Loyola announced Rev. Martin Connell, S.J. has been appointed to serve as the new Dean of Arrupe College Feb. 2. Connell will officially assume the role Aug. 1.
Loyola announced Rev. Martin Connell, S.J. has been appointed to serve as the new Dean of Arrupe College Feb. 2. Connell will officially assume the role Aug. 1.
Arrupe College is a two-year associate degree program founded by Loyola in 2015. Arrupe is designed to provide low-income students access to higher education, according to Loyola’s website.
Connell earned his undergraduate degree at Loyola in 1987 and has served as rector of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University since 2018, according to a university press release.
Connell said in the press release he is excited to develop programs and initiatives that celebrate the diversity of students while helping ensure a Loyola education is accessible for all.
“I am honored to come home to my alma mater and take on this important role in stewarding this important work of the Society of Jesus,” Connell wrote. “Arrupe College and its students, faculty, staff, and alumni have been an inspiration to so many people around the world.”
Connell will succeed the current dean — Rev. Thomas Neitzke, S.J. — who has served as the head of Arrupe College since February 2020, according to a university press release.
“As dean, I have had the honor of working alongside an outstanding faculty and staff to advance our mission and further Arrupe College as one of the most influential and innovative works in Jesuit education,” Neitzke wrote in an email to The Phoenix. “We have laid a strong foundation for the leadership of Fr. Connell will bring to Arrupe, and I look forward to working with him during the transition.”
Connell has experience in leadership in Jesuit secondary education, serving as assistant principal for academic affairs at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland and also as principal at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy.
He is the founding headmaster of St. Peter Claver High School, a Jesuit boarding school in Dodoma, Tanzania. He was ordained in 1994 and earned a doctorate in learning and teaching from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Provost Margaret Faut Callahan said in the press release Loyola is fortunate to welcome Connell into the university community.
“With a lifetime of experience in Jesuit education, particularly in fulfilling the pastoral needs of his communities, we know that he will carry forward the high standard of care, companionship, and excellence for which Arrupe College is known nationwide, and throughout our global Jesuit network,” Callahan wrote.
Featured image by Ryan Pittman / The Phoenix
