Donnelly College has a bold vision for the future, both as an institution of higher education, and as part of the broader Kansas City and Catholic communities. This vision is to advance the common good by becoming the most accessible and transformative Catholic college in the country, in the heart of one of the most diverse communities in the country.
Since 1949, Donnelly’s rich legacy of expanding access to higher education has helped thousands realize their personal version of the American dream. There are over 40,000 alumni in Kansas City and beyond who may not be where they are today if they had not found Donnelly College. Donnelly helped transform their lives, positively impacting their families and their communities.
But we can do more, and we must do more, to make our bold vision a reality.
“To remain competitive in today’s higher education market, an excellent learning environment is just as important as excellent instruction,” as Dr. John A. Romito said in the Leader’s Message.
Because of Donnelly’s commitment to keeping our private Catholic college education affordable, the College has been limited in resources to invest in long-term needs, including modernizing the campus infrastructure, enhancing learning resources, and improving financial stability. In fact, our accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission, cited our aging facilities as a key reason they placed the College on probation in February 2017. While we prepare for our full re-accreditation
site visit in fall 2018, College leadership has prioritized completing our master plan as a critical component.
This progress has been a long time in the planning. Gould Evans Architects led Donnelly through initial planning in 2008, and Treanor Architects further developed a campus master plan that was approved by the Board of Directors in 2010. Phase I of this master plan was completed in 2013 with the grand opening of a new Community Event Center – Donnelly’s first new construction project in 50 years. Since then, the College has been working to make the rest of campus just as appealing.
With the guidance of Donnelly’s President, the Building Committee and expert assistance from Burns & McDonnell and MC Realty, the Board of Directors approved a revised campus master plan in spring 2017. This plan called for renovating the final two floors in Donnelly’s second academic building, Marian Hall, where our Practical Nursing and new Registered Nursing programs will be housed (see page 4). It also calls for replacing our main academic and administrative building (the former Providence Hospital building), rather than trying to accomplish challenging and expensive renovations. This bold plan will double our student capacity to 800 and give Donnelly an academic home designed specifically for the College for the first time in our 68-year history. (Donnelly’s first location at 12th & Sandusky was the former home of Bishop Ward High School.)
The College acted swiftly to begin Phase II renovations in Marian Hall immediately after the spring 2017 semester, and JE Dunn executed construction on time to ensure classes could resume in January. Donnelly will proceed with Phase III once sufficient funds are raised through our Transformations Capital Campaign. The campaign will also grow our endowment, ensuring that our mission will go forward in a vibrant and sustainable way.
Our plan is ambitious, perhaps the most ambitious since Sr. Jerome Keeler, OSB, and Bishop George Donnelly decided to open Donnelly Community College in 1949. But Donnelly is committed to giving our students a campus they deserve – and one that matches the quality education we have provided for nearly 70 years.