Mission and Message
Mission Statement
Arrupe College is a two-year college of Loyola University Chicago that continues the Jesuit tradition of offering a rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse population, many of whom are the first in their family to pursue higher education.
Using an innovative model that ensures affordability while providing care for the whole person—intellectually, morally, and spiritually—Arrupe prepares its graduates to continue on to a bachelor’s program or move into meaningful employment. Heeding the call of its namesake, renowned Jesuit leader Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the college inspires its students to strive for excellence, work for justice, and become “persons for and with others.”
Message from the Dean
Welcome to Arrupe College, a nationally recognized model for higher education that provides an innovative, transformative education in the Jesuit tradition. Here, we make education affordable, accessible, and achievable for those historically underrepresented, many of whom are the first in their family to pursue higher education. Arrupe College will give you the tools to make a difference and positively transform the lives of individuals, families, and communities through the relationships you build as an Arrupe student and alum.
Arrupe is a place where anything is possible. Where students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. Where the value of learning is measured not just in how much one knows, but by how much one can apply that knowledge to lift others for a more just society. We strive to prepare students to think critically, to engage our world in all its complexity, and to grow as caring and compassionate individuals. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “men and women for and with others.
Arrupe’s flexible schedule allows students to both work and complete a two-year associate’s degree in Liberal Arts, Business, or Social and Behavioral Sciences—and we help them do it on-time and with little to no debt. Our students and graduates are succeeding because Arrupe’s amazing faculty and staff work tirelessly to empower students to discover and develop their God-given gifts and talents, and together, we support them every step of the way.
Whether you are beginning your academic journey or still considering your options, I encourage you to apply and I invite you to reach out to faculty, staff, counselors, or me to learn more about all that Arrupe College has to offer.
Fr. Marty Connell, S.J., PhD (BA '87)
Dean
Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago
Who was Pedro Arrupe?
ARRUPE COLLEGE IS NAMED after Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J., a Jesuit priest who was born in Spain in 1907 and dedicated his life to helping others.
Father Arrupe (pronounced Ah-roop-eh) studied medicine as a young man, but he abandoned his medical training to enter the Society of Jesus in 1927. He was ordained in 1936 and, within a few years, was sent to Japan to work as a missionary.
During World War II, Father Arrupe was teaching on the outskirts of Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb fell. Using the medical training he learned in his youth, Father Arrupe transformed the Jesuit residences into a makeshift hospital to care for the injured and dying.
In 1965 he was elected superior general of the Society of Jesus, a position he held until 1983. As the leader of Jesuits around the world, Father Arrupe helped guide the order through the changes of Vatican II and focused his tenure on working with the poor and marginalized.
Father Arrupe, who died in 1991, made it his life’s work to educate men and women to serve others—an ideal that now guides Jesuit schools across the world.
Read more about Father Arrupe here; watch a documentary about his life here.
Welcome to Arrupe College, a nationally recognized model for higher education that provides an innovative, transformative education in the Jesuit tradition. Here, we make education affordable, accessible, and achievable for those historically underrepresented, many of whom are the first in their family to pursue higher education. Arrupe College will give you the tools to make a difference and positively transform the lives of individuals, families, and communities through the relationships you build as an Arrupe student and alum.
Arrupe is a place where anything is possible. Where students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. Where the value of learning is measured not just in how much one knows, but by how much one can apply that knowledge to lift others for a more just society. We strive to prepare students to think critically, to engage our world in all its complexity, and to grow as caring and compassionate individuals. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “men and women for and with others.
Arrupe’s flexible schedule allows students to both work and complete a two-year associate’s degree in Liberal Arts, Business, or Social and Behavioral Sciences—and we help them do it on-time and with little to no debt. Our students and graduates are succeeding because Arrupe’s amazing faculty and staff work tirelessly to empower students to discover and develop their God-given gifts and talents, and together, we support them every step of the way.
Whether you are beginning your academic journey or still considering your options, I encourage you to apply and I invite you to reach out to faculty, staff, counselors, or me to learn more about all that Arrupe College has to offer.