Since its founding in 1915, Marywood University has grown into a leading Catholic university in the Northeast Pennsylvania region by understanding how to improve its ability to serve students. Having consistently added to its academic offerings and the quality of its campus facilities, the university is careful to ensure that any additions will enhance its ability to empower students with knowledge and experience that will help them serve themselves and others.

“Our mission is deeply rooted in developing God-given potential and the impact education makes on the greater good,” President Sister Anne Munley says. “We are making substantial investments and continuously improving the opportunity for students to have the best kind of educational experience possible, all while providing resources to our faculty and staff to help improve the outcomes and effectiveness of our programs.”

One area that has long been a signature of the university is its social work program. For more than 40 years, Marywood has operated the region’s only School of Social Work. The university continues to expand its graduate social work program with satellite programs in other areas of eastern Pennsylvania, allowing it to meet student and community needs.

Another significant program for the university is its physician assistant program, particularly relevant because of the nationwide push for more cost-effective healthcare. Munley also points to art therapy, music therapy, public administration and gerontology as educational opportunities that prepare students to meet their potential while also encouraging service leadership.

“These programs are natural progressions of our mission that have been well-strategized,” she says. “We have a very strong sense of who we are and what we do well, and we’re consciously extending the impact of our various strengths.”

Architect of the future

The creation of The School of Architecture is the university’s most recent initiative to respond to regional needs. The program’s focus on environmental stewardship in Architecture led the university to create a Center for Architectural Studies from an under-utilized former physical education building. The university renovated what had been an Olympic-size swimming pool in half of a building and a gym in the other half, transforming the center into a studio area, exhibit area and teaching facility.

“Now we have the center completed and it is magnificent,” Munley says. “The initiatives involved in that, like the construction itself, are used to teach the students. For example, we’ve retained remnants of the pool and the gymnasium to demonstrate to students both the value of restoration and the history of the university.”

The university sees the Center for Architectural Studies as a critical part of strategic planning. Munley says it is linked to a desire to provide academic and physical infrastructure that will lead Marywood into the future. The architecture program includes three degrees: a bachelor's in environmental design, a bachelor's of architecture and a master's of architecture.

“We have a number of professional programs, but this program gives us the only professional school of architecture in the region,” she says.

The recently completed second phase of the Center for Architectural Studies it is just one of several current initiatives. Marywood also recently constructed an aquatics center that, like the Center for Architectural Studies, is a LEED-certified project. The new swimming pool is virtually chemical-free, using ultraviolet rays to purify the water, and a portion of the site’s energy is supplied by a wind turbine.

Uncommon learning

Marywood’s next major project will be the replacement of the current library with a new Learning Commons. The university has done all the conceptual planning for a facility that Munley says is changing the notion of what a library offers.

“Students learn 24 hours a day, and the Learning Commons will include food service, an integration of research assistance, writing assistance and technology assistance, as well as opportunities for students to work in teams and groups,” she says.

Marywood’s Learning Commons will house its book collection in an automated, barcode-activated retrieval system. Requested books will be automatically dispensed in a common acquisition area. In addition, students will either use their own laptops or the facility’s technology to check libraries all over the world.

“We must ensure that students have fast and focused access to primary source materials that will enhance the quality of their research,” Munley says. “We have very skilled librarians, but they won’t be in back offices. Our resource personnel will work in the midst of the students to assist them with technology and help with improving their writing skills.”

As Marywood approaches its centennial in 2015, the university is reviewing its vision and how it is being carried forward. The centennial celebration will reflect on Marywood’s past and eagerly anticipate its future. In anticipation of the university’s next century, Marywood will utilize the centennial opportunity to develop a funding campaign that will seek support from alumni and other benefactors for the expansion of university programs, endowment, and capital projects. The Learning Commons project will be the campaign’s top priority.

Another key priority in the centennial initiative is to integrate the traditional music, theatre and dance programs with the communication arts program, which includes digital media, journalism, television, radio and public relations. This will provide for a cross-pollination of traditional and emerging studies in an integration of performance space and high-end technology. Communication students will gain insight about performance, and music, theatre and dance students will use digital-age technology to enhance their learning process.

For a second consecutive year, Marywood was selected as one of the great places to work for by The Chronicle for Higher Education. Munley says she was delighted by this honor because it perfectly parallels the university’s core values. “Marywood’s dynamic mission is enlivened by the dedication of its employees,” she says.

“Our faculty and staff have a sense of involvement and personal development,” she says. “The mission isn’t just my vision; it belongs to everyone. We really do keep our mission alive and moving forward.”