Happy New Year and Welcome Back

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Happy New Year and welcome back from what I hope was a restful break for you and your families. At Drexel, we begin 2025 with renewed energy and optimism, and with a strong foundation for advancing as an institution.

We navigated a fall quarter that presented its fair share of challenges. Through leadership transitions and institutional changes, Drexel’s community once again demonstrated its resilience and unwavering commitment to excellence and the University’s future.

Now more than ever, it is important to recognize the strong foundation we have built and continue to build at Drexel. I am proud to highlight some of our collective accomplishments that have set us up for ever greater success this year.

Continuing Our Path Forward

This year, Drexel will continue to bolster its capacity to teach and learn at the highest level in an ever-changing world. As Provost Paul Jensen noted in recent messages to the Drexel community, we have entered Academic Transformation’s design phase, which will continue through June. Five working groups are focusing on the foundational elements and implementation of our plans, which include updating our curriculum and defining core competencies; integrating and aligning academic units; developing consistent policies and processes across campus to support collaboration and efficiency; and switching to a semester calendar within the next three years. This is an exciting time as we work together to usher in a new era for Drexel and I am grateful to everyone involved for their dedication to this effort.

We also expect the U.S. Department of Education’s final approval of Drexel’s official integration with Salus University. The addition of Salus’ outstanding programs in health science professions will tremendously benefit our students and faculty, as well as our city and region. I have enjoyed getting to know our Salus colleagues and am happy to see Drexel faculty and professional staff warmly welcoming them into our community.

Meanwhile, the Enrollment Management team under the leadership of Senior Vice President Dawn Medley has unveiled innovative strategies and initiatives to strengthen recruitment, including a transformed Drexel Central service model and better student-ready policies, which we anticipate will improve our yield for the fall. Applications for the upcoming academic year are already up compared to last January — an encouraging indicator as we work to recover lost enrollments from the fall 2024 class caused by the flawed rollout of the new FAFSA. Despite this challenge, we welcomed this past September the most diverse and academically accomplished class in Drexel’s history.

And as our search for Drexel’s new president continues, an impressive pool of highly experienced candidates has demonstrated avid interest in joining our institution. The Presidential Search Committee looks forward to recommending a new leader within the next few months.

Research and Fundraising Momentum

We have maintained our momentum in research and innovation. In fiscal year 2024, Drexel recorded an all-time high of $156 million in research expenditures, representing a 33% increase in five years. St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children also received funding for two years from prominent Philadelphia institutions totaling approximately $30 million, thereby reaffirming the hospital’s vital role in caring for an underserved community and educating the next generation of health care professionals.

In 2024, the University closed out its strongest fiscal year for fundraising in nearly a decade, securing more than $112.6 million in new gifts and commitments. I am also grateful to the more than 2,000 alumni that volunteered nearly 15,000 hours of their time to Drexel by serving on advisory boards and committees, mentoring students and headlining University events as speakers, moderators or panelists. Alumni, partners and friends continue to demonstrate their deep commitment to Drexel, and their generous contributions of time, talent and treasure helps to ensure this University’s impact and future as a leader in higher education.

A Strong Endowment While Building Financial Resilience

Drexel has experienced a well-managed, high performing endowment, with total endowment assets at the conclusion of fiscal year 2024 surpassing $1.084 billion, contributing more than $47 million to the University’s operating budget. While the performance of our endowment is strong, we will continue our efforts to ensure resilience amid financial headwinds facing the higher education sector.

New Campus Spaces

Our physical campus continues to flourish to allow for a vibrant and comfortable student experience. Recent enhancements, completed at the end of 2024, were the construction of the Buckley Bubble at Vidas Athletic Complex, as well as a campus green space at the site of the former Myers Hall. Multiple student considerations contributed to the design and scope of the new park, which includes tables, chairs, benches and substantial green space that can be used for recreational sports.

A.J. Drexel founded this institution to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world, and that resolve continues to guide and to inspire us today. We excel at aligning our unique strengths, academic abilities and strategies with our mission to tackle complex societal issues and provide unbeatable experiential education.

As I reaffirm my commitment to support our exciting plans for Academic Transformation and to maintain a safe, supportive and welcoming environment for our entire community, I remain thankful to all of you for your dedication to keeping Drexel heading true north in pursuit of its mission to serve our students and the public good.

I look forward to seeing you at Homecoming!

Sincerely,

Denis P. O’Brien