Forward Fearlessly: Anticipating and embracing change through the decades

Fall 2020 Dominican Magazine



Anticipating and adapting to change have been the essence of Dominican University since its founding as St. Clara’s Academy, a girls’ college teaching science to young women before it was considered “acceptable.” When the school moved to River Forest in 1922, Rosary College’s inaugural classes were held in a not-quite-completed Power Hall, with some sisters tenaciously teaching in classrooms still open to the sky. This agility is part of Dominican's DNA. The university has faced, undaunted, some of the greatest challenges of successive decades, including the crisis of the Great Depression, the tumult of the 1960s and the transition to a co-ed campus 50 years ago. The current pandemic is proving only the latest catalyst for change and it found Dominican well-prepared for the challenge.



In March, the response to COVID-19 propelled Dominican forward five years in a manner of weeks, shifting the delivery of a quality education to a new normal. Thanks to a forward-thinking IT department, technology was in place and already tested: infrastructure was sound and ready as hundreds of classes quickly moved to an online format.



The Fall 2020 semester opened with impressive enrollments, historically high retention rates and a combination of face-to-face, hybrid and online classes. Our relatively small class sizes were an advantage as they were more easily adapted for hybrid teaching and learning. Campus spaces were prioritized for classrooms and nearly all faculty and staff meetings were shifted online.



To encourage physical distancing, all resident students now are living in single rooms, with several rooms reserved at the Priory campus for quarantining. Physical distancing metrics also changed the use and configuration of dining and communal spaces, as well as the library, the tech center and the fitness center. Plexiglass barriers were installed in key service areas, temperature scanners are located at main entrances, and signage reminds everyone to wear masks and wash hands often.



Working with the administration throughout the summer, an academic task force focused on accelerating Dominican’s online teaching capacity with new “best practices.” This preparation will meet demand for more hybrid and fully online teaching — especially in the event that a viral spike triggers another state stay-at-home order.



Rising to new challenges is a Dominican tradition, and has always occurred in an intentional way, with significant planning and in conversation with university constituents as well as its surrounding community. What follows are some highlights of major moments of transition in Dominican’s history.

Expanding minds in the depths of a depression

In response to a devastating, seismic economic shock—the Great Depression—the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters understood just how deep the privations were. Their response to a community in need involved creating a free-of-charge early adult education program—a forerunner of graduate education. “Education for Leisure” was launched in 1934, with a number of stimulating lectures taught by sisters who donated their time and expertise.



Open to residents of River Forest, Oak Park and neighboring towns, the first year of non-credit evening lectures drew a large, appreciative public, with an overwhelming 400 participants. By 1937, Rosary offered multiple, 10-week terms, on more than a dozen subjects, including climatology, sociology, conversational German and French and a timely class on the “Economics of the New Deal.”



The program drew national praise for its outreach. “[The plan] is fast growing out of the stage of experimentation into full-fledged, practicable success,” noted Commerce & Industry, a major publication of the era. “It has surely started a ball rolling, setting a new standard in college service and genuine desire to help its fellow citizens.”

Going co-ed after a “Time Out”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the board of trustees’ decision to admit males as undergraduate students. In the fall of 1970, the college’s long tradition of women-only Catholic education changed when 22 men were admitted along with 169 women to the first co-educational freshman class.



In many respects, recruiting men was a capstone to years of profound change provoked by social and campus unrest as well as the reforms of Vatican II. In 1966, Rosary was overwhelmingly female, drawing from Catholic high schools around the Chicago area, and largely taught by sisters in full habit. While men had been an on-campus presence since the late 1940s, they were few in number and mostly pursued graduate studies in the library school during the evening after traditional undergraduate classes had ended.



Molly Burke, dean emerita of the Brennan School of Business, who began her career as the director of housing in 1971, recalls that to draw more men, Rosary established a men’s sports program, with basketball as the first men’s varsity sport. “It made campus more like real life,” she said of the transition.



In that tumultuous time, when campuses were demonstrating against the Vietnam War and for civil rights, Rosary actively engaged in the struggle. Some marched in opposition to what happened during the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968; one faculty member was injured after being thrown through a plate glass window in the heat of demonstrations in downtown Chicago.



There were stirrings on campus as well. “Time Out” marked the moment when students respectfully protested, wanting a say in how and what they were learning. Eighty percent of the student body signed a petition urging faculty to take time out from classes and meet with students. The college responded by suspending classes for three days of faculty, administration and student dialogue that resulted in the elimination of a number of requirements, the establishment of a strong advisory program for students, and the creation of the first freshmen seminars.

A college transitions into a university

Preparing for a new century, Rosary College competed in a crowded educational marketplace by launching A Vision for the New Century, a new five-year strategic plan led by Dominican’s first lay president, Donna Carroll. The plan provided the foundation for embracing a new identity as a university.



Much of the work to transform an undergraduate college into a university with multiple graduate schools occurred during the 1980s. Rosary had already established its first graduate program of library science in the years following World War II. This was followed by a graduate school of education, focused largely on the need for special education; then a graduate school of business. These additions brought significant growth in the numbers of graduate students on Dominican’s campus.



Rosary College found its new name in a familiar place. Endorsed by market studies and focus groups, the emerging university embraced its identity as part of the Dominican Order. After long discussions and hard work, the board of trustees approved the plan of transforming Rosary College to Dominican University, effective May 4, 1997. Looking back, Donna Carroll remembered: “Building relationships and instilling a level of trust enables you to push through the sometimes difficult changes.”



The strategy underlying the name change was explained in the alumni magazine. “The identity of an institution, like the identity of an individual, evolves over time. We must continually make changes to preserve and enhance our traditions ... ‘University’ is a more accurate, inclusive and credible description of the academic programs, particularly in the eyes of graduate and international students.”

Marking a new era of first-generation-to-college students

The U.S. Department of Education formally recognized Dominican as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in 2011, after the Latinx student population reached more than 25 percent of overall enrollment. The HSI designation acknowledged Dominican’s commitment to the changing culture and demographics of both the United States and the Catholic Church in America. Of course, Dominican’s history of seeking out and serving waves of first-generation-to-college students from immigrant families reaches back to its very origins as St. Clara Academy in Wisconsin, when it educated the daughters of Irish lead miners, and continuing with the move to River Forest, where it served the daughters of Polish and Italian immigrants.



Nationally, the number of Latinx undergraduates continues to grow. This fall, just over 70 percent of Dominican’s incoming class was Latinx. The university anticipated this demographic shift and has developed a national reputation for serving Latinx students in culturally responsive ways.



Dominican continues to enhance efforts to meet the needs of Latinx students. Three federal Title V grants now fund important work to strengthen Dominican’s capacity for advising students and developing its own HSI identity. All support an overall objective of increasing Latinx student retention, persistence and timely graduation.



“Dominican is able to invest in more resources that enable great equity in outcomes for all students,” said Lisa Petrov, Title V coordinator and assistant professor of Spanish.



Early results are already outperforming five-year goals: in only two years, retention among Hispanic students jumped from 70 to 80 percent, while satisfaction with advising reached 84 percent. Petrov credits new Student Success and Engagement programs, including more holistic and culturally informed advising; the creation of El Centro, a central resource space for peer advising and training, mentorship and leadership activities; and Promising Pathways, a freshman seminar component that helps students envision and develop four-year plans for graduation.

—

As Dominican approaches the 100th anniversary of its relocation to River Forest, we continue to be agile in responding to changes and challenges in society. As Donna Carroll said during a recent Staff Assembly, “We will come out of the current COVID-19 crisis well positioned for our next chapter.”



Former Dominican President Sr. Candida Lund, OP, once commented on Dominican’s transition to co-education, “Neither trauma nor trumpet marked this change. It took place, as have always important developments in Rosary’s long history, quietly, thoughtfully, steadily, naturally—and with appreciable success. It was an idea whose time had come.”



Sr. Candida’s perspective is just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. Dominican continues to strategically adapt—with insight and planning, aligned with mission.