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A Message from the Vice President of University Advancement 

For my last Pack Press Magis Moment, I simply want to say "Thank you!" and go back to the beginning, my first month working here. After graduating from Loyola in 1988, followed by grad school and then a career in Catholic secondary education, I began work as the development officer for the College of Arts and Sciences on August 1, 2004.

My first meeting with an alumnus in my new job was with Tom Kloor '52. Tom had gotten involved with Loyola to help bring his beloved SAK fraternity back to life on campus a few years before. He and his wife, Kitty, had met at Loyola, and they were deeply generous to Loyola over many years. They were honored with Loyola's in 2007. Tom and Kitty both passed away in the past several years, but their kindness to Loyola and me is still here. Tom and I were both bow tie lovers and wearers, so we always were comparing notes about where to get the best ones. I think about him frequently when I am tying my tie in the morning.

Between that first meeting I had with Tom and now, it's been an ongoing honor for me to be welcomed to meetings and events with thousands of people over almost 20 years of work in advancement here. To paraphrase a joke that Fr. James Martin, S.J., tells about Jesuits, "If you've met one Loyola New Orleans graduate, you've met one Loyola New Orleans graduate." It is striking to think about the huge variety of people who somehow are attracted to this university, study, graduate, and then go off to do their best to build meaningful lives in so many different ways all over the world.

There are over 50,000 Loyola alumni, and I've had a personal experience with many of them. I want to leave you thinking about one quality I find very common among us that doesn't make it into our marketing materials or get mentioned on campus tours:

Time and again, seeing and listening to so many of you, I have found that graduates of ºÚÁÏÉçÇø care enough in life and in work to ask the extra question and go the extra mile to see a job through to the end, looking out for others' well-being as they go. 

I think this quality is the result of a magic combination of our intimate campus, faculty and staff who won't let you hide and be a stranger, and a Jesuit mission that calls for critical thinking and practical wisdom. Loyola graduates are the people in an organization who are getting the work done, often quietly, and who are also asking crucial questions along the way: How can we do this better? Is this an ethical way to pursue this? How is this affecting those least able to speak up for themselves? What values are we living out as we do this?

You've given me the gift of a lifetime by working with me and giving generously to make Loyola better. I've tried to live up to the quality I've described above, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding. I'm just so grateful to have been on this ride with you, and I can't wait to see where it goes next. My last day at Loyola will be Friday, May 3, and I look forward to embarking on the next chapter in my career. Rest assured, I'll be watching and participating as a proud Loyola New Orleans alumnus now. Maybe in 20 years or so, a future new advancement staff member can take me to lunch, and we can talk about bow ties.

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Chris Wiseman '88