The Spring 2025 semester is off to a great start!

Greetings and Happy New Year! I hope that each of you was able to welcome 2025 healthfully and happily. 

Campus News 

As we start the spring semester, please join me in congratulating the 237 students whose hard work landed them on Clarke’s Fall 2024 Dean’s List. Last semester these full-time undergraduate students earned a 3.65 grade-point average or above, on a 4.0 scale. Congratulations!  

Our basketball teams began the new year in early January, with both home and away games. And over the new few weeks, the Pride’s basketball teams as well as the men’s volleyball team will compete both at home and away. We are especially looking forward to the Experience the Roar Visit Event at 5:15 p.m. on January 22, when Pride Basketball takes on Grand View University. Between the women’s and men’s games, high school students and their families have been invited to have some snacks and chat with current Clarke students and our Admissions team to learn more about Clarke. Interested high school students and their families can learn more and register for the event here. 

Our current students are invited to the Island Social College Night on February 5. Thanks to the Greater Dubuque Development Council, students from each of the Dubuque colleges will enjoy a free meal as well as tokens for games, duckpin bowling, and digital axe-throwing from 6-8 p.m. at the Q Casino + Resort’s new all ages game room. Back on campus, all are welcome to attend the Mackin-Mailander Lecture titled “Crucial Conversations: Turning Pain into Purpose and Setbacks into Success,” on February 12, as Assistant Professor of Communication Chrissy Bartels shares stories from her life in film. 

Check the campus events calendar regularly for more great opportunities throughout the spring semester.

Strategic Plan Update  

I thank our faculty, staff, and students for their tremendous efforts that have made our progress on the plan possible.  

We have accomplished a lot together in a short amount of time! As the implementation of the Plan continues, we will gather feedback via four open forum events—each one dedicated to a different goal of the Plan.  

January 16 at 4 p.m.: Live Our Mission and Values 

February 12 at 4 p.m.: Empower Student Success 

March 12 at 4 p.m.: Sustain Institutional Vitality 

April 16 at 4 p.m.: Cultivate a Lasting Legacy 

You can review the Plan and submit questions or comments at clarke.edu/strategicplan as well.  

Living our Legacy Spotlight

Loren Rice, Associate Professor of Accounting and Business and Director of the Scholars Program, is in this volume’s spotlight.

Living our legacy stems from our mission: 

Clarke University is a Catholic academic community that believes learning is lifelong and life changing. We inspire intellectual curiosity, cultural engagement, professional preparedness, spiritual exploration, and a commitment to contributing to the common good in a global society.  

Loren has been a member of the Clarke community for 11 years, sharing his expertise in the areas of accounting and business with many students and colleagues. Since he stepped into the Director of the Scholars Program role, it has been his passion project. His dedication to the program is visible in the numerous activities the students participate in, the excellent work they produce, their enthusiastic service to others, and their involvement in their communities.  

During the fall 2024 semester, Loren dedicated his sabbatical to working with the Admissions team on a dynamic recruitment initiative for the Scholars Program, which will expand the program’s reach to more students. 

Thank you, Loren, for your service to the Clarke community and for being a role model of intellectual curiosity in action. 

Go Pride! 

Fletch

Visit our Newsroom webpage to learn more about all the great things happening on campus and in the wider community!

Clarke University

www.clarke.edu