Where faith and place joyously unite

There’s nothing like being in the chapel on a Sunday morning, pews packed, light streaming through the stained glass, warming and welcoming all to Mass.

This is the place I love the most, where faith and place joyously unite. When I talk with people about the University of Dayton, they will often say how campus feels like home — from the first moment a prospective student steps on campus to the return of the Golden Flyers for Reunion Weekend. It feels magical.

In fact, it’s quite intentional.

In this issue, the magazine explores 175 years of campus planning, from the original farmhouse to the state-of-the-art Roger Glass Center for the Arts (“According to Plan,” page 24). As you’ll read, the Marianists have always responded to the times to meet the educational needs of our campus community. In the last three decades or more, that planning has become even more deliberate, shaping the buildings, grounds, residences, recreation spaces and throughways that build the UD community and connect us to our larger Dayton community.

The act of placemaking is about collectively defining the heart of our community and imagining our future. When done well, it strengthens connection and belonging, and embodies our physical, cultural, religious and social identity.

“Their voices join with others as we work together to make this campus an extraordinary place. ... [A] community of livable, lovable spaces where, like our beloved chapel, we can all feel at home.”

We are now collaborating with the consultant firm Ayers Saint Gross to create a new campus master plan. It will serve as a roadmap to guide future decision making, investments and project development to ensure our new places, much like Roger Glass and the Health and Wellbeing Center, are as warm and inviting as the historical core of campus. The resulting plan will offer flexibility that will enable the University to choose a path to thrive as a welcoming, innovative and mission-driven campus for the next 50 to 75 years.

Students offered their input in campus sessions where they placed blue dots on maps to indicate their favorite places, from residences to RecPlex. Their voices join with others as we work together to make this campus an extraordinary place for generations to come — a community of livable, lovable spaces where, like our beloved chapel, we can all feel at home.

Photograph by Matt Lester

A version of this article appears in print in the Spring 2026 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 6. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE