We have risen to new heights over the course of a few short years, recognized as one of the best investments in American higher education, and one of the most important and respected Catholic and Jesuit institutions in the country. Our reputation for excellence is reflected in the number and academic quality of applicants that we receive, over 13,000 this year, with our admit rate declining, and the growth of our student body overall. These students will go on to join our alumni community, leaders in all professions and walks of life, with a shared desire to serve the common good, and a boundless optimism and energy that are hallmarks of our University community.

We have achieved this growth while remaining true to the vision that informed our foundation in 1942 — to educate and form persons of integrity and purpose — so that, full of confidence and charged with a love of the truth, Fairfield graduates will continue to go out and change our world for the better. As we grow, we continually return to this mission, discerning the path ahead, calling upon the inspiration of St. Ignatius and his companions, and asking ourselves always: What more can we do to serve the common good? What more is the world asking of us? What, indeed, is the magis at this critical moment in our history?

For Fairfield, at this time, that means pushing into new frontiers where we know that we can make a difference in people’s lives. Inside, as you will see, we have invested in our students’ educational experience on a broad front, enhancing our learning, living, and research spaces to ensure that a Fairfield education is of the highest contemporary standards. We have created greater access to students of all backgrounds, in particular having embarked on our Bellarmine initiative which will provide a rigorous, University and philanthropy funded associate’s degree-level education to promising students in underserved communities in the Greater Bridgeport area. We are bringing our excellent nursing programs to Austin, Texas, a region where there is a critical shortage of nurses and we feel we can make a difference. We continue to expand our graduate program offerings, including a new Executive Doctorate in Business Administration, and a number of new online-only master’s degree programs in business, engineering, and other fields where there is demand. And, we have raised the standards and the spirits of our scholar athletes and enhanced our capacity to be a host for community events with an investment in the new Leo D. Mahoney Arena, to name just a handful of innovations that we have embarked upon this year.

So, Fairfield is growing, branching out, and bringing the Fairfield ethos to new territory, and as we grow and expand we can see the new opportunities and the remarkable future that is beckoning. We can be, and must strive to become, the model of the modern, Jesuit Catholic University that the world needs today – true to the founding spirit of Jesuit education, more deeply integrated into the world as it is, educating our students at the highest possible levels of excellence, and providing them with precise tools, facilities, and scholarship that they need now — to lead, shape, and improve the world that is to come.

We have a tremendous opportunity to build the University that our world needs. I’m excited at what is on the horizon for us all, and I thank you for your fellowship and participation in this remarkable community that we call home.

With my best wishes for you all,

Mark R. Nemec, PhD
President