MICUA

MICUA Matters

Fall 2011

A Catholic, Jesuit university founded in Baltimore in 1852, Loyola University Maryland has throughout its history developed powerful, mutually rewarding relationships with our neighbors not only in Baltimore City, but throughout our State. The addition of graduate campuses in Howard and Baltimore counties, the expansion of the Loyola Clinical Centers, our retreat center in Allegheny County, and our deep ties to businesses throughout the region have helped us build strong connections in every corner of the State.

Today’s Loyola serves more than 6,100 men and women, both undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, we provide full-time employment to more than 1,300 people in a wide range of professions. We are a premier provider of intellectual capital to the region’s leading corporations and organizations. As our programs, student body, faculty, staff, and administration have grown more diverse, our ability to make a positive contribution to our local community has only increased. We are committed to making Loyola the nation’s leading Catholic, comprehensive university, and our engagement with our community is a key part of that endeavor.

One of the most significant ways in which we support this engagement is through our York Road Initiative, which aims to improve the quality of life for all people living, working, and learning in the neighborhoods just east of Loyola’s Evergreen campus in North Baltimore. After an extensive “Listening Project,” we decided to focus on three areas where the University has natural strengths: enhancing area education and youth development, building civic capacity, and strengthening the commercial corridor. We realized the first tangible result of this effort this summer with the launch of the Govanstowne Farmers’ Market, a project identified as a top priority by a community that lacks a grocery store and has limited access to fresh produce and other healthy food options.

Loyola’s strongest connection to the York Road Corridor is the Loyola Clinical Centers, which has operated there since 2003, and also includes a location in Columbia, Md. Staffed by Loyola graduate students under faculty supervision, the Clinical Centers provides state-of-the-art treatment in speech-language pathology/audiology, literacy, psychology, and pastoral counseling to more than 1,000 children and adults each year, most at a significantly reduced rate based on the clients’ financial needs. The Clinical Centers’ literacy services are provided by master’s candidates in Loyola’s School of Education, which is dedicated to serving the needs of diverse learners, particularly urban, high poverty, and other underserved populations in public and parochial schools. Our growing number of Baltimore-area Professional Development Schools and our partnership with Towson’s St. Pius X School on the first Montessori program in the Archdiocese of Baltimore provide just a few examples of this commitment.

This fall, we marked the completion of the 15,000 square foot addition to our Donnelly Science Center, a project which provided a year’s work to highly skilled individuals during a period of great economic constraint. Advanced with the invaluable support of a $3.25 million grant from the State of Maryland, this project will play a critical role in Loyola’s ability to attract students eager to pursue degrees and careers in the vital science, technology, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

These endeavors represent just a few of the ways Loyola University Maryland is striving to make Baltimore, Maryland, and our nation stronger. This commitment to the future of our communities is an important part of Loyola’s identity as a Jesuit institution and to the continued success of the University itself. We look forward to building on these programs and creating new community initiatives for many years to come.