Brother James Gaffney reflects on 28 years as president of Lewis University

ROMEOVILLE – With Brother James Gaffney preparing to leave after 28 years as president at Lewis University, it was fitting that there were two construction projects underway outside his office at Stritch Hall.

Gaffney has led the university in an era of growth in which new academic buildings went up, more dorms were built as the campus expanded, and enrollment more than tripled to nearly 7,000.

The landscape has changed – literally.

Gaffney, whose last day as president is Thursday, remembers early in his time as president when even planting flowers was a big move.

“There was no money. When I became president, we planted the first flowers,” he said.

The first flowers?

If there had been any planted previously, it had been a while, Gaffney said.

Before he became president, Gaffney was chairman of the board at Lewis University for 10 years.

Gaffney was called in to serve as president in 1988 while Lewis still was struggling to recover from fiscal problems in the 1970s that led many to expect the university to close.

One of his early memories (besides planting flowers) was meeting the father of a prospective student who had visited Lewis during an open house.

“He said, ‘I drove around your campus once and left. I decided any place that can’t maintain a campus can’t maintain quality academics,’ ” Gaffney recalled. “I decided this has to change.”

Today, Lewis plants thousands of flowers each year – 32,000 tulips alone. It is designated a Tree Campus USA.

Campus and enrollment

“Today, we have 425 acres,” Gaffney said. “We have built or completely renovated 28 buildings in the last 25 years.”

Lewis also has added five satellite campuses – four in the Chicago area and one in Albuquerque.

One of the construction projects outside Gaffney’s office at Stritch Hall is a renovation of the old science building, which is connected to the new Science Center that opened in 2012.

Gaffney said the upgraded facilities have accommodated a threefold increase in the number of science students at Lewis University in the past four years. Physics majors have grown from about a dozen to 75. Computer science majors have grown from 35 to 250.

The other building under construction is a new residence center for the 23 Christian Brothers at Lewis University. Not all of them are on university staff, but they live at Lewis while doing work at other Christian Brothers institutions in the Chicago area.

Gaffney himself will be moving in, after a sabbatical. He will be president emeritus after Thursday. But after 28 years as president, Gaffney said one of the best things he can do is not interfere with incoming President David Livingston.

“I’ll slip back and forth. I’ll be available to help the president in any way he needs,” Gaffney said.

But he plans to stay out of the way, he said, because after so many years at the helm, “the new president can’t be in my shadow. It’s the responsible thing to do.”

Gaffney will have plenty to do. He sits on the boards of 17 organizations. Five of those are connected to his role as president of Lewis, and he will leave them. But Gaffney plans to continue to serve on a dozen other boards.

Close to home, Gaffney is chairman of the board at St. Joseph High School in Westchester. He also is on the board of Catholic universities in Beirut and Ethiopia, positions that require some travel. Other boards include First Midwest Bank and the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

Lasallian mission

For all the new ground forged during Gaffney’s time as president, one of his biggest accomplishments may have been restoring the university to its Lasallian mission, said Kurt Schackmuth, vice president of Mission and Identity at Lewis and a former student at the university.

The De La Salle Christian Brothers have overseen Lewis since 1960. The university was founded in 1932.

“He brought to the university a sense of renewal and recommitment to our Catholic and Lasallian mission,” Schackmuth said.

Gaffney’s faith gave him optimism to face Lewis’ problems early on and build for the future, Schackmuth said.

“I think that sense of meaning has given him a confidence that has caused him to look optimistically toward the future,” he said. “There’s something about him being in the right time in the right place for 28 years to build this foundation for Lewis University.”