Making an
President's Report 2023
To understand SLU’s impact, you need to meet our incredible faculty, staff, students and alumni. In this year’s President’s Report, we’ve profiled 10 of them. Together, they illuminate just a few of the countless ways that SLU is advancing knowledge and transforming lives.Fred P. Pestello, President
A university is a unique and wonderful place.
Where else might you have physicians advancing transplant medicine alongside graduate students launching a cricket tournament? Scholars and incarcerated persons engaging together in philosophical inquiry? An expert in manufacturing embarking on a career change to teach in public schools and a Jesuit priest studying international humanitarian law?
Of course, I’m not talking about just any university. The profiles in this year’s President’s Report highlight only a few of the remarkable faculty, staff, students and alumni at Saint Louis University.
Committed to our Catholic, Jesuit mission for more than 200 years, SLU continues to thrive. Our total enrollment has grown to its largest number in history. Our research profile is on the rise, with funding nearly doubling in the last seven years. We are an ever more global community, with record enrollment on our degree-granting campus in Madrid and a vibrant community of international students in St. Louis.
The numbers are impressive, but in the tradition of Jesuit education, we are called to behold the dignity and nurture the unique potential of each person on our campus and beyond. We are committed to pursuing truth in service to a higher purpose so that we might contribute to the greater good.
I have the gift of hearing the stories of the SLU community every day. I can attest that each person who joins the SLU community – all of our more than 15,000 students, 4,000 employees and 137,000 alumni – brings their distinctive experiences, aspirations and drive to make a positive difference.
The impact is extraordinary.
Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.
President
Saint Louis University is among the fastest-growing private research universities in the country, with a 96% increase in research expenditures over the last seven years.
SLU educates more students than ever, with unprecedented international enrollment that more than doubled in a single year. And SLU’s campus in Madrid, Spain, broke admissions records for the second year in a row.
The new O’Loughlin Family Champions Center strengthens all aspects of the SLU student-athlete experience. The $20 million, 25,000-square-foot facility provides services to help Billikens succeed in the classroom, in competition and in the community.
The value of Saint Louis University's endowment grew to $1.8 billion, an increase of 88% over the last decade.
At a glance, these members of the Saint Louis University community might not seem to have much in common.
A teacher and a transplant doctor. An athlete and a sports fan. A campus administrator concerned with mental health and a future nursing professional concerned with maternal health.
But within each person is the potential to make an impact — and these 10 certainly have.
They paid attention, made connections, did the work. They took to heart SLU’s Jesuit pursuit of being men and women for others. They used what they learned, and they turned it into a way not just to make a living — but to make life better for everyone.
Students, an all-time high
National ranking of SLU’s health law program
Jesuits teach, study and minister at SLU
A-10 championships in women’s athletics: basketball, softball and soccer
Hours of service completed by the SLU community annually
Annual externally funded research expenditures
Students, faculty and staff trained in Mental Health First Aid
of first-time freshmen receive financial aid
of first-time freshmen are Black, Hispanic or multiracial
Fall enrollment at SLU-Madrid, SLU’s campus in Spain
