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To Our Alumni and Friends,
Rooted in and guided by our RISES values, the 2020-21 academic year was a year of care, growth, service and excellence for Neumann University. While COVID-19 continued to pose challenges, Neumann rose to overcome those challenges and continued to teach young women and men that knowledge, while valuable in itself, is best used in the service of others.
We cared for our campus community by doing all we could to keep students, faculty and staff safe and healthy. We offered classes in online, hybrid and in-person formats and significantly reduced residence hall capacity.
We planned for growth by acquiring Our Lady of Angels Convent and 63 acres of land from the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. A new campus master plan is a blueprint to guide us to 2035.
We served our students by launching diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to support success among first-generation students and those who face other barriers to academic and professional achievement.
Finally, we achieved excellence through gaining continued recognition from U.S. News & World Report as a Best College for Social Mobility and initiating new master’s degree programs in Clinical Laboratory Science and Forensic Psychology.
In this publication, you will read about Neumann’s commitment to excellence and to the academic and physical expansion of the school and our mission. You learn how we remained Neumann Strong in fall 2020 amid COVID and the reopening of campus. You will see the impact that your support has on our students, our campus, our academic and athletic programs.
Dr. Chris Everett Domes
President
Neumann University nearly doubled the size of its campus on June 30, 2021, when it signed an agreement to purchase Our Lady of Angels Convent and 63 acres of land from the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Part of the convent will be converted into residential space for as many as 120 students with other sections of the historic building serving as offices, opening space for classrooms in other campus buildings.
The acquisition of property, which also includes St. Elizabeth House and Tau House, will take place incrementally over several years. The Sisters of St. Francis will lease space in the convent for resident Sisters and offices through at least 2030.
“Neumann,” said Sr. Kathy Dougherty, outgoing congregational minister of the Sisters, “is the perfect fit to carry our legacy forward. We are thrilled about that. It’s a true blessing.”
After the unexpected disruption caused by COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, Neumann was fully prepared for the fall. Classes were provided in three formats: online, hybrid (with groups of students alternating weeks in class and online), and in-person for very small classes that could mask up and spread out. Residence hall capacity was reduced, and stringent disinfectant measures applied. Volunteer contact tracers helped to mitigate spread of the virus through quarantine and isolation procedures.
To begin the spring semester, Neumann even screened 331 students for COVID-19 in the Mirenda Center parking lot before they moved into residence halls on January 15 and 16. Only two students tested positive.
Prayers from the Porch: Franciscan PPESr. Marguerite O’Beirne, OSF, Neumann’s vice president for mission and ministry, and Sr. Linda DeCero, OSF, director of pastoral ministry, didn’t let coronavirus interfere with their roles on campus. Whenever classes were in session, the two Sisters spent hours on the screened-in porch of the campus Ministry House, offering students on their way to class a Franciscan version of PPE – prayer, presence, and encouragement.
The Ministry House was perfectly positioned for both women to engage students from their self-described “perch on the porch.” The home is located between the residence halls and the athletic center and is directly across the street from academic buildings and the dining hall. The foot traffic was steady, and many students stopped to chat with the Sisters.
With leadership from a dozen Black alumni, faculty and staff, Neumann has instituted a program to support diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus and to enhance social mobility opportunities for all students who face barriers to success. The social mobility initiative is led by alumni who began contacting President Chris Domes in the summer of 2020, asking how they could assist with DEI efforts.
As a result of these conversations, Dr. Domes formed the President’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion to help build students’ capacity for professional development and career success. The council recommended mentoring programs, summer internships and networking partnerships, and the group has begun work to identify internships in the private and public sectors.
Ann and Mark Baiada, founders of Bayada Home Health Care, gave $1 million to Neumann University to support facilities for nursing and health sciences programs, fund scholarships, and implement the launch of a new, expansive campus master plan. The master plan, which is the focus of the largest portion of the Baiada gift, looks ahead to an expanded campus footprint in 2035.
The Baiadas have been friends of Neumann since 2006, giving generously to support scholarships and the arts. They have also been the primary donors to many facilities on campus, including the Bayada Atrium in the Mirenda Center and the Bayada Teaching Auditorium in the Health Sciences Center.
“We have always supported Catholic education,” says Ann Baiada, “and Mark and I embrace the Franciscan values that Neumann University instills in its students.”
Neumann’s inaugural Athletics Golf Outing hit the green on June 15, 2021, drawing 128 golfers and raising $100,000 for 23 NCAA teams and eight club teams. Held at White Marsh Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill, PA, the event supported a significant part of the Neumann experience for hundreds of student-athletes, who currently make up about 18 percent of the undergraduate student body.
The funds raised at the golf outing will benefit all of the athletics teams on an as-needed basis. Proceeds will be used to provide uniforms and equipment and to support transportation to road games during playoffs. This event replaces individual team fundraising activity to create a more strategic fundraising effort.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Neumann’s online bachelor’s degree for veterans among the top 100 in the country. In rankings released in January 2021, the magazine named Neumann’s program as #73 nationwide and #4 in Pennsylvania. Rankings were based on a program’s effectiveness at awarding affordable degrees in a reasonable amount of time.
U.S. News also ranked Neumann among the Best in the North for social mobility. This ranking identifies colleges that are successful at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating significant proportions of economically disadvantaged students who are eligible for Pell Grants. Neumann was ranked #8 among regional universities in Pennsylvania for social mobility.
During 2020-21, Neumann expanded its academic portfolio for prospective graduate students. The MS in Clinical Laboratory Science is up and running, launched in January 2021. It provides instruction in infectious disease surveillance and epidemiologic investigation, as well as advanced course work in infection prevention. The 40-credit program can be completed in two years in an online, in-person, or hybrid format.
The master’s degree in Forensic Psychology, scheduled to start in the fall of 2022, is designed for people currently working in law enforcement, corrections, social services, or psychology who want to develop skills in psychological and intelligence analysis in the criminal and civil justice systems. The 36-credit program can be completed in two years.
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