Summer 2023 marks a major milestone in the evolution of Baton Rouge's Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University (also known as FranU). In June the university welcomed faculty and students to St. Francis Hall, a soaring, light-filled landmark rising above Baton Rougeís health district. Which represents the beating heart of the University and a major step in development of a master plan for campus expansion.
Since 2016, under the leadership of university President Dr. Tina Holland, FranU has undergone rapid transformation, evolving from a relatively unknown nursing school attached to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, into an independent four-year academic institution offering highly-regarded health science and nursing programs delivered with a strong foundation in the liberal arts.
A $28 million, 75,000 square-foot facility, St. Francis Hall represents the first major building project in the hundred-year history of an institution that began on the banks of Capitol Lake. Speaking from her office on the third floor of St. Francis Hall, Holland discussed how FranU's programs are preparing students for successful careers grounded in Franciscan values. She explained how this approach results in a richer educational experience for students, teachers, and employers.
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In the nine years since, she has led FranU through a remarkable transformation, applying lessons learned helping Holy Cross College when at Notre Dame, Indiana, grow from a two-year commuter school into a four-year residential college.
With St. Francis Hall housing classrooms, common spaces, a library, chapel, and state-of-the-art simulated teaching hospital known as SETH, Holland explained the institution's commitment to fostering a relationship-based, community learning environment is clearly visible. Over the next decade, the campus master plan will extend FranU’s footprint to a condensed three-block campus focused on students’ professional and personal development. As Holland says, “Gone are the days of indefinite growth in higher education institutions. Our mindset is to be the size and enrollment to meet community needs while preserving our Franciscan ethos.”
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Education at FranU Develops in Response to Healthcare's Evolution
As healthcare has become more technical while demanding greater emphasis on interpersonal skills, FranU's curricula place emphasis on Catholic bioethics and medical ethics, preparing students to grapple with ethical questions arising from technical healthcare advancements.
To meet this need, FranU educates students for careers in healthcare and high-need care fields, while also providing a liberal arts foundation; and grounding in Franciscan values of service, reverence, love, humility, justice and joyfulness. Under Holland's leadership, FranU has expanded programs in high-demand allied health fields such as medical lab science, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, and Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy, which is used primarily to help patients with autism.
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The institution's community-centered approach carries over into clinical training. FranU partners with local healthcare providers including Our Lady of the Lake, Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Oschner Medical Center, and the Baton Rouge Clinic to help shape curricula and provide vital clinical experience for students. To reduce siloing accompanying specialized medical treatment, the university uses an interdisciplinary approach in its simulation hospital, bringing together various healthcare professionals to solve real-world problems.
Holland believes in viewing education as more than career preparation, seeing the mastery of skills and the formation of character as equally important aspects of personal development. She maintains that the liberal arts have an essential role to play and a well-rounded education. As she says, “If we value and develop human potential, graduates contribute to society in social and moral, as well as economic ways.”
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The 1,300-strong student body caters to a wide range of students, including many first-generation and Pell Grant-eligible students. While positioned to expand enrollment, Holland insists the focus remain on responsibly meeting community needs and remaining affordable. When planning courses, FranU factors tuition fees against potential earnings to ensure a just student debt burden.
This relationship-based education answers employers wanting professionals able to communicate, lead, and relate well to others. As Holland says, “Healthcare providers invest in our graduates because they're qualitatively different.”
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With St. Francis Hall now fully operational, Dr. Holland explained that plans call for continuing to update FranU’s buildings and consolidating the campus footprint while preserving the institution's intimate, relationship-based community learning environment. Despite the Universityís small size, Holland notes that today, FranU is the largest provider of healthcare professionals in the Greater Baton Rouge area. “We rely on the community and the community relies on us”, she says.
For more information, please visit franu.edu
