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�㽶��Ƶ had a remarkable 2023, filled with innovation, faith, and community. As the year comes to a close, it's worth revisiting the stories that put the University in the international spotlight to show what makes it so special.

Seemingly every member of �㽶��Ƶ family has come to know Ms. Willie Joyner during her nearly half century of service to the University. She is a parent away from home and a warm embrace on a cold day with a side of Chick-fil-A.

As �㽶��Ƶ University rejoiced in the celebration of Joyner with a dining room dedication, so did the nation. Miss Willie was celebrated on the front page of The Washington Post Metro section, while local news and the national Fox News Sunday chronicled Joyner’s service to the campus. Co-workers called her an “icon,” while current students said she was “the best,” and “very embodiment of joy” in media interviews.

The University's was named the nation’s fifth-ranked online masters program by the U.S. News & World Report. In addition, the University was also honored as having the 13th Best Online Family Nurse Practitioner Master's Program in the U.S.

Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Thea Bowman and actor, singer, and activist Harry Belafonte were all smiles during a celebration in their honor at Xavier University of Louisiana. He was visiting as part of his research for a planned film on her life. (Image Courtesy of Xavier University of Louisiana, Archives & Special Collections). 

Trailblazing entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte died in April. Baptized Roman �㽶��Ƶ as an infant, he found so much inspiration in the ministry of �㽶��Ƶ alumna Sister Thea Bowman that he bought the rights to make a film about her life.

Belafonte was one of the most prominent champions of the Civil Rights Movement and was friends with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Thea Bowman M.A. 1969, Ph.D. 1972, was a nationally known advocate for Black �㽶��Ƶ expressions of the faith, and a cause for her canonization was opened in 2018. 

A new gene therapy technology being developed on campus could open the doors to healing and curing a variety of ailments, according to by Biology Professor Venigalla Rao published May 30 in the international scientific journal Nature Communications.

Rao is the founding director of �㽶��Ƶ’s devoted to researching the therapeutic potential of a type of virus called bacteriophage T4 that grows on E.coli bacteria that cannot infect humans and many of which are part of a healthy body’s microbiome. 

The Cardinal community gathered on May 13 to celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2023. The University Lawn was packed with joyful graduates and their families all excited for the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.

During an address, University President Peter Kilpatrick shared how honored he was to celebrate his first commencement as a member of the Cardinal community. He thanked all those who have lived out the values of the University through their commitment to truth, charity, and excellence. 

“We have so much for which to be grateful. Our very lives, our intellects, our wills, our family and friends, our faith, and the hope that stirs deep inside of us,” said Dr. Kilpatrick. The president advised graduates to take what they have learned through their years of study by committing themselves to “love without limit and to pursue excellence.”  

Chris Castrogiovanni, M.Arch. candidate, leaned in as he carefully fit together 70-year-old metal rods, or struts, from one of the first large-scale, self-supporting geodesic domes in the world and the first in North America.
The dome had been in storage since being gifted to the Smithsonian in the 1970s. The building is slightly smaller than today's average U.S. home at 2,000 square feet, and 49 feet wide by 25 feet high.

Originally built in Montreal in 1950 and later rebuilt in the Hollywood Hills as a home for architect Bernard Judge, the structure was reconstructed inside the iconic Flag Hall of the National Museum of American History, July 5 to 7, through a partnership between the museum and �㽶��Ƶ University’s School of Architecture and Planning.

The mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first millennial beatified, visited �㽶��Ƶ in October to share how her teenage son’s devotion to the Eucharist transformed their family and the world.  Even before he passed at just 15, his example inspired many around him to convert or revert to the �㽶��Ƶ faith — including his own family. 

Three University students — biology senior Ben Reese, theology junior Danielle Schmitz, and mechanical engineering junior Mike Bellacicco —

 Scholars, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and faith leaders gathered in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center on Nov. 3 for the (newness, in Latin) Conference to discuss how to break free of stifling social pressure to conform to the world and renew spheres as diverse as business, media, politics, and education to better promote human flourishing. 

Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Director of Programs at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship Luke Burgis, author of bestselling , told a packed Great Room that he organized the sold-out conference as more than an academic conference but a forum for worlds to collide to create unexpected and enlightening conversations on big ideas that impact everyone.