Earlier this month, buses from a number of neighboring schools brought scores of children to our annual Kids Day at Leo D. Mahoney Arena to watch a women’s basketball game between our Stags and conference rivals, Marist. We continued the fine team play that has characterized our season and finished with a resounding win. Thus, at the moment of this writing I can report that our women’s basketball team’s 20-game winning streak is currently the second-longest in the country.

By the time you receive this edition of Fairfield University Magazine, of course, our women’s team will be further along — and not to jinx it — hopefully poised for post-season success. However, today, along with the study and dialogue animating our classrooms and communal spaces, and the formation of our students in our residence halls and Egan Chapel, the campus is enjoying the buzz of energy that arises from the exertions of our student athletes giving their all, for their teammates and for our school.

This spirit of celebration is an element of collegiate athletics that is so integral to our University. We celebrate this tradition by featuring the 50th anniversary of women’s athletics at Fairfield. Both our men’s and women’s athletics programs continue to excel, and we are proud of our athletes across the generations for the standards they have set, on and off the field.

Athletics is yet another reflection of our University’s continued uplift in prominence. We are attracting ever greater interest from ever more students. This year, we have had over 18,000 undergraduate applications for admission, up 20 percent from last year’s record, from 46 states and 76 countries. One of the most telling points of data is the increase in applications we see from beyond our traditional northeastern populations, up 17 percent from Florida, 11 percent from California, 40 percent from Illinois, and 52 percent from the Washington, D.C., area. This is a strong indication that word of our quality continues to spread.

We are heartened by the success we are seeing for all our academic ventures, including our Fairfield Bellarmine associate’s degree program in Bridgeport, and our nursing programs in Austin, Texas. Bellarmine’s first year students are progressing through their studies with aplomb and have helped spread the word in the local community as we continue to find outsized interest from students and families. After a successful first year of our second-degree nursing program in Austin, we have scores of applications for next year, and have word that our Doctorate in Nurse Anesthesia program has been accredited in Texas, with 168 applications for 16 slots in the first cohort. Our confidence that Texas would respond to our excellent Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies programs has been rewarded.

In the midst of all this good news, there has been difficult news as well. It was with sadness that we all learned of the passing of Rev. Charles “Charlie” Allen, S.J., who for so many years served our community, most recently as our alumni chaplain. He was a much-loved figure on our campus and a great friend and support to so many of you, and to me as well. Many of you were blessed over the years to have Fr. Allen at your side as he presided at over 400 alumni weddings, and countless other events. It came as no surprise that when Fr. Allen’s retirement was announced in the spring of 2020, thousands of well-wishers came to campus in a cavalcade of cars to wish him well.

Fr. Allen will be missed, but he will always be with us in spirit. I am honored to announce that our current Alumni House will henceforth be named Charles H. Allen, S.J., Alumni House – or Allen House, for short. A most fitting tribute for a most remarkable man.

With utmost gratitude and very best wishes,

Mark R. Nemec, PhD
President