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Catholic School Superintendents Gather at SLU to Discuss Pathway into the Future

11/01/2023

In mid-September, SLU welcomed superintendents from 19 dioceses and archdioceses to gather and discuss challenges facing Catholic education. 

Professionals from across the South and Midwest, including Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, traveled to St. Louis to lend their expertise and voice to the conversation to advance a vision for the future of Catholic education.

Program attendees pose and smile in front of a brick wall with a wine cellar.

Catholic School Superintendents Gathered at SLU in September 2023.

Experts collaborated to address the many challenges within Catholic education, including Mission and Catholic identity; governance and leadership; academic excellence; and operational vitality. The group kept the changing world in mind while working to determine a new pathway for Catholic education to advance into the future. 

The hope is that this regional gathering will not only create a foundation for concrete solutions to challenges that all Catholic leaders face but will allow educators from across the nation to exchange ideas and build relationships. The team of Lisette Allen, Ed.D., director of education for the Texas Catholic Conference; Theresa Hall, superintendent of the Diocese of Little Rock; John James, Ed.D., professor of educational leadership at Saint Louis University; Todd Sweda, Ed.D., superintendent of the Archdiocese of St. Louis; and Marti West, Ed.D., superintendent of the Archdiocese of San Antonio coordinated the planning and execution of the gathering.

The impetus of the gathering grew out of a desire to create a professional learning community of superintendents that would identify problems that are best addressed at the regional level, as opposed to the national or local level, and then to advance an agenda to address them.”

John James, Ed.D., Professor of Educational Leadership at Saint Louis University


For more information about Saint Louis University’s School of Education, please call 314-977-3292 or visit the website.