Addressing environmental threats from many angles

“Here at Loyola, sustainability is not just one of our seven degree programs. It’s embedded in the very fabric of our institution,” says Nancy C. Tuchman, founding dean and professor for the School of Environmental Sustainability (SES). “Every undergraduate student has been required to take an environmental issues course as part of our core curriculum since 2012.” Tuchman continues: “Our nursing and medical students are thinking about how the environment impacts people’s health. Our engineering students are thinking about how to build resilient infrastructure for a rapidly changing climate. Our public policy students are finding creative ways to build uncommon coalitions in support of policies that protect not just plants and animals but people and the land they depend on for their livelihood. Our business students are on the cutting edge of innovations that bring together purpose and profit for the greater good. The list goes on.”

According to student surveys, around 54% of incoming freshmen found Loyola’s commitment to sustainability an important reason why they chose the University. Loyola was the first Jesuit university to open a dedicated school to address environmental threats. Read more about our School of Environmental Sustainability.

The quest for better health as a human right

The health professionals who graduate from Loyola are known for more than providing excellent care or implementing health programs: They are on a mission to change the way our society thinks about health and wellness, starting with questions of equity.

“Health care focuses on caring for individuals, while public health focuses on preventing disease and creating better outcomes for whole populations. Both are vital for addressing health disparities. At Loyola, we are very intentional about taking an interdisciplinary approach that weaves together the individual and the collective,” says Elaine Morrato, founding dean and professor of the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health.

Morrato continues, “We want our graduates to be critical thinkers and entrepreneurial problem solvers who can see human health through the lenses of global geopolitics, climate change, income inequality – and how all these pieces come together to impact our health.”

Learn more about Loyola’s innovative Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, which offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in applied health sciences, healthcare administration, health informatics and data science, and public health sciences.

Putting business ethics on the map

True to its mission, Loyola University Chicago has been a leader in the field of business ethics long before current trends in higher education. More than 40 years ago, Jesuit Father Ray Baumhart pioneered the intersectionality of ethics, business, and moral theology. As a professor, dean, and President, Fr. Baumhart established Loyola as an academic center for business ethics, weaving ethics and social responsibility into its curricula, programs, and community collaborations.

Today, the University’s Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility remains a nationally recognized leader in shaping business ethics and forming successful, ethical leaders who make a positive impact in the world.  

“There has often been a false dichotomy between purpose and profits. The truth is, you do not have to choose one or the other,” says Karen Weigert, the center’s director. “In a very real sense, this is a part of the Jesuit tradition – a tradition that grounds us in driving social change. The Baumhart Center is here to show that you can create social and environmental impact through profitable, ethically run businesses.”

The Baumhart Center sits within the University’s Quinlan School of Business, where business ethics is a required course for all undergrads. According to Jennifer Griffin, professor and Baumhart Chair in Business Ethics, “The fact that Quinlan focuses on profits and purpose distinguishes us from all other business schools, even within the Jesuit network. It’s not one or the other. It’s how we can meaningfully and intentionally integrate profits and purpose so they can sustain not just the business, but life itself.”

Learn more about the Quinlan School of Business, the number-one undergraduate business program in Chicago.

Making an interdisciplinary, social impact education available to all

Since its founding, Loyola has been committed to strengthening access to higher education for all students. In 2015, the University opened Arrupe College, an innovative two-year degree program that continues the Jesuit tradition of offering a rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse population—many of whom are the first in their families to pursue higher education. “Most students worry about how to pay for college and how to choose what they want to study, but for first generation college students—who often come from lower-income households—these concerns are even more acute,” says Fr. Tom Neitzke, Arrupe’s dean and executive director. “That’s why at Arrupe, we help students earn a two-year associate’s degree on-time and with little to no debt. Along the way, we work with them to discover their interests and goals and help them to either continue to a bachelor’s program or move into meaningful employment.” More than three-quarters of Arrupe’s graduates complete the program with zero debt, and over 70 percent move on to a bachelor’s program.

“The educational approaches developed by the Jesuits—care for the whole person, deep reflection, service to others, and life-long learning—now represent best practices in higher education,” President Reed says. “Academic peers and leaders around the world embrace Jesuit educational methods, developed and refined over 500 years, to focus on developing the whole person—mind, body, and spirit—in dedication to the greater good.”