FORT WAYNE, Ind.—The University of Saint Francis is pleased to announce a transformative academic restructuring. The restructuring will integrate the university’s mission within the entire student experience by incorporating formation of the whole person throughout academics with an increased emphasis on career preparation.
To accomplish this, the university is reorganizing Academic Affairs into a system of pathways that integrate the liberal arts tradition and traditional academic programs with additional workforce development offerings and targeted formation experiences that align with these disciplines.
The seven pathways will be:
- Humanities, Faith, and Liberal Arts
- Allied Health
- Creative Arts and Digital Media
- Education, Human Services, and Community Care
- Leadership and Business
- Nursing
- Sciences and Medical Studies
The university’s “Renew 2028” strategic plan, along with mission statement’s goal to “prepare students for personal and professional lives of virtue, service, and joy,” spurred the adoption of the pathways structure, Saint Francis President Dr. Lance Richey said.
“Our mission statement, our strategic plan and our growth trajectory have all prepared us for this moment,” Richey said. “Saint Francis is bringing about nothing less than a revolution in the way we integrate academics and student formation to produce graduates prepared for the world they will enter after graduation.”
Dr. Angie Harrell has been appointed as Provost and Academic Dean. “Her previous work as Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Vice President for Healthcare Relations prepares her perfectly to drive this transformation,” Richey said. “Dr. Harrell’s integrated vision of academic rigor, career preparation and personal formation captures what a Saint Francis education is meant to achieve.”
“In the pathways model, student life and athletics are no longer ‘alongside’ academics: they are integral to formation,” Harrell said. “Each pathway will have intentional co-curricular experiences so that students experience a single, coherent story across classroom, campus, and community. In this model, co-curricular life is not ‘extra.’ It is where the pathways become lived realities, where students practice virtue, discover purpose and learn to serve in community.”
Saint Francis operates higher education sites in Fort Wayne, Crown Point, Gas City, Indianapolis and Lafayette, offering traditional and Leffler Academy workforce development healthcare programs. Saint Francis acquired Leffler Academy, founded in Gas City, in December.
Richey believes the new academic structure will spur greater communication and collaboration across the university to further enable Saint Francis in the formation of the whole person.
“Renew 2028 calls us to infuse our Catholic identity into the entire student experience while aligning our programs to the needs of employers and the region,” Richey said. “We hope that employers across the region will look to us for opportunities to meet the needs of their industries at all levels while giving our graduates access to meaningful and exciting careers.”
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 60 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the College of Health Sciences and the College of Arts, Sciences, and Business. In addition to its traditional programs, Saint Francis designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point, Gas City, Indianapolis, Lafayette and online. Saint Francis Downtown houses the music technology program while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis, recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution, has 21 athletic programs boasting three individual and four team NAIA national championships. More than 1,900 students from a broad geographic region attend Saint Francis.