In 2018-19, the university supported the campus community with new facilities and resources. We also intensified our commitment to increase enrollment and continued our dedication to Catholic education in the Franciscan tradition in every sector of campus life.

• Maintaining student enrollment has been difficult for colleges in many parts of America during the last several years. Overall college enrollment in the U.S. declined for the sixth straight year in 2017 with institutions in the Midwest and Northeast being hit the hardest. Despite the national trend of declining enrollment, Neumann enrolled 421 first-year students in the fall of 2018, an increase of 17% over its 2017 class of 360 first-year students.

• To increase awareness of Neumann in the Hispanic community, two campus voices were heard hundreds of times on La Mega, the #1 radio station among Hispanics in the Philadelphia market, in the four weeks before the university’s fall undergraduate open house. Gabriela Pena, a Liberal Arts major, and Barbara Guardiola, the administrative assistant to the Dean of Arts and Sciences, recorded 30-second promotional spots in Spanish that aired on La Mega more than 200 times.

• After a blessing and dedication ceremony in December, the new Health Sciences Center opened its doors to students in January 2019.  The new structure, an extension of the Rocco Abessinio Building, adds approximately 17,000 square feet of instruction and lab space to accommodate projected growth in the doctoral program in Physical Therapy and undergraduate programs in Nursing and the Health Sciences. It will also provide space for a new master’s degree program in Athletic Training. Key components of the center are six physical therapy/athletic training labs, the Bayada Teaching Auditorium that can accommodate 300 students, and a two-story atrium with a reflection area.

• The university recognized its first three presidents by naming residence halls in their honor on March 15, the university’s 54^th Charter Day. Previously known as Living and Learning Centers I, II and II, the residence halls were christened Flynn Hall, Cunningham Hall, and O’Neill Hall after Mother Everilda Flynn, OSF, president from 1965-1970; Sister Madonna Marie Cunningham, OSF, president from 1971-1983; and Sister Margarella O’Neill, OSF, president from 1983-1989. Sr. Kathryn Dougherty, OSF, congregational minister of the Sisters of St. Francis, told the Charter Day crowd that “We are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us … Now, when we pass Flynn, Cunningham and O’Neill Halls, we will remember the shoulders on which we stand.”

• Neumann raised more than $100,000 for student scholarships at its annual Scholarship Gala, held on April 6 at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing. The annual event raises funds to support students as they pursue their dreams of a college education in the Franciscan tradition. Since the event was first held in 2000, it has raised more than $2 million in scholarship funds. Chris Domes, university president, emphasized the importance of the Gala, noting that more than 90 percent of students entering Neumann have a financial need as identified by federal guidelines, and more than half of the student body consists of first-generation college students.

• To help address this critical marketplace need for cybersecurity professionals, Neumann launched two new degree programs: Cybersecurity, and Data Science and Analytics. The centerpiece of these two new majors is the Data Analytics Lab. Located on the third floor of the Rocco Abessinio Building, the lab features glass classroom walls, a stock market ticker, mounted TVs with stock information, three 75” instructional monitors, rise-display monitors at each desk, and a server lab for hacking simulations.