Dec. 10, 2021
Dear Students and Colleagues:
Christmas is such a special time at Messiah—even more so this year because we are able to celebrate together, in person. Our campus Christmas gathering, advent chapels, department of music concerts, and residence hall events like Deck the Halls remind us of the blessing of Christian community. I am also encouraged by the many ways I see you expressing the spirit of Immanuel (“God with us”) by serving and giving of yourselves in our region. (This semester alone, student volunteers engaged in outreach through the Agape Center have donated more than 550 hours of community service!)
This weekend, my husband, Kelly, and I hosted trustees, alumni parents and other community friends as we celebrated the joy of the season at our annual Messiah Christmas dinner. The event’s theme was “Home for the Holidays” and the past 20 months have taught all of us many lessons about the precious value of home, family, friends, community and faith—we need our Savior, and we need each other. On that evening I offered a prayer that I want to share with you. May you experience the serenity of these words as you prepare to spend Christmas with family and loved ones:
May the quietness of Christmas
The calm and holy hush of that first advent season
Still our Christmas rush.
May our memories of the manger reassure us
and ease the stress of troubled hearts in troubled times
With His peace and quietness.
We pray this with hope and gratitude, in the name of Jesus, our redeemer, messiah and prince of peace. Amen.
Now, as we conclude our last week of fall classes and prepare for final projects and exams and our upcoming Christmas break, I’d like to also offer brief campus updates regarding enrollment, giving and other campus news.
Enrollment snapshot
Undergraduate enrollment fall 2022: Admissions activity for fall 2022 is running ahead of last year. While we have not yet returned to pre-pandemic counts, we are pleased to be experiencing increased visit traffic in the new Phipps Admissions and Welcome Center. In addition to hosting hundreds of families for individual campus visits, we welcomed 419 students and their families to Open Houses and Focus Days. Additionally, we continue to run ahead in apps (+101), admits (+140), and deposits (+7) as we approach the holidays. The enrollment management team is preparing for “financial aid season” and will release initial financial aid packages shortly after we return from Christmas break. Many thanks to students and colleagues who will be participating in the interviews for Honors, Multicultural, Arts, and Dean’s scholarships over the next several months. It truly takes a campus to recruit the next class of Messiah University students!
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Dec. 3, 2021 |
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| Fall 2022 | % to goal | Goal | Fall 2021 | 3-year average | |
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First-year Students |
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| Applications | 1,739 | 68% | 2,575 | 1,638 | 1,780 |
| Acceptances | 1,197 | 60% | 2,000 | 1,057 | 1,181 |
| Active Deposits | 104 | 19% | 557 | 97 | 97 |
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Transfer Students |
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| Applications | 49 | 17% | 290 | 64 | 70 |
| Acceptances | 25 | 12% | 210 | 26 | 27 |
| Active Deposits | 5 | 6% | 87 | 13 | 9 |
Graduate enrollment FY22: We continue to make progress on meeting our budgeted graduate program credit hour goal for FY22 (15,237). Currently, we have reached 12,936 registered credit hours, which is 85 percent to goal. The graduate programs recruitment team continues to work diligently enroll new students in our programs that offer multiple start times throughout the academic year. Comparing where we are this year to where we were last year on Dec. 10, 2020:
- Ahead 64.5 credit hours (12,935.5 this year versus 12,871 last year; 85 percent to goal this year versus 87 percent to goal last year)
- Behind 59 new students (212 this year versus 271 last year)
- Behind 12 unduplicated students (846 this year versus 858 last year)
Giving update
Giving Numbers for FY22 (see chart below): The faithful generosity of those who invest in the lives of Messiah students and believe in the mission of the University continues to inspire and encourage. We are so very thankful for all who have contributed to our fundraising priorities this fiscal year. In terms of the Messiah Fund, we are ahead by $400,000. Based on our experiences from past years we anticipate reaching our June 30 goals.
| Gifts Received | Messiah Fund /Operating | Gifts Received & New Pledges |
| $ 2,098,592 | $ 847,224 | $ 3,130,066 |
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June 30 Goals as of Dec. 6, 2021: |
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| $ 6,000,000
35% of goal |
$ 1,300,000
65% of goal |
$ 12,000,000
26% of goal |
The Campaign for Messiah University: Learning for Life, Transforming the World: As we continue to anticipate a successful completion of The Campaign for Messiah University next fall, our focus remains on the Messiah Fund, scholarship aid and endowment, estate planning, and fundraising for capital projects. We are working on raising approximately $2 million for the enhanced campus entrance areas at the roundabout on Lisburn Road and the main entrance to campus at Grantham Road and University Avenue. In addition, we are in the planning stages for determining the scope of a project focused on enhancing hospitality and concession areas near the Starry Athletic Complex. In recent weeks, I have asked the development team to undertake a new challenge of raising $350,000 to help fund necessary renovations to the Engle Health Center in order to meet the needs of serving our students.
Giving Tuesday for Messiah Athletics: For the second consecutive year, Messiah Athletics held a Giving Tuesday fundraising event on Nov. 30. As we did last year, the event was held as a competition among several schools in the MAC Conference, and Messiah once again ran away with the win! More than $76,000 was raised from over 260 donors, which eclipsed the competition by far. We are so thankful for Messiah fans who support all our student athletes in their academic and athletic pursuits.
Good news about Messiah
Here is a sample of some recent highlights about the success of Messiah University’s programs and people which I shared with the board of trustees. For more details visit messiah.edu/news, Messiah’s official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MessiahUniversity/ and the Bridge magazine www.messiah.edu/the_Bridge (the source sites for many of the below news items).
- This week, Messiah alumna Elizabeth Raff ’12, a sixth-grade teacher from Penn Manor School District, was named the 2022 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year! With this honor, according to Lancasteronline.com, Raff will represent the state’s teachers by traveling across the state giving speeches, supporting preservice teachers and advocating for positive change in education. She will be honored along with the nation’s other state teachers of the year at the White House and vie for next year’s National Teacher of the Year award.
- Congratulations to Messiah’s Doctor of Nursing Practice/Family Nurse Practitioner (DNP/FNP) graduates from the 2021 cohort who earned an unofficial 100 percent first-time pass rate on the Family Nurse Practitioner Board Exam! We are so proud of our students, faculty and staff in Messiah’s first doctoral level program!
- Last week, Messiah University was excited to officially launch our partnership with OneLife Institute, a 9-month Christian gap year program for students who want to grow in their faith, experience genuine community, serve others and travel while earning college credit. Learn more about our partnership.
- Congratulations to Messiah’s sustainability programs for placing Messiah in the 2021 Campus Sustainability Index as one of the top schools in the category of data accuracy! This category recognizes institutions for submitting reports between March 2020 and March 2021 with the fewest data accuracy issues.
- Congratulations to the Messiah Falcons for earning four MAC Commonwealth Championships, with men’s cross country, women’s soccer, field hockey, and men’s soccer all earning Conference Crowns—with men’s soccer making a deep run into the Elite 8 in the NCAA championship tournament. To learn more about these teams’ amazing fall seasons visit gomessiah.com.
- The United Soccer Coaches recently announced the 2021 NCAA Division III men’s and women’s soccer All-American teams. Among the 101 student-athletes honored were four Falcons, including Kayla Herr, Jake Lent-Koop, Luke Brautigam, and Trevor Goodling. Read more
- The United Soccer Coaches recently announced its 2021 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s All-Region teams as a total of 10 Messiah Falcons were honored with All-Region accolades. Kayla Herrof women’s soccer’s claimed a First Team nod as Matt McDonald, Luke Brautigam, Trevor Goodling, Jake Lent-Koop, and Jared Pavlovich of men’s soccer earned First Team honors as well. Earning Second Team nods were Kenzie Spodnik and Jenna Skurcenski of women’s soccer as teammates Shelby Burger and Lydia Watkins claimed Third Team honors. Read more.
- The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) announced its Division III All-Region teams last month with senior forward Jennie Young, junior defender Nicole Shank, and junior midfielder Ashlyn Smithall received First Team nods. Shank, Smith, and Young earn their first-career NFHCA All-Region honors, becoming the 124th, 125th, and 126th players in program history to receive the accolade. Read more.
- Logan Horst finished top-five at the NCAA DIII men’s cross country regional and then represented the Falcons in the NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country National Championship (8K) in November at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. The junior runner completed the 8K course in a season-best time of 25:03.6, earning an overall finish of 143 out of a competitive field of 289 of the best NCAA Division III cross country runners. Read more.
In closing
Wishing you and your loved ones the joy, peace and hope that the birth of the Christ child, our Messiah, brings to all.
Merry Christmas,
Kim S. Phipps, President