At the Crossroads of Hope and Impact

By Sheri McGill

Ten years ago, a bold idea took root at Loyola University Chicago: What if a Jesuit institution could redefine access to higher education? What if students with talent and drive but limited financial resources could get a real chance at success?

That vision became Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago.

Father Michael Garanzini, S.J., PhD (Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, 2025), Loyola’s president from 2001 to 2015, set the founding aim: build an environment where students who might be overlooked at large, traditional universities have layered support and the opportunity to thrive. Center recruitment on historically marginalized communities, including Black and Latino students and those who would be the first in their family to attend college. Offer a two-year, low- or no-cost path to an associate’s degree with a clear transfer route to enter a bachelor’s program.

Under the founding dean, Father Stephen Katsouros, S.J. (MA ’91), Arrupe opened its doors in 2015 and welcomed its first class of 159 students, most of them first-generation college students from the Chicago area. The promise was clear: Offer a rigorous, supportive, and debt-free path to an associate’s degree. Within two years, the first cohort walked across the stage with degrees in hand and futures transformed.

“We didn’t just want to help students get to college,” said Father Katsouros in an early address. “We wanted to help them through it, with dignity, community, and the resources they deserve.”

Since then, Arrupe has become more than a college. It has become a model for equity in higher education.

Rooted in Jesuit Values, Powered by People
Guided by a north star of retention, completion, and graduation, Father Katsouros and the founding team built a student-success model that continues to anchor Arrupe’s results.

From the start, Arrupe has embodied Loyola’s Jesuit mission of academic excellence and cura personalis (care for the whole person) in its most accessible form.

Unlike other associate’s degree programs, Arrupe combines the rigor of a nationally ranked university, taught by full-time Loyola faculty, with wraparound support that empowers students intellectually, morally, and spiritually. This holistic, affordable approach consistently exceeds national benchmarks.

The college’s mission is rooted in the call of its namesake, Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J., to form “persons for and with others.” That spirit lives in classrooms, advising sessions, and community moments as faculty and staff nurture each student’s potential, advancing Loyola’s commitment to justice, equity, and opportunity.

Over the past decade, Arrupe has benefited from the dedicated leadership of three Jesuits: founding dean Father Katsouros; Father Thomas Neitzke, S.J. (BA ’95); and current dean, Father Connell. Each shaped the college while remaining grounded in its mission.

From 2020 to 2024, Father Neitzke guided the college through the pandemic, strengthened its culture of care, opened its first science lab, expanded student services, and celebrated record-high retention and graduation. He also developed a housing scholarship for students facing housing insecurity.

Father Connell, who became dean in 2024, is building on that momentum. “What we do at Arrupe isn’t transactional. It’s transformational,” he said. “Our students are not only graduating at higher rates, they’re entering the world as people who know their worth and their voice.”

It is also fitting to note the steady leadership of Jennifer Boyle, PhD, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Operations, who has been with Arrupe since its founding. Her care for students and thoughtful approach to academic and operational decisions have shaped an environment where students and colleagues can do their best work. Dr. Boyle has been a meaningful part of Arrupe’s first decade. 

More Than an Education 
Students pursue associate’s degrees in liberal arts, social and behavioral sciences, or business. Dual-enrollment pathways were developed to let students begin a BSEd in bilingual/bicultural education or a BSN in nursing through Loyola.

What sets Arrupe apart is how students are supported along the way. From day one, they receive personalized advising, wellness resources, peer tutoring, and free therapy from licensed social workers. A retention and learning coordinator provides coaching in study skills, time management, and executive functioning.

Through the Arrupe Market, students access fresh produce and groceries in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Every student receives a laptop, free campus meals, and a transit pass. The Arrupe Assistance Fund provides critical assistance to students experiencing unforeseen financial stress helping to keep them enrolled and on track to graduate. Career services help students build résumés, prepare for interviews, secure internships, and find jobs aligned with their interests.

Arrupe’s holistic model ensures students don’t just survive college—they thrive. With a 15:1 student-to-faculty ratio, faculty and staff support students academically and personally, fostering a campus culture centered on student success.

Behind the scenes, an early-alert system connects faculty, advisors, social workers, and career staff. Weekly case reviews guide proactive outreach, while small grants close short-term gaps. Supplemental instruction and office hours reinforce academic momentum.

Students also map a transfer plan early, ensuring that course choices, financial aid, and deadlines don’t become last-minute stressors. The result sounds simple but is difficult to achieve: steady progress toward an associate’s degree, growing confidence for the next step, and the assurance that someone at Arrupe understands their goals and path forward.

Transformed Students
Ask students and alumni what Arrupe means to them, and common themes emerge: opportunity, belief, community.

Vanessa Avalos (AA ’25) enrolled as a young mother. “When I was accepted, I found out my education would be fully covered. That was the yes for me,” she said. At Arrupe, she grew not only as a student, but also as a role model for her daughter.

The Plascencia sisters embody Arrupe’s ripple effect. Valeria (AA ’20, BS ’22), Jackie (AA ’22, BA ’24), and Rossy (AA ’25) built on each other’s success. “When one of us succeeds, we all do,” Jackie said. “Arrupe gave us more than an education; it gave us a new vision for what’s possible together.”

Valeria extended that vision by co-founding Serving People with a Mission (SPM) with Jacque Stefanic (AA ’19, BBA ’21) and Carlos Martinez (AA ’19, BA ’21). Their nonprofit delivers leadership development to high school students across Chicago. With support from Arrupe leadership, SPM returned last fall o deliver Leadership 101, focused on courage, service, and youth voice. “At Arrupe, it was not just about books and grades. I learned how to lead, how to give back,” said Martinez.

Faculty Who Change Lives
Arrupe faculty are full-time Loyola faculty who pair high expectations with high support. Small classes, consistent feedback, and coordinated early outreach help students build confidence and momentum and keep them on track through transfer.

Jennifer Boyle (MA ’95, PhD ’02), senior associate dean for academic affairs and director of operations, described the culture as “a community of teacher-scholars deeply committed to the success of every student,” adding, “Collaboration here isn’t a buzzword—it’s a daily practice.”

In class, faculty connect coursework to Chicago and to students’ lived experiences, teach how to learn rather than just what to learn, and collaborate with advisors and social work colleagues so support arrives early when challenges come up.

“We weren’t just creating syllabi. We were creating a new way of teaching for a new kind of institution,” recalled Minerva Ahumada (PhD ’08), who, alongside Sean O’Brien (MA ’10, PhD ’15), assistant dean of faculty development, and a cohort of founding and early faculty, helped shape Arrupe’s academic identity from the start.

Together, Arrupe faculty pair rigor with care so students master content, grow in confidence, and see themselves as thinkers and leaders.

Staff Who Walk Beside Students
Arrupe’s student-success team turns the model into daily practice. They coordinate advising, wellness, basic needs, career development, and transfer momentum so no student slips through the cracks.

David Keys, associate dean for student success, and Mariaton Tate, assistant dean for student success, lead this integrated effort together. They align early outreach and retention practices with formation and student life, building belonging while removing barriers that may derail progress.

The team meets across advising, social work, and career services to review early alerts and plan next steps. The goal is to act quickly so small setbacks don’t become barriers.

Sarah McNally, assistant director of Arrupe Career Success, extends that network into the workplace. She launched the Career Fellowship Program, a paid pre‑internship that places students with employer partners to gain early experience, build networks, and develop career readiness.

Working alongside advisors, social workers, and transfer specialists, the team is the connective tissue of Arrupe—linking the services outlined in the model to the outcomes donors care about, including persistence, graduation, and successful transfer.

National Influence and Replication
As peers study Arrupe, they are putting key pieces of the model to work: cohort advising with early alerts, completion scholarships that protect the debt-free promise, basic-needs microgrants for reliable food access, and employer-linked, first-year career exploration that builds professional networks. A major catalyst has been the Come to Believe Network, founded by Father Katsouros, which convenes partners, shares tools, and provides hands-on guidance to campuses adapting the approach.

Early adopters include Boston College’s Messina College; Founders College at Butler University; the University of St. Thomas’s Dougherty Family College; Fairfield University Bellarmine Campus; and Seton College at the University of Mount Saint Vincent. Where these elements take hold, colleges see higher first-year persistence, faster time to degree, and fewer stop-outs. For donors, that means your investment strengthens student success here in Chicago and improves outcomes wherever this model—through Come to Believe and its partners—is adapted.

A Decade of Momentum
Since 2017, Arrupe students have gone on to earn advanced degrees, launch careers in health care, business, education, and public service, and return to support their communities. Seventy-three percent transfer to four-year institutions, including Loyola, DePaul, UIC, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Josh Morgan (AA ’18, BA ’20, MA ’23) pursued his MA in social justice from Loyola while working full time at an elementary school in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he supported students with intellectual disabilities. “Whether students have a good day or a bad day, I always want to find whatever they’re struggling with and get them through it,” he says. “Even if that means finding a novel way to work around a challenge.”

After completing the Year Up program, Karen Romero (AA ’21) entered banking to better understand finance and pursue her dream of becoming a real estate agent. “Arrupe gave me the confidence that I could become a broker,” she said.

Joaquin Guzman (AA ’21, BA ’23, MA ’24) discovered his passion for education while serving as a Math Fellow at Arrupe. “When I know someone has learned something, it feels great,” he said.

Across cohorts, the pattern is consistent: Students gain confidence, build skills, and leverage networks that lead to internships, transfer offers, and first jobs with real mobility. Many return to mentor the next generation, multiplying the impact.

Donor Support, Institutional Belief
In its first decade, Arrupe’s progress has been fueled by donors and partners committed to college access and completion. Since opening, annual fundraising has grown from $2.3 million to $10.9 million in 2025—supporting scholarships, wraparound services, and tuition assistance for students who continue to Loyola.

From our dedicated staff and faculty who choose to support the Arrupe mission through payroll deductions to multimillion-dollar pledges from family foundations and Chicago’s leading philanthropic institutions, each gift is investment in the lives of our students and the generations that will follow in their footsteps. Donor partnership has proven that a rigorous, affordable, holistic model works, and we are incredibly grateful. This partnership changes lives in Chicago and informs peers who are replicating and adapting Arrupe’s model across the nation.

Looking Forward
“Arrupe represents the best of Loyola University Chicago: our commitment to justice, our belief in human dignity, and our ability to imagine a more equitable world,” said Father Connell. He noted that Arrupe’s unique position within the University, both structurally and symbolically, has made it a proving ground for new ideas in higher education and a beacon for students historically underserved by traditional models.

“In the past decade, we have learned that transformation is not a singular event, but a continual process,” Connell continued. “At Arrupe, students transform their goals into action, challenges into growth, and community into lifelong connections. Our job is to keep nurturing that space, to keep believing in our students and equipping them to believe in themselves.”

Arrupe’s leadership, faculty, staff, students, and donors are united by one goal: to keep transforming lives. With continued investment, innovation, and care, Arrupe will not only sustain its mission but expand it. Join us as we imagine and build the next 10 years of transformation.