Avila Now

July 29, 2025

Three Years at Avila: Reflections on Leadership and Transformation

Collage of International Engagement, Student Activities, and Partnerships.

In Part Three of his four-part reflection series, President Jim Burkee recounts Year Three of Avila University’s transformation — a period of record growth, international expansion, and the challenges that come with rapid success.

Part 3 of 4: Year Three — Growth Meets Reality, and the Horizon Expands

In my first year as President of Avila University, the question was whether we would survive. In the second year, the question became how far we could grow. In Year Three, growth became a reality — but so did the challenges that come with it.

A Breakthrough Year in Enrollment — and the Growing Pains That Followed

In Spring 2024, just two years into this remarkable journey, Avila crossed the 2,000-student mark for the first time. By every measure, we were positioned for a historic Fall 2024.

Our domestic partnerships were firing on all cylinders. Our enrollment team, our academic leaders, our global partners — the entire university was moving in unison toward an ambitious goal. After eighteen months of tireless international recruitment and partnership cultivation, Avila issued over 4,000 I-20s to incoming international students, expecting several hundred to join us in the fall.

The Villa Ventura housing project was coming online. Buchanan Hall (formerly Ridgway) was stripped to its bones, under full renovation. Dr. Andy Jett and his team were rapidly scaling the College for Innovative Professional and Graduate Studies to meet growing demand.

It all pointed to a breakout year.

But behind the scenes, storm clouds were gathering.

The Visa Challenge — and the Reality Check of Rapid Growth

Throughout the summer, troubling reports emerged: U.S. embassies abroad were overwhelmed. Students couldn’t get visa appointments — or worse, they secured appointments only to face inexplicable denials.

We weren’t alone; universities across the country were experiencing the same setbacks. But for Avila, with our rapidly expanding international pipeline, the impact was significant.

On campus, construction costs for Buchanan Hall began to climb far beyond expectations, leading to a temporary work stoppage. Thankfully, longtime Avila friend Dave Lovetere, along with Dave Walters and the team at MC Realty, stepped in to take control of the project. There were cost overruns, yes — but now, at least, the project was in capable hands.

Building Systems and Leadership for the Long Haul

Meanwhile, we were laying the organizational foundation to support our new scale:

  • The Business Office, under Abdul Amini, implemented solid budgeting, PO systems, and financial controls — tools critical for managing growth.
  • Rising leaders like Curtis Burton took on responsibility for Student Affairs, Facilities, Security, and Athletics, bringing energy and vision.
  • In Academic Affairs, Dr. Bryan DePoy stepped in as Provost and Senior VP, bringing decades of experience, accreditation expertise, and a steady hand to lead our academic mission.
  • Dr. Leslie Smith, as Dean of Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Paige Illum, leading student support, reinforced our commitment to academic quality and student success.

That fall, despite obstacles, Avila’s traditional undergraduate population had grown 25% in just three years — remarkable in a market battered by demographic shifts and federal financial aid failures.

Our total enrollment? 2,768 students.

By January 2025, we crossed 3,000 students, and at the 49th annual Steer Dinner, we celebrated reaching 3,100 students, making Avila the fastest-growing university in the region — and its most diverse.

A National and Global University Takes Shape

But Avila’s mission wasn’t confined to Kansas City.

Our new campus in Goodyear, Arizona, received full state and accreditor approval. Construction began, and our first Arizona students were expected to start in October.

We laid the groundwork for an international initiative in the United Arab Emirates, and our leadership team fanned out across the globe, building new partnerships to further Avila’s mission.

Nowhere was our identity clearer than in Kathmandu, Nepal, where Dr. Andrew Vogel launched a new student orientation model that combined enrollment with mission: prospective Avila students cleaned a polluted riverbed before even setting foot on campus. Before they arrive, they understand what it means to serve the “dear neighbor.”

Challenges on the Horizon — but Hope, Too

Yet, the landscape remains complex. Political changes in Washington, DC brought renewed uncertainty to higher education: heightened scrutiny of international students, tightening regulations, and a temporary freeze on student visa appointments.

But early summer brought signs of reopening — and with it, hope.

Meanwhile, our Board of Trustees approved Avila’s first surplus budget in recent memory, allocating millions to debt repayment and endowment replenishment. The university, for the first time in decades, was positioned to sustain its growth.

This July, we will celebrate the 375th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph, a community whose mission to love the “dear neighbor” without distinction has endured centuries of expansion, risk, and reinvention.

Like them, Avila stands today in that tension — of risk and reward, of bold dreams and careful stewardship.

But our community now speaks openly of what was once unthinkable: a roadmap to 10,000 students — a vision no longer distant fantasy, but a strategic, achievable goal rooted in mission, values, and hard work.

In the final installment of this reflection series, I’ll share where we go from here — and why the best chapters of Avila’s story are still unwritten.

#AvilaUniversity #HigherEdLeadership #GlobalEducation #CatholicHigherEd #GrowthWithMission

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