Beginning a new academic year

August 20, 2025

Dear members of the SLU community,

The beginning of a new academic year is always exciting.

School of Medicine students began their new adventures earlier this summer, students in our School of Law started their semester on Monday, and the rest of us on our St. Louis campuses start classes today.

All of the energy of new student move-in, Convocation, fall welcome events, and college and school orientations lead to this: The day we begin our new routines of teaching, learning, research, clinicals, community engagement, and administration.

As we launch this new academic year, we celebrate the strength of our community and our shared mission.

We renew our commitment to ensuring that every SLU student feels welcomed and supported. We bring new energy to our teaching, learning, and research. And we continue to innovate and improve the ways we do our administrative work.  

As we encounter the challenges and opportunities the year may bring, we will lean on the Jesuit values that guide us and the strong spirit of community that sustains us.

Together, we pray that our work will reflect the best of who we are and who we are called to be.

Let’s make it a great year, Billikens.

Edward Feser, Ph.D.
President