At the same time, we at the University have taken comfort and drawn energy from the fact that the core purpose of what we do — forming young men and women of purpose to pursue lives of productive citizenship and societal stewardship — remains ever true.

In reflecting on this core purpose, this past November, I was fortunate enough to be in Rome to address a colloquium at the Pontifical Gregorian University on the life and work of St. Robert Bellarmine, the patron of our University. It was an opportunity for me to meet in person with the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the Rev. Arturo Sosa, S.J., and speak with him about Fairfield’s commitment to the ongoing work of Jesuit education, and in particular how the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society, adopted in 2019, have been incorporated into our curriculum and academic programs.

While all the apostolic preferences are important to our work during this special Ignatian Year – it is the third of these preferences, accompanying “our young people in the creation of a hope-filled future,” that calls out to us as a University most immediately. We have entered a period of epochal change, Fr. Sosa stressed, with the emergence of digital culture and globalization, and it is the young people of today — our students — who will be the leaders of this epoch. Our obligations as a University are to meet, support, and encourage our young people during this critical period, so they will have the tools they need to build a just, harmonious, and peaceful world.

Looking forward to next year on campus, we received an unprecedented number of applicants for the Class of 2026, breaking our application pool record for the 12th consecutive year with 13,200 applications in total, an increase of 5.25 percent over the previous year. We are also enjoying record numbers of applicants for our graduate programs in nursing, business, engineering, and education. These students are attracted by the values based, student-centric, outcome-focused education Fairfield is renowned for offering.

As I have shared previously, the question of the value of a higher education has been long discussed but hard to quantify. However, thanks to our colleagues at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), we now have a measure of ROI for students by institution. CEW assessed the lifetime value of more than 4,500 post-secondary educational institutions. Fairfield does exceptionally well, ranking 54th out of all postsecondary institutions and 35th out of all traditional four-year universities, fourth in the Jesuit network and second only to Yale in the state of Connecticut.

This affirmation of our value comes at a momentous time, as we have been elevated by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education from a regional, master’s degree granting institution to the national doctoral, professional university category. This move reflects the degree to which we have evolved, having added more graduate and professional programs, and professional doctorates in nursing and education.

As we rise, so do our needs grow. Any visitor to campus this semester will see a great deal of construction underway. We are currently adding 84 beds in 14 new townhouse units, and in a few months plan to break ground on a new residence hall in the Quad area that will house 203 students. Meanwhile, as I write, construction crews are at work on the roof of our new Arena and Convocation Center, an appropriate home for our men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams, our volleyball team, as well as other University functions and community events.

It is a new epoch, as Fr. Sosa has said, and we have set our sights on becoming the modern, Jesuit Catholic University the world needs today, eager to engage creatively with our youth — a University rooted in the traditions of Ignatian pedagogy, but also a University speaking to students of today of all ages, helping them to build a hope-filled and harmonious future for us all.

With very best wishes and utmost gratitude,

Mark R. Nemec, PhD

President