President's Letter

An academic year that began with record enrollment and our largest entering class ever, then quickly pivoted to the opening of the magnificent, $14 million Thomas and Selby Prince Building (that was built without debt!), set the bar so high that it seemed unlikely that anything could happen during the rest of the year that would compete with these signature achievements.

Wrong. It has been one consequential event after the next.

This edition’s cover story captures much more than the honor of our young university hosting the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence. There is no question that the Vice President’s visit, and our growing national reputation, were among the year’s high points. Our students loved having him – and the Secret Service – on our campus.

But Vice President Pence’s visit and 40-minute speech was but one of the many “outside the classroom” educational experiences that Ave Maria students enjoyed. The January conference on the clergy sex-abuse crisis and its cover-up by some members of the Church hierarchy, was profound and important. Scholars of great renown from around the world were joined by some of Ave Maria’s finest professors. Together they addressed the crisis from a feminine perspective (which one would expect from a Marian university).

The presentations from this conference will be compiled in a publication that will be shared with Church leaders, and hopefully, will inform the decisions and reforms they make going forward. His Holiness Pope Francis will receive the first copy of this publication, and with it, we will send the assurance of our love and prayers as he sits on the Chair of Saint Peter and leads us in this important hour.

Inside these pages you also will read of the heartbreaking loss of one of our most popular students, Emily Acosta, who went home to God in a car accident in February. Just as a grain of wheat has to fall to the ground and die in order to bear fruit, Emily’s sudden departure and the immense sorrow this entailed gave way to a blossoming of unity on our campus, and a fresh realization of the beauty of Our Lady’s University. I will never forget the seemingly endless procession of students carrying candles as they prayed the rosary on the night Emily died. It was a holy and unforgettable night. And this has been a holy and unforgettable year!

To our alumni, donors, and friends who are joined to us here on campus as

members of the Ave Maria University family, thank you for making this year so special. And get ready for even greater things next year!

God bless you,

Jim Towey

President