Enrollment

Posted by: @vu72

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FWAlum, See below. I was under the impression that President Konkol was present at this event. I may be wrong. He will, no doubt, be working on restoring this relationship. 

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The Valparaiso University Chorale and Chamber Orchestra recently visited Fort Wayne for their Spring Outreach Tour. They performed on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School, alongside the Concordia Lutheran High School A Cappella choir. [1, 2, 3, 4]

I talked to the director, Marin Jacobson, and also attended the concert, as far as I know, President Konkol did not attend.

I've spoken at some length with the new VP of Enrollment and I am totally impressed with her vision, plan, and dedication. IMO we need more hires like this. 

Paul 

I guess I was more so confused with the term Town being associated with fort Wayne. Especially in the same sentence as lcms town that founded Vu. It's just it confusing sentence in my opinion. As for the other statement, the majority of LUA members were LCMS so I guess I apologize for generalizing that down from LUA to the LCMS. (lCMS was the synnod mentioned in the quoted piece after all)

Posted by: @78crusader

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I've spoken at some length with the new VP of Enrollment and I am totally impressed with her vision, plan, and dedication. IMO we need more hires like this. 

Paul 

That is great news!

I don't want to talk specific numbers yet, since there is still time until fall semester and I am reluctant to reveal any detailed information until publicly announced; however, I feel the board could use some good news on this issue, so I can report that the general enrollment and freshmen registration outlook right now for fall is described as positive and optimistic.

https://www.valpo.edu/more-students-choosing-valpo-undergraduate-enrollment-deposits-increase-for-first-time-in-ten-years/

Posted by: @vu72

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https://www.valpo.edu/more-students-choosing-valpo-undergraduate-enrollment-deposits-increase-for-first-time-in-ten-years/

This is a very positive sign that VU's new leadership is already having an impact. The numbers are pointing up pretty much across the board. It's a foundation for building momentum.

This is indeed very positive. I had heard some inside information from very reliable sources a few weeks ago and this is slightly more positive than what I heard. Certainly some good momentum building.

I know we mentioned it's effect on enrollment, but it appears that some renovation work is taking place inside one of the residence halls. 

@rezynezy appears lol? Did it really never get mentioned on this board the freshman housing fiasco of this spring? Whoops.

Summary: Wehrenberg renovations started in the fall, with Brandt scheduled to be renovated in this current summer so that the “Freshman Village” could be ready for the incoming class this fall. Brandt of course could not be renovated in a 3 month span, so Residential Life made the decision to move all the (freshman) residents to Berg for the last month of the school year so that renovation could begin in April. Residents and student staff (RAs, SSAs, peer ministers) were less than thrilled, but their concerns were summarily dismissed as invalid by Reslife staff in an excellent case study of how not to communicate 101. Including the hilarious example of when a student was concerned that athletes who were traveling for away competition would not be able to move in the 3 day window designated for the move to Berg, the ludicrous Reslife claim was that coaches would simply “move” games and meets. Whoops again!

So in short Rez, yes! Brandt is being renovated right now! And freshmen lived in the newly renovated (mostly), air-conditioned Wehrenberg for a month. The consensus, I am told, is that most of the freshmen enjoyed the much nicer Berg, but were quite annoyed with the lack of empathy they were given by Reslife staff. You can read such complaints in some strongly worded Torch articles.

@sp37 there's really no need to be snarky here. Quite literally just saw on Twitter that they were rennocating dorms.

@rezynezy oh not trying to be snarky, just greatly amused that something that was such a frequent and animated topic of discussion on campus this spring had not made it to this board!

@sp37 I had a freshman student athlete in Brandt, the move was communicated well in advance including an email titled "step by step instructions", and we had no issues. My freshman used it as an opportunity to remove some dorm content as to bring less home at final move out and was very happy with the newly remodeled Wehrenberg. 

Updating freshman housing has been communicated as a priority for years, very positive its actually happening now. 

Posted by: @sp37

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@rezynezy oh not trying to be snarky, just greatly amused that something that was such a frequent and animated topic of discussion on campus this spring had not made it to this board!

Fair enough, in all honesty the rennovations were needed having seen the inside of those dorms and hearing various horror stories. However it could probably not have included mass displacement of students and athletes in critical time 

We all knew these renovations (the word has one N and no Cs) were coming because that’s why Padilla sold off the artwork. I’m honestly a little impressed his timeline ended up being realistic; I thought it seemed overly ambitious to have the dorms done by now, but I was wrong. Good on Valpo for stepping on the gas.