Dear colleagues,

Summer has a reputation for going faster than winter, at least in my house. As a kid growing up, Ohio winters were long and the summer days leading up to back-to-school seemed to fly by in comparison. I know the days of the seasons are roughly equal in number – but I stand by my lifelong impression that summer is faster than winter. It feels like I was just handing out diplomas and now here we are looking expectantly at a new academic year.

I suppose that part of the reason why summer seems to go by so quickly is that a lot is packed into these weeks of refreshment and rejuvenation – at least I hope that is what you experienced. For Shari and me, summer was a time of family visits, some Messiah travel, and our annual Cape May vacation week, which included, for the first time, our new granddaughter, Emma. (She was somewhat unimpressed, but we will work on converting her to a Cape May fan in the years to come!)

June was spent by many Messiah colleagues who kindly worked to prepare Orchard Hill for the transition to making it our home. We are all moved in, and while there is still some unpacking and arranging, we remain so grateful for Orchard Hill and all that it permits regarding hospitality and hosting.

In July, Shari and I had the privilege of attending the biennial General Assembly of the Brethren in Christ (BIC) denomination in Miami, Florida. What a blessing to worship in both Spanish and English as we enjoyed amazing music and dynamic and meaningful preaching, including from Dr. Alan Robinson, the national director of the BIC and a member of Messiah’s Board of Trustees, and Bishop Heather Beaty, a Messiah alum and bishop of our local Susquehanna Conference. In 2028, we will have the honor of hosting General Assembly at Messiah University, which will be particularly special because it will be the 250th anniversary of the denomination. We remain deeply grateful for the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan theological streams of the BIC heritage that remain a vital part of our identity here at Messiah.

I realize that summer is also an important season for Messiah to provide outstanding hospitality for a wide range of summer programs, including our own graduate students for their summer intensives. But I am looking forward to the start of our fall semester, the return of our residential students, and the launch of a new academic year (with all of the promise and potential it brings!). Now, as we enjoy these last few weeks of summer, I’d like to share with you updates on enrollment, giving, facility projects, and other related campus news for the semester ahead.

Invitation to Community Day

Messiah will continue its annual Community Day tradition on Tuesday, Aug. 18, from 9-10:15 a.m. in the Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts. All employees are invited to attend this commemoration of the new academic year featuring a retrospective video, special music, corporate worship and prayer. It is also a privilege for me to deliver the State of the University address. Community Day is a great way to reconnect with current and returning colleagues and meet new incoming community members. I am looking forward to celebrating the launch to the year ahead with all of you!

Light refreshments and new Messiah t-shirts will be available immediately following the event in front of the High Center. Other than Dispatch (and we are so thankful for these colleagues and their good work!),  all offices and departments will close from 8:45-11 a.m. to allow employees to enjoy the Community Day experience. If you have any questions, please contact Karin Bisbee, executive coordinator for the president’s office and board of trustees.

Inauguration update

As I announced in May, the date of the presidential inauguration ceremony has been set for Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Shari and I are very much looking forward to celebrating with the Messiah community. I have asked Karin Bisbee, Amanda Coffey and Carla Gross to co-chair the University’s Presidential Inauguration Committee on behalf of the Office of the President.

I am grateful for the community members below who have volunteered to serve on the Presidential Inauguration Committee to help plan the events of that week, along with a few other celebratory events in the academic year that will include all of Messiah’s students, employees, alumni, parents, friends and community members.

Inauguration Committee:

  • Abby Book (Alumni and Parent Relations)
  • Jody Brandt (Conference and Event Services)
  • Ling Dinse (COE chair)
  • Sherri Hoffman (Communications and External Relations)
  • Kaleb Curtis (SGA President)
  • Abby Love (Conference and Event Services)
  • Kallie Petersen (President’s Office)
  • Danielle Ran (Marketing and Communications)
  • Yonette Schneider (Development)
  • Kenji Kanazawa (Dining Services)
  • Lauren Sulzbach-Oliveira (SAB Dance Executive)
  • Shari Stuckey (honorary member)
  • Cathy Musser (honorary member)

The inauguration committee is in process of launching a website in time for Community Day that will communicate additional details and opportunities to participate in inauguration festivities.

Strategic planning progress

This spring, the University gathered a high volume of feedback to the strategic framework for Messiah’s next strategic plan, Christ Preeminent: Our Foundation, Our Future, Messiah 2034, including the plan’s proposed vision, themes and goals. This feedback, which was collected across all three academic schools, all cocurricular, administrative and operational divisions, and SGA leadership, was aggregated and shared in April and May with President’s Cabinet, Provost’s Cabinet, the current and incoming chairs of the COE, and ranked faculty, and the board of trustees.

During the summer, President’s Cabinet and Provost’s Cabinet used this community input to revise the strategic planning framework, and to guide the formation of university “theme teams” that will develop specific action steps under each of the plan’s themes and goals this fall. All employees will be invited to an in-service event on Sept. 15 that will provide opportunity to help frame and share ideas for specific strategic initiatives and action steps for each of the plan’s themes and goals.

Prior to the in-service event, the University will be launching a strategic planning website that will provide additional details on the planning process and documents, timeline, the theme teams, next steps and opportunities for all members of the campus community to participate.

Safer campus initiative

Earlier this week, employees received an email from Messiah’s Crisis Management Team introducing several initiatives the University is implementing at the recommendation of a recent assessment conducted by an external organization that specializes in campus safety reviews.

New initiatives employees will experience starting this fall will include: enhanced campus safety online training modules; a reduction of external access to some of our campus buildings; and asking all employees to wear their identification badges while they are on campus. These are some small but immediate steps that we can implement that can have a meaningful impact on creating a safer living, learning and working environment for all of our students and employees. Thank you to VP of Operations Kathie Shafer for providing leadership to the campus threat assessment and its implementation this year, and to Chief of Staff/Executive VP Amanda Coffey and the members of the Operations Division and the Crisis Management Team for advancing these new measures for a safer campus in the year ahead.

Introducing the new High Center Season

Messiah is staging another exceptional High Center Season! Visiting performing artists include Dominic Armstrong, The King’s Singers, Saxessential, Peter Sirotin and Friends, and more. Both the fall and spring seasons also include several performances by Messiah’s own celebrated student and faculty ensembles. To view the entire 2026-27 High Center Season schedule visit www.messiah.edu/highcenterseason.

While many of the High Center Season events are sponsored by Messiah’s departments of music, art and design, and theatre and dance, students and faculty in those programs also perform and exhibit a broader calendar of outstanding music, theatre, dance and visual arts events which can be viewed at arts.messiah.edu.

Enrollment snapshot

Fall 2026 undergraduate enrollment:  As of July 31, the fall 2026 class continues to reflect strong interest in a Messiah education. First-year applications have reached 2,544, a 3% increase over this point last year and above the annual application goal. First-year deposits currently total 598, 13 students over the budget goal with a 29% yield rate, compared with 32% at this point last year. While we anticipate some natural summer melt between Welcome Week and fall snapshot day, we project finishing on target.

Transfer students tell us a mixed story. Interest is steady: applications have increased 24% year over year to 298, substantially exceeding the goal of 250. However, transfer deposits currently stand at 73, -2 from the budget goal, with a 39% yield, compared with 53% last year. This decrease in yield coupled with the strong application growth provides renewed incentive to improve processes to convert transfer applicants. Messiah’s transfer partnership with the University of Valley Forge, who recently announced it will close operations at the end of the summer, may continue to impact these numbers in the weeks ahead.

Dual enrollment: Dual enrollment continues to be an effective and significant student recruitment strategy for Messiah. Ninety-nine of our incoming first-year students participated in Messiah’s dual enrollment program—an all-time high and nearly 17% of the incoming first-year class. Additionally, we had our strongest summer to date, enrolling 97 high school students in dual enrollment courses.

Looking ahead, a total of 319 dual enrollment students had registered for at least one fall semester course as of July 31. Within this group are 36 students who intend to participate in one of our three special interest tracks, Engineers for Tomorrow, Business Leaders for Tomorrow, or Educators for Tomorrow, along with 22 others who will be a part of the Emerging Health Professionals program, which we provide in coordination with Cumberland Perry Area Career and Technical Center. By providing in-demand general education courses, as well as opportunities for students to explore specific disciplines in greater depth, dual enrollment continues to serve as an essential pre-college connection point with high-achieving high school students.

 Fall 2027 undergraduate admissions: Our fall 2027 undergraduate application is now live and received applications are running slightly ahead of last year at this time. Students will begin receiving admission decisions in early September. We have scheduled a comprehensive series of fall recruitment events, including:

  • Open Houses: Oct. 12 and Nov. 14
  • Falcon for a Day (rebranded Spotlight Days): Oct. 30 and Nov. 20

These events represent excellent opportunities for campus-wide engagement with prospective students and families. We encourage all faculty and staff to share these dates and www.messiah.edu/visit with any students, families or community members who might be interested.

FY26 graduate enrollment: Graduate enrollment demonstrated strong performance in meeting fiscal year targets, and our focus remains on meeting enrollment goals while growing programs in strategic areas. A mini-snapshot was taken on June 25 of graduate enrollment at the end of early summer 2026. Included in this mini-snapshot is also a final look at fiscal year 2025-2026. The 2025-2026 fiscal year budgeted credit hour goal was 15,913. We have reached 16,440 registered credit hours (103% of goal!).

Comparing where we ended FY26 to our budget goals:

  • 17 fewer new students (337 versus goal of 354).
  • 28 additional unduplicated students (936 versus goal of 908).
  • 527 additional credit hours (16,440 versus goal of 15,913).

Comparing where we ended FY26 to where we ended FY25:

  • 337 new students (95% to goal) this year compared to 343 (105% to goal) last year
  • 936 unduplicated students (103% to goal) this year compared to 973 (106% to goal) last year
  • 16,440 credit hours (103% to goal) this year compared to 16,061.5 (103% to goal) last year

Giving update

FY26 giving:  I am pleased to report that Messiah ended FY26 (June 30) exceeding all goals for Giving, Messiah Fund and Total Giving with New Pledges/Planned Gifts!  Thank you to our Development /Alumni and Parent Relations Team for all their efforts to help reach our fundraising objectives.

 Final giving for FY26:

  • Giving: $ 6,456,078 (108% of $6 million goal)
  • Messiah Fund: $1,022,940 (102% of $1 million goal)
  • Total giving with new pledges/planned gifts: $9,506,053 (106% of $9 million goal)

Campaign update: In addition to reaching and exceeding these goals, both prior fiscal year’s open campaigns are also now fully funded. Specifically, the Warmer Welcome Phase 2 Campaign crossed over the $7.3 million mark, allowing us to move forward with construction this summer for both the baseball and softball improvements (see the below facilities update for more details). The 40th Anniversary of Nursing Campaign reached $500,000, providing for purchase of new patient simulators and associated technology, funding for graduate study scholarship funds, and financial assistance for expansion of the Macha Mission Neonatal Unit.

Other giving initiatives: Executive Director of Development John Zeigler also reports that we are only $65,000 away from completing the $1.5 million Board of Trustees #11 Scholarship Match Challenge, as well as exceeding the necessary $60,000 in funding to complete a recently approved archives project,  showcasing and celebrating the historical and continuing connection between Messiah University and Brethren in Christ.

Facilities and construction news

Final phase of Warmer Welcome Campaign in process: The renovations to the Houck Baseball Field and Parmer Softball Field are in process as the last phase of the Warmer Welcome Campaign. At the Houck Baseball Field, new enlarged dugouts are being built, providing space for players and storage. Adjustments to the area for safety of players are also being made, and a press box is being constructed to provide space for announcing the games. This work is expected to be completed by late August or early September depending on weather.

At the Parmer Softball Field, the major addition to this area will be the installation of a full bleacher system, providing key viewing of the field. Updates to the dugouts are occurring to provide a safer environment for athletes and the home dugout is also being enlarged.  Bleachers are expected to be delivered this winter, and this project is expected to be ready for the spring 2027 season.

Other projects:

  • Witmer Lacrosse Stadium’s artificial turf is being replaced.  This work is needed to provide a safe playing surface for the athletes. This work will be completed by early August.
  • The new campus entrance is almost completed. The new entrance signs were installed in late spring and dedicated by the board at the April meeting. The removal of the old entrance sign is completed, and the final landscaping will be completed as weather conditions allow.
  • Eisenhower Campus Center Commons mural: The removal of the campus mailboxes in the hallway between the Eisenhower Campus Center and Sollenberger Sports Center created a void of empty white wall space in this very visible, high-traffic area. I invited Daniel Finch, Messiah’s own professor of art and design, and celebrated mural artist, to create a mural in this space that would communicate Messiah’s commitment to our shared Christian faith in a visually compelling way. The mural will be installed in the Eisenhower Commons prior to student move-in week, and I am very excited for all of you to see Daniel’s incredible work of art. The mural is one in a three-part series that will be completed by Daniel and his students in the semesters ahead.

Good news about Messiah

Here are some of the recent achievements and good news stories of members of the Messiah community. For more details visit messiah.edu/news and Messiah’s official Facebook page (the source sites for many of the below news items).

  • I am pleased to announce that this summer, the Committee on Governance of Messiah’s Board of Trustees unanimously recommended the conferral of the title President Emeritus on Messiah University’s eight president, Dr. Kim S. Phipps after two decades of transformational leadership. Congratulations to President Emeritus Phipps for her lasting legacy of service, excellence and growth at Messiah University!
  • Congratulations to Messiah’s Doctor of Nursing Practice/Family Nurse Practitioner cohort for achieving an unofficial 100% first-time certification pass rate! While official results are still a few months away, this marks the sixth 100% pass rate in seven graduating classes, which is a remarkable accomplishment (national average first-time pass rate is approximately 83%). Thank you to the faculty, staff, preceptors, and supporters of our Graduate Program in Nursing for their part in this tremendous success!
  • Messiah University was mentioned as an example of universities successfully integrating AI into its undergraduate and graduate curriculum in the June 11 World’s online article, “Advanced AI degrees: Christian schools tackle teaching students how to use artificial intelligence.”
  • Assistant Dean of Students Jocelyn Chavous, was selected as part of a highly competitive nomination process to participate in the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) 2026 Vocation Across Campus Seminar this summer. This opportunity provides participants with the opportunity to learn more about vocation and its importance for undergraduate students, to develop or revise programming or initiatives to support vocational exploration, and to cultivate a broader network of colleagues committed to supporting students’ work in this area.

In closing

I want to share an email I recently received from a 2015 alumnus that reflects the importance and impact of Messiah’s incredible year-round hospitality:

Hello Dr. Stuckey,

 I hope this email finds you well.  My name is Phil Strunk; I graduated from Messiah in 2015, and my wife, Laura Beth, graduated in 2014. We live in Virginia with our three sons (5, 2, and 5 months).  We just celebrated ten years of marriage, and part of our trip involved going back to Messiah to go back to the spot on campus where it all began.  I am emailing you because we had an absolutely fantastic trip. Each person we talked to made us feel incredibly welcomed to be back in the Messiah community. 

 The people who checked us in at Lottie for lunch were very personable and friendly. They chatted with us a little when we came in and when we left (lunch today reminded us a lot of our meals during our time there).  We had a great conversation with the manager of the bookstore. She was even kind of enough to go to the backroom to look for some Messiah College gear when we said we were hoping they would have some out.  I had an excellent conversation with Kristin in the admissions building when I came to look for some stuff to hang in my classroom back home in Virginia to promote the school to my students. We loved walking through the buildings and reflecting on some of our favorite professors, I saw my Clio award, and driving around the dorms we were both RAs in. 

We (my wife, our youngest son, and me) spent hours on campus reflecting on how God used this place to create so many transformative moments in our lives. … After not going to a homecoming since 2017, we are excited and plan to bring our two older boys to Messiah for the first time this fall!  I want to really praise the culture and community you are helping lead at Messiah. … Thank you for leading a team that can help two alumni feel so welcome, even in the middle of July!

In gratitude for the way you serve the Messiah community,

Jon C. Stuckey,

 President