleans: Four Perspectives, Insights from Three Mayors and One Incoming Mayor of New Orleans” on April 5, 2018, as part of the Ed Renwick Lecture Series. Three of New Orleans’ five living mayors, as well as current Mayor LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans’ first female mayor, discussed the city’s past, present, and future. Mayor Moon Landrieu (1970-1978) ’52, J.D. ’54, H ’79, H ’05; Mayor Sidney Barthelemy (1986-1994); Mayor Mitch Landrieu (2008-2016), J.D. ’95, H ’05; and Mayor Cantrell shared their experiences at City Hall and their overall thoughts on mayoral leadership over the past 40 years while looking toward the future.
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Loyola alumnus Clancy DuBos, J.D. ’93, served as moderator. The annual lecture honors Ed Renwick, Ph.D., long considered the dean of New Orleans political analysts. Renwick taught political science at Loyola for nearly 40 years and was the director of the Institute of Politics from the early 1970s until his retirement in 2008. Renwick was voted Best Pollster in New Orleans by readers of Gambit newspaper and was the recipient of a Role Model Award presented by the Young Leadership Council in 1995. In 1999, Renwick was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame in Winnfield, La. “Together, these mayors have led New Orleans through many seminal moments in our city’s history,” said Tommy Screen, director of the Institute of Politics.
Just days after earning the highest Learfield Cup point total in Loyola history, Wolf Pack student-athletes earned a 10-year best with a 3.175 GPA. In addition, the Southern States Athletic Conference named 54 Loyola student-athletes to the league's All-Academic teams in 2017-2018, the most in Loyola history since the Wolf Pack joined the league in 2010, topping their previous best of 46 from the 2012-2013 academic year. Four Loyola swimmers earned All-Academic in the Mid-South Conference, as well, where the Wolf Pack competes as an affiliate member. The GPA of 3.175 topped the general student body by .015. Wolf Pack women student-athletes led the way with a 3.223 GPA while the men attained a 3.112 GPA. The achievement in the classroom was the highest since the 2007-2008 academic year, when Wolf Pack student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.21. Of the 54 student-athletes named to their respective AllConference All-Academic teams, two were named the SSAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in their respective sports: Ethan Turner ’19 of men’s basketball and Arianna Pepper ’20 of women’s tennis. Both are working toward finance degrees at Loyola and have maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA while being major contributors to their teams. Sixteen student-athletes also earned Daktronics-NAIA ScholarAthlete honors, maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale
after attending the school for at least two years or one as a transfer. “The pursuit of excellence is one of the values of Jesuit education,” said Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Brett Simpson. “We strive to attain excellence in every facet of our department. Our academic success is an achievement that our entire campus can share. Our faculty and staff play a huge role supporting our student-athletes in their studies.”
Pan-American Life Student Success Center Opens Thanks to generous gifts from the Pan-American Life Insurance Group and an anonymous donor, the new Pan-American Life Student Success Center opened its doors in June. Unveiled in June 2018, the new $1.25-million Pan-American Life Student Success Center at Loyola University New Orleans brings together multiple services in one central location where dedicated staff provide nationally recognized best practices in services supporting all student success. More than 1,000 Loyola students visited the Student Success Center during the 2017-2018 academic year, and the new center, with its state-of-the-art facilities and centralized location, is expected to see increased visits. Located on the second floor of the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library, the universally designed — and entirely donor-funded — 9,000-square-foot
center is made possible by recent gifts from Pan-American Life and an anonymous donor. “When we embarked on this project, we had one goal top-ofmind — creating a better student experience for all our students,” said Interim Provost Maria Calzada. “And with this new center, we have certainly succeeded. Thanks to our generous donors, our students now have access to all the study, mentoring, coaching, and self-development resources they need in a welcoming environment designed to help everyone succeed.” Within the center, Loyola students will find the Office of Student Success; the Office of Academic Advising for First-Year Students; the Office of
Writing and Learning Services; and the newly renamed Office for Accessible Education, which features state-ofthe-art technology and marks a shift in how students with special needs are perceived and celebrated. The new Pan-American Life Student Success Center at Loyola is also home to a number of special programs, outreach efforts, and events, including First in the Pack, a mentoring and outreach program for first-generation college students at Loyola; Loyola 101, a course designed to provide students an introduction to academic life at the university; workshops for academic skills and personal wellness; and academic recovery resources and programs,
including early warning, registration, and outreach to students and families. Since Fall 2017, the Office of Student Success provides student success coaching for every first-year student. Every first-year student at Loyola now has access to an Inside Track-trained personalized success coach, designed to guide students “from thought to action” and help them develop skills that will enhance their personal and professional lives. Peer-reviewed studies show that individualized coaching for first-year students can help to improve retention of students by 3 percent. Loyola is currently tracking well ahead of its 84 percent retention goal and a full 5 percent higher than this time last year.
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A note from Fr. Carter on Jesuit Identity WHEN I WAS ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT IN THE EARLY 1970S, we began reviewing Jesuit demographics, and it became clear even then that the supply of Jesuits was starting to decline. We knew from the research that the number of Jesuits was going down, the average age of Jesuits was going up, and the number of Jesuits qualified to be university presidents was going down. So we began to make preparations. We knew what was coming. When we were doing strategic planning, we would say: What happens if we don’t have enough qualified Jesuits to be president? When I was a student at Loyola, almost every faculty member was a Jesuit. And you never thought about it. They were just there. In the ’70s and ’80s, we realized that, with the growing number of lay faculty at Loyola, we could not take Jesuit identity for granted. We had to find ways to bring our lay faculty and staff on board with our Jesuit identity. We sought ways to include Jesuit values and mission into faculty recruiting and hiring. We developed our campus ministry. We added new coursework to the undergraduate curriculum. The first non-Jesuit president was Sr. Maureen Fahey, president of University of Detroit – Mercy. That
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loyno | PRESIDENTIAL EDITION 2018
was in the early 1990s. This triggered a number of things. And some of us began to actually make changes in charters. Since then Georgetown has had a lay president, and the number of lay presidents at Jesuit colleges and universities has proliferated. And in some ways, I think we are stronger. Georgetown has shown us that a young layperson can be just as strong in promoting Jesuit identity. You can’t take it for granted. And I think we have the right person to maintain and strengthen our Jesuit identity in Tania Tetlow. Jesuit spirituality is something she grew up with. From the time she was a young child, I would see her frequently at Mass in Ignatius Chapel, where she sang in the choir. At her father’s funeral, she said that as a young girl, she would always to turn to her father when she did not know the meaning of a word. Like a Jesuit, he would respond with the complete etymology of the word and then spend the next halfhour explaining what the word meant in different contexts. She loved that. Her uncle, the Rev. Joe Tetlow (a former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola), worked in the Office of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus in Rome and was the Father General’s right hand in promoting the Spiritual Exercises
of St. Ignatius among the apostolate. That must have rubbed off on her. To have an uncle, an uncle whom she knew well, to be so influential in promoting Ignatian spirituality. Everyone who’s ever worked with Tania, or known her, has known her to be extremely bright. And of course, she had good professional experience. She was a senior executive at Tulane and before that she taught in the law school. That’s a good background for higher education. Every other year, the university undergoes a review by the Provincial, called the Examen, to ensure that we have maintained our Jesuit values, mission, and identity, as well as our Catholicity. And Loyola’s amended charter, which makes room for a lay president, makes it clear that the vice president of Mission and Ministry at Loyola has to be a Jesuit and will report to the president. It’s part of the Jesuit spirituality to adapt to changing times. The times have changed, and we accept that. It’s part of God’s providence. We’ve been working on our Jesuit identity a long time, and I think that Tania Tetlow is the right person to continue that work. I welcome her as our new president and will do everything I can to support her.
September 28–30
Save the date and join us to reconnect with family, friends, faculty, and staff at your home away from home! FRIDAY, 9/28 9am – 12pm: Field trips 3pm: Campus tours 5pm: Cocktail seminar
SATURDAY, 9/29 9am – 12pm: Field trips 5pm – 6pm: Mass 6pm: Golden Wolves Dinner
SUNDAY, 9/30 10am – 12pm: Family brunch 11am – 1pm: Alumni jazz brunch
For more details and event registration, visit alumni.loyno.edu/weekend
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Congratulations, graduates! Class of 2018
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