By Satyne Doner, Arts & Culture Editor
& Sophia Sullivan, Editorials Editor
“This is my last position,” said Dr. Edward Dadez, president of Saint Leo University. “I stepped up when asked to make sure my alma mater was going to get back on track and become healthy. I know what I need to do.”
The last time The Lions’ Pride Media Group spoke to Dadez, it was just 48 days after he assumed the role of Saint Leo’s newly appointed president, on July 1, 2022. This time, nine months have passed, and in those nine months came the arrival of a new era for Saint Leo.
Prior to assuming this role as president, Dadez had dreams of retiring into a quieter life. After 20 years of service as the university’s vice president for student affairs, stepping down would have given him time to be the primary caregiver for his wife, Theresa, who had three back surgeries in 2020.
But when the call came from the Board of Trustees to step up, he answered immediately. The Dadez family has 14 graduates from Saint Leo, and it was his passion for the university that brought him back into the limelight.
However, stepping into this new era has brought with it unprecedented challenges. Budgets and athletic teams alike have been cut to preserve the future of the university.
Dadez hopes this temporary disintegration will soon reconstruct into something beautiful in years to come.
“Now that we’ve made these cuts, we are in more of a position of strength to move back up,” he explained.
However, the prognosis was grim following a Feb. 16 press release that sent shockwaves throughout the Saint Leo community. Among the most notable operational changes were the discontinuation of three degree programs, the elimination of 111 staff and faculty positions, the cessation of six NCAA Division II athletic teams, and theclosure of eight satellite campuses.
“We had to get the budget under control,” Dadez said. “I’m not happy that we couldn’t find a silver bullet … but we’re in great shape to move forward.”
Next, the biggest issue Dadez would like to address is the maintenance issues in the campus dorms and apartments.
Having lived in the halls, he has previously noticed these problems and resolved himself to listen to the students and fix them. From adding a fresh coat of paint to the dorms, replacing the couches, and eradicating the mold, Dadez is determined to get them back into tip-top shape.
Additionally, Dadez is listening to the student’s complaints about the food on campus. He noted that while the food at Saint Leo has not always been bad, the quality has recently declined.
Unfortunately, fixing these problems comes back to the school’s budget concerns. Staffing problems have made it difficult to keep multiple dining locations open and operational.
As Dadez noted, if the pizza cook happens to get sick, there will be no pizza to serve: the wages that the university is able to offer are so non-competitive that there are no backup employees for such situations.
To fix these issues, Dadez reminisced on a time when Saint Leo’s dining hall occasionally offered new features, such as the pizza station or salad bar.
“We always used to try to have what we called the ‘wow effect’ every year,” said Dadez. Hopefully, Saint Leo will see more of these in the future.
After Café 36 closed at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year due to staffing issues, students feel like they need a healthier option for meals.
“The healthy option should and will be replaced,” stated Dadez.
Moving into the future, Dadez stressed that the university must hit its enrollment numbers to be completely out of the woods.
As a tuition-driven university, both enrollment and retention are of the utmost importance to Saint Leo.
“It is awful that the retention rate from fall to fall for freshmen tends to be about 54 percent,” Dadez said. “I remember it being as high as 74 percent.”
In addition to rising retention rates, Dadez wants to focus on finding new revenue streams and connecting with alumni. For him, connecting with alumni is one of the key issues he would like to fix. He is increasingly concerned with the lack of good communication between alumni and their alma mater.
“We need to partner with more educational institutions, businesses and corporations in the area,” Dadez explained. “We need to do a much better job at philanthropic support … I have talked to a lot of alumni recently, and I cannot figure out why they say, ‘We haven’t heard from the university in years.’”
What Dadez really seeks for the new era of Saint Leo is connection. He wants to plug alumni back into the university, connect students with their community, and find new ways to engage online students.
“We’ve lost that family feeling,” said Dadez. “We must get back to that feeling. This is not a transactional relationship – it is transformational.”
One solution Dadez wants to explore is engaging and attracting online students through the prospect of four- and eight-week courses. He would also like to see this applied to on-ground learning as well and sees this as a viable option for athletes and busy students alike.
For example, a student would be able to take extra credits for the first eight weeks of the semester, allowing for more flexibility. This move will allow students to take more control over when they take classes and how they complete them.
Dadez encourages students to speak up about what kinds of offerings they would like to see on campus in terms of an expanded array of online and on-ground classes.
“I’ve held meetings to talk about where we need to go with online learning,” said Dadez. “We need to look at different ways to structure it, and we need to ask students what a better way would be.”
By diversifying the school’s offerings, he hopes to garner more revenue. Additionally, Dadez has been focusing on other aspects of campus life that are attractive to prospective students, such as the performing arts programs.
After attending the Saint Leo theatre’s “Menagerie” performances, Dadez expressed a special interest in supporting the school’s performing arts.
“There’s got to be people out there who believe in the theater and arts, so why haven’t we talked to these people?” Dadez asked.
He aspires to start small by getting the word out about Saint Leo’s art programs, so that the surrounding community will be more aware of them. He wants to encourage the community to support other areas of campus life as well.
Additionally, Dadez mentioned that the university is looking into new academic programs and student jobs on campus, but he reminds the community that funds are required to complete such things.
On April 12, the university hosted its 10th annual Day for Saint Leo, also known as Giving Day. According to Dadez, the goal was to reach $300,000 in donations from university supporters. This money will go towards various academic programs, scholarships, athletic programs, military education, and initiatives like the construction of a new Life Sciences building to eventually replace Lewis Hall.
A total of $521,035 was raised, with Dadez himself donating over $5,000 to the general scholarship fund and performing arts programs. Notably, the nursing program received $128,635 in donations and a total of $184,524 was donated towards the university’s excellence programs.
Dadez is rebuilding the school’s foundation from the ground up. Each improvement, little by little, will go towards the greater good of the university. While the process will be grueling and riddled with sacrifice, he is optimistic about the future of Saint Leo.
His message for the community is clear: “I would not have stepped into this position if I was coming in to close my alma mater. I have a passion for this place […] I am not going anywhere else.”
