My Deepest Gratitude

April 24, 2020

Dear Faculty, 

I am writing with a proverbial glass in hand to join you in a toast of congratulations and gratitude—you are amazing.

Collectively, you took over 3,400 class sections being taught across four campuses (including Rome) and moved them all online in a matter of just over a week. You have held virtual labs and shared theatre performances via Facebook Live.

Students, administrators, and staff are so grateful for all you did with your courses and engagement with students, creating a different sense of normalcy, focus, and accomplishment during the second half of this spring semester. You showed, first-hand, so much of what makes the community of Loyola University Chicago unique and impactful.

This is a semester none of us will soon forget. Yet, it also required us to use our imagination, creativity, tenacity, and ingenuity. It challenged everyone to reimagine some aspects of “transformative education” and added new dimensions to our query, “We are called to….?”

For now, please take a moment to take it all in and say a collective “We did it!”

Thank you faculty,

Jo Ann Rooney JD, LLM, EdD

President