CONGRATULATIONS! Doug Bruno

Did you know that our own Doug Bruno will be on the bench at the Olympics? USA Basketball announced that the DePaul woman's coach will return as an assistant coach for the 2016 Summer games in Rio.

DePaul Announces Partnership for New City Events Center

Dear Colleagues and Students,

Last year, DePaul's Vision 2018 strategic plan articulated our many goals for the next six years. One goal — bringing men's basketball back to Chicago — created a flurry of speculation about possible sites for a new DePaul basketball arena. Indeed, we received and reviewed about a dozen different proposals. We weighed the advantages and disadvantages of each. Ultimately, we agreed to pursue a public-private partnership that would offer the most cost-efficient and accessible venue for DePaul basketball.

Today, I am thrilled to tell you that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has just announced the city's plans for a large-scale tourism and economic development project near McCormick Place — one that will include a new, 10,000-seat events and convention facility, that also will serve as a DePaul arena for both our men's and women's programs. 

Home to both the men's and women's teams, the new facility will bring together the large and diverse community of DePaul students, alumni and fans from the city and suburbs. In addition to hosting home games for DePaul basketball teams and serving as a practice facility, the events center will support other high-profile functions for both DePaul and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) — including DePaul commencement ceremonies, special events and Chicago's convention-related business. The facility will serve as an important venue for many Chicago-area public and private schools and other colleges as well, including Chicago Public Schools sporting events, graduations, City Colleges events, and the like.

DePaul is now one of several strong partners who are part of the mayor's plan to make Chicago more attractive to tourists and convention planners. Other facilities being planned as part of the city's collective package of strategic investments in tourism and economic development in the South Loop include:

• Street-level restaurants and shops at the base of the arena, along Prairie and Indiana Avenues;
• A 400-room hotel on the same block, along Cermak Road;
• A second hotel development on the south side of Cermak Road between Indiana and Michigan Avenue;
• An elevated pedestrian walkway from the McCormick Place parking garage to the arena facility; and
• A related $166 million investment in the renovation of Navy Pier and the Children's Museum.

The city expects this project to produce 3,000 to 5,000 permanent jobs, along with 5,000 construction jobs during the building phase.

DePaul's investment in this partnership with the city will amount to $70 million. We believe we can complete this project without affecting tuition. Funding will come from ticket sales, naming rights for the arena, revenues generated by DePaul athletics and the Big East Conference, and fundraising. Happily, several gifts have been committed, and we look forward to announcing them in the near future.

DePaul makes this investment for several reasons. College basketball presents high-impact opportunities to promote our reputation. Alumni find the broadened name recognition a help when competing for jobs nationally. This first-class facility and its more central location will help us build on the momentum our basketball program has enjoyed in recent years from hiring first-rate coaches and staff. And, most immediately, this partnership provides a rare opportunity to do so at a reasonable cost while helping the city to achieve its goals of rejuvenating Motor Row — an area it has long wanted to revive — and while helping the MPEA attract a broader array of conventions to the city.

We do this with nothing but gratitude for the Allstate Arena in Rosemont and for the city leaders who have been so supportive for so many years. It has been a wonderful relationship. Given that construction on the new facility is not expected to start until 2014, we likely will ask to extend our contract. Our hope is to play the 2016-17 season in our new arena.

Today's announcement adds to what has been an exciting time for the university. Just this past week, DePaul completed construction of our new soundstage at Cinespace Studios in Chicago, to dramatically increase the learning opportunities for our film students. In July, DePaul will open major new buildings for our College of Education and The Theatre School. We will transform our library into a Learning Commons this summer. We are redesigning space for our departments of writing and modern language, and nearing completion of the architectural documents for a new building for the School of Music. All of this follows numerous facilities improvements over the past six years, new partnerships over the past several years with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Chicago History Museum, Catholic Theological Union, Facing History and Ourselves, Gordon Tech College Prep and Lake View High School, as well as the addition of 55 new majors and academic programs in the past six years alone.

This reinvention of DePaul has been accomplished through the vision and hard work of our faculty and staff and the assistance of all those who have worked on the Many Dreams, One Mission Campaign, which has generated $283 million in funds to date for student scholarships, academic programs and faculty support. This truly is an inspired community that cares deeply for the future strength of our university.

Thank you for making this exciting next step in our history possible. Without your unwavering dedication and hard work, DePaul would not be what it is — the kind of institution that makes us an attractive partner for ambitious projects like these.

God bless you,

Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M.
President

For additional information about the arena, please check the following website http://alumni.depaul.edu/arena

DePaul Leaves Big East ... For the Big East

March 12, 2013

Dear University Community,

This morning DePaul University, along with the six basketball-focused institutions in the BIG EAST Conference voted unanimously to separate from the conference. DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova are setting a foundation to continue the elite level of success upon which the BIG EAST conference was founded.

The seven presidents and athletics directors are committed to the highest level of success academically and athletically by our student-athletes and coaches. This premier athletics conference starts on July 1 as the BIG EAST* and will feature institutions with similar commitments that will enable each program to flourish as we all move forward in the future.

DePaul's tradition of success coincides with the six other institutions with our men's basketball program making 22 NCAA Tournament appearances. At nearly 1,400 victories and 23 20-win seasons, DePaul also has produced 19 All-Americans in men's basketball. Our women's basketball program is looking for its 11th straight NCAA Tournament appearance this season, while head coach Doug Bruno is coming off a gold medal-winning performance at the 2012 London Olympics.

Academically, among our many accomplishments, DePaul student-athletes are among the best in the country. DePaul led the BIG EAST with five teams earning the Team Academic Award while 150 student-athletes were named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. The men's golf program claimed the nation's top team GPA for the third straight year, and the women's basketball team GPA was ranked third nationally.

This is an exciting time to be a member of the University community. Our future alignment will allow our alumni and friends to gather in some of the nation's greatest cities to build upon our vibrant community and cheer the Blue Demons to victory.

Details about the expected broadcast media deal, season-ending tournament and additional members of the new conference will be announced in the near future. The upcoming media deal will allow our students, alumni, fans and friends to follow DePaul as they compete against the top programs in the country.

We look forward to this next chapter in DePaul athletics history. Thank you for the many ways that you support DePaul. Wishing you and yours a joyous spring.

Go DePaul !

Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M.,                           Jean Lenti Ponsetto
President                                                                  Director of Athletics


Email from the Office of the Secretary, DePaul University


* The Catholic 7, who announced their intention to leave the Big East next season, will actually be the Big East next season, bringing the name, the brand and the postseason tournament held in Madison Square Garden as they break off from the football-playing schools.
Source: NBC Sports - CollegeBasketballTalk, online,  March 12, 2013.