For 175 years, generations of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters have helped shape Marian University.
Now comes the responsibility of building what comes next.
That was at the heart of President Daniel J. Elsener’s 2026 State of the University address, delivered Sept. 16 as Marian celebrates its 175th anniversary. His message was captured in a simple phrase: You live in the house you build.
The address looked back at Marian’s progress while focusing largely on the work ahead—strengthening academic quality, investing in students and programs, growing enrollment, building long-term financial strength, and remaining firmly rooted in the university’s Catholic and Franciscan identity.
Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Kenith C. Britt, Ph.D., opened that broader look at Marian by highlighting 10 areas of progress and opportunity, ranging from people and Catholic Franciscan identity to the Crossroads Academic Medical Institute, Marian University Plymouth, enrollment, athletics, KnightWORKS, fundraising, and accreditation.
Elsener then turned from where Marian stands to where it is going.
For 2026–27, the university’s focus on distinctiveness and quality encompasses excellence in learning, campus life, and sustained success. Marian will place particular emphasis on pre-med, the E. S. Witchger School of Engineering, Klipsch Educators College, the arts, the Fortune Institute, and physical and occupational therapy programs.
Building for the future also requires the financial strength to sustain it. Elsener outlined a long-term approach that includes investing in new programs and the endowment, strengthening retention, expanding graduate and online education, and achieving greater scale. The strategy also calls for engaging alumni and friends, managing costs, and developing additional revenue sources.
Those priorities point to something larger than any individual program, building, or initiative. They reflect Marian’s ongoing effort to become more distinctive, serve more students, and strengthen the university without losing the mission that has defined it for generations.
At 175, Marian has a long history to celebrate. The State of the University made clear that the anniversary also carries a responsibility: to build on what previous generations created and to prepare the university for those who will follow.
The house is still being built.
Watch President Elsener's full 2026 State of the University address.