Some Thoughts on Service

"Women and men for others."

I thought about that phrase as I scanned the faces of our graduates at our commencement exercises on May 20. "This is what makes SLU different," I thought to myself. "This is what makes us special."

Each of these graduates could have chosen to receive preparation at many fine educational institutions. But they chose SLU. I believe there is an important difference in the education that students received at SLU that they wouldn't have received elsewhere. And our graduates will be proving it for the rest of their lives.

As I talked about during my State of the University address, Education in the Jesuit tradition is the pursuit of knowledge in service of the world. As a Catholic, Jesuit institution, Saint Louis University is a place where understanding is joined with commitment; where the search for truth is informed by a sense of responsibility for others; and where academic excellence in teaching and research is validated through service.

Saint Louis University also is a community that sustains women and men not simply in their learning and intellectual development, but also enriches all of us with the conviction that life is lived well only when it is lived generously in the service of others. This is a commitment to be a person for others, working for equality and justice and peace, turning our unique talents, abilities and intellects into action.

As the University enriches the lives our students, they, in turn, live the mission of the University by reaching out to the world around them. Their influence and the impact of the University are found everywhere you look. Our schools of medicine, nursing and allied health professions have educated nearly one-half of the metropolitan St. Louis area's health care professionals. Our School of Law has educated more than 40 percent of the metro St. Louis attorneys. Thirty-six percent of metropolitan area school superintendents hold doctorates from SLU. Since 1925, thousands of educators, teaching in our region's public, private and parochial schools, have graduated from SLU. Each year our students, faculty and staff contribute more than a quarter of a million hours of volunteer service to the St. Louis metropolitan community. And our faculty physicians, in partnership with Tenet's Saint Louis University Hospital, provide more than $11 million in charity care each year. Because SLU is here, and because of our graduates, our community is a better place.

Earlier this spring we gathered to celebrate the establishment of the College of Public Service, the 13th college of the University. Like the entire University, it is a force for change and renewal. Like the entire University, it contributes in quality-of-life ways that are difficult to quantify and that make a profound difference in the lives of people and in the viability of our community.

The goals of the College of Public Service build upon the University's commitment by providing the resources and expertise to revitalize the St. Louis community, of which it is an integral part. Few institutions exceed Saint Louis University in our commitment to the city of St. Louis. SLU not only stayed, but we improved our surroundings in a way that has benefited the entire Midtown area.

The College of Public Service takes this commitment one step further by providing the expertise and energy to revitalize the whole central city core -- especially its schools and neighborhoods -- and develop models for how this can be accomplished nationally. The college offers expertise on urban issues that is not replicated anywhere else in this region and is a national model for service learning in higher education.

The Ignatian term "giving oneself over" expresses the Jesuit ideal of having people see their lives as an expression of service to others, lives "given over" to the intellectual foundations that promote the welfare of individuals, families and communities. This is certainly a component of the College of Public Service, but, more importantly, it is a strength of the entire University. Each day, members of the faculty and staff "give over" to students, research and educational endeavors. That, my colleagues, is a joyful message to trumpet. It is this thought, more than anything else, that was in my heart as I looked upon our graduates and their families at Kiel Center on graduation day.

Here's wishing all members of the University community a safe and productive summer.

Lawrence Biondi, SJ
University President

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