In March of 2025, Neumann University reached its 60th anniversary and launched a yearlong celebration of six decades of service to the community. In this last installment of the Mission Monday series, which has asked us to look to the past and recall the courageous people who have contributed to our success, I invite us to focus on the future and imagine the next 60 years of excellence.
I envision two critical elements of Neumann’s essence remaining steadfast through the decades to come: our students and our mission. Who we serve and why we serve them are bedrock principles of our Franciscan tradition.
We will continue to educate a diverse population of first-generation students who are hungry for learning and for an environment that sustains their values. Neumann students seek an experience that sets them on a journey – not only for a rewarding professional career but also for an impactful life in their communities. They come to us not just for an education but for a framework of a purposeful life. They are eager to embrace the RISES values that allow them to be part of something bigger than themselves.
So often, excellence in higher education is defined by the inputs -- the SAT scores and GPAs that a freshman class brings to a campus. I believe that excellence is more appropriately measured by the results, by the impact that our educational experience has on our students. The credentials that they bring to campus pale in comparison to the goals that they have when they graduate.
While our commitment to students and mission remains unshakable, I also see our distinctive approach to experiential learning expanding through the curriculum. From its early days as Our Lady of Angels College, Neumann has seen the value of real-world experience. We have more than half a century of history with clinical rotations and student teaching.
Blending applied experience with Franciscan values is a distinguishing characteristic of a Neumann education. We now require internships and are establishing unique community partnerships such as the digital forensics lab (with the Delaware County District Attorney’s office and the Aston Police Department), the mutually beneficial physical therapy relationship with Kinetic Movement Reimagined, and the upcoming pro bono clinic in Chester (with Chariot Allaire and the Independence Blue Cross Foundation).
These partnerships make education real. There’s nothing like the intensity of an in-the-field experience, and the more we can forge alignments like this with other organizations, the better. They see us as a force multiplier and even begin to view themselves as part of the educational process.
External influences like artificial intelligence will have an impact, of course. Today, we are awash in information, and universities face a new challenge – being the curators of knowledge. Fortunately, our faculty are exceptional at helping students develop critical thinking skills to determine what is true and how to apply that knowledge ethically.
That application occurs through experiential education and service learning. A university is a place where students can explore ideas, build character, and frame pathways for the future. We have a responsibility to create an authentic experience that helps them do exactly that.
That’s the future.