Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D., brings a deep understanding of Catholic higher education and the Lasallian mission—not to mention an ambitious vision—to his role as La Salle’s new President. 

By Christopher A. Vito

Walking through La Salle University’s Student Union, Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D., looked like he belonged. He wore a La Salle pin on his lapel while navigating the bustling food court. He introduced himself to students during the Monday lunch rush. He shook hands. He talked to undergraduates about their goals and dreams. He asked about La Salle’s role in helping them get where they would like to be—professionally, personally, and academically.

These brief encounters, on Allen’s first campus visit as La Salle’s President-elect, brought smiles to his face.

“This,” he said, moving from table to table, “is where I’m meant to be. I can’t wait to get back to Philadelphia and get to work..”

Allen is La Salle’s 30th President, having arrived in Northwest Philadelphia from Chicago in mid-April to lead the nearly 160-year-old institution. At the time of that February campus visit, Allen had only for two weeks held the temporary title of President-elect following his unanimous selection by the University’s Board of Trustees. And he missed no opportunities to meet members of the University community. He weathered the blustery air to connect with students walking between classes on Hansen Quad. He scheduled intimate sit-downs with faculty and student leadership. He spoke with others, still, at an informal meet-and-greet gathering in the Union Ballroom.

There’s work to be done, Allen said, and there’s no time to waste.

“Our students have the same dreams and aspirations that I had when I was a college student,” Allen said. “Hairstyles, popular music, and communication modes have changed. What’s unchanged and truly special to me is that these students want for themselves the same things a student of my generation wanted: a career that will transform their lives and elevate their opportunities to lead, provide for them and their families, create social and economic mobility, and take them to incredible heights. I accept that responsibility as La Salle’s President. My role is to ensure the university has the resources to meet and fulfill our students’ expectations, and it’s a role I take very seriously.”

Allen’s selection marked the culmination of a nine-month national search for La Salle’s next President, a process that brought forth “dozens of qualified and interested candidates from across the country,” said La Salle Board of Trustees chair William W. Matthews, III, ’90, Esq.

Allen is “an extraordinary leader whose talents and experience equip him well to guide La Salle University as our next President,” Matthews said. Part of the reason why, the Board chair added, is Allen’s educational and professional background. Allen is the product of Catholic education and holds more than 20 years of professional experience in Catholic higher education. Allen served in a senior executive leadership capacity at the nation’s largest Catholic university. He led and managed development and alumni relations functions at DePaul University in Chicago for more than six years, most recently as its senior vice president of university advancement and external relations. At DePaul, he oversaw the most-successful single fundraising year in the DePaul’s history by raising $93.3 million in the 2021 fiscal year and simultaneously launched a 12-month, $60 million campaign aimed at support for student scholarships, emergency assistance, and mental health and career resources, that ultimately raised nearly $125 million.

Allen’s selection as La Salle’s President had as much to do with his professional successes as his familiarity with and understanding of La Salle’s mission.

Earlier in his career, Allen had spent five years as vice president of advancement at one of the nation’s six Lasallian colleges and universities—Lewis University. The role served as his “exposure to the charism of the Christian Brothers,” Allen said, and helped influence the direction of his doctoral dissertation and research interest on access to higher education access for first-generation students, students of color, and low-income students.

“The Christian Brothers’ concern for underrepresented and marginalized communities and their prioritization of issues of social justice helped form the questions I wanted to ask in my dissertation,” Allen said.

After all, Allen could relate. A native of Joliet, Illinois, a community Allen described as “decidedly blue collar and middle class,” he witnessed widespread issues with access to post-secondary education. For those in his network who earned admission to college, the ultimate effect was transformational.

“I saw family members, community members, friends and their siblings alter the trajectory of their lives by earning a degree,” he said. “Seeing people go off to college and earn a degree, it changed them forever and it confirmed my thinking about the power of a college education.”

And it’s at La Salle, Allen said, where students receive a high-quality education with similarly life-changing potential. He cited rankings by U.S. News & World Report and Money magazine, and reports from Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce and Third Way think tank, in which La Salle has regularly received national recognition as a leader in return on investment.

He pointed to the state of higher education today, one he called “an inflection point,” either at or near what everyone collectively hopes is the end of a global pandemic. Universities, he said, must not merely award degrees. The college experience must challenge students, engage a diverse community, and embrace diversity of thought, he added.

“I want to be on the front end of understanding higher education’s role in the United States and in a large urban area, where the most pressing issues we face as a nation are playing out on a daily basis,” Allen said. “A university president has a responsibility to help determine higher education’s responsibility to society and as we emerge from these challenging times.”

“It’s here,” he continued, “and it’s at La Salle University where we can make a difference.”

Allen’s ambitious vision for La Salle is multi-pronged. With a pedigree for academic excellence, the University is well positioned to prepare students for an evolving future, he said. Allen used the words “challenging and rigorous” to describe La Salle’s curriculum, which is intentionally designed to prepare graduates to address the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s workforce and world, and train students with what he called “the evergreen and everlasting skills” that are the fulcrum of a liberal arts education.

“La Salle has a tradition of educating the student holistically and our programs develop students to think critically, formulate an opinion, and promulgate it in written or spoken word. That’s the core of a Lasallian liberal arts education,” Allen said. “Our students will leave La Salle University with a credential that will have significance in whatever comes next in their lives and possess the type of skills that will help them lead in their careers, take their careers to the next level, or help them change their career path.”

To that end, Allen knew for most of his adult life that a career in education was his calling. The path from those early days to now, as President of La Salle University, however, was a bit circuitous.

A Division III basketball player at Loras College, a Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa, Allen pined to coach collegiate basketball. That, he said, explains his decision to earn a master’s degree in physical education from Loras.

It was a good plan, until he found another calling in higher education.

He accepted a role at Loras as an admissions counselor, working diligently to seat the incoming class at his alma mater, before segueing into a position in the college’s advancement office. Allen felt drawn to a role as a relationship-builder. He offered an example: Allen recalled a phone conversation with a Loras alumnus early in his career—“back when I was just a baby in this line of work,” he said. Allen asked if the donor would consider making a $1,000 gift to Loras. Rather than put a thank-you and gift receipt in the mail, Allen met the donor for lunch to hand-deliver them. The donor’s capacity to give swelled, leading to contributions of $25,000; then $250,000; and ultimately, $1 million.

“When someone chooses to share their resources with a university, it’s a deeply personal decision and it has to be rooted in a relationship,” Allen said. “Relationships matter. Making the effort to be present and demonstrate gratitude—this matters. Access to a Lasallian education should not fall solely on our students and their families, and my goal is to bring opportunities to this university that make a pathway to a La Salle education more accessible for all students, no matter your background.”

When Allen thinks about the La Salle experience, he said his mind wanders back to his hometown of Joliet, where he watched union workers and professionals in the trades take a lunchbox with them to work every day. Those skilled workers, Allen said, had an uncompromising work ethic, reputable values, and a commitment to doing only their very best.

He drew a parallel between those professionals and La Salle University students.

“Our students and graduates aren’t afraid of hard work. They are ready to grind it out, do their best, work as hard as they can, and jump right into an experience that is going to challenge them,” Allen said. “No one works harder than a La Salle student. That’s the tradition of excellence that has been established at this university and that will not change.”

That’s just another reason why he chose La Salle—and why La Salle is poised for its exciting next chapter.