Increased training finds itself, as soon as once more, in an period of turmoil and alter. The enrollment cliff, dreaded for the previous decade, has lastly arrived and with it the closing of just about 100 universities because the finish of the COVID-19 pandemic—a quantity projected to develop within the coming years. On this fraught interval, it’s good to remind ourselves of the knowledge of Seneca (popularized by Semisonic): “Each new starting comes from another starting’s finish.”
Such might be the case even with the closing of a college. It is a story not of the tip of a college, however of the endurance of its founding mission.
Fontbonne College, which closed in August 2025 within the face of declining enrollments and monetary challenges, was based greater than a century earlier by a bunch of spiritual sisters who have been first invited to the New World by Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis in 1836. In response to the bishop’s name for help, six Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) started a seven-week voyage from Lyon, France, to New Orleans. Their journey continued up the Mississippi River to the St. Louis neighborhood of Carondelet, the place they constructed a log cabin and started their educating ministry and their service to the deaf group. The following 12 months, in 1837, two further Sisters skilled in educating the deaf and exhausting of listening to arrived from France, and the primary sponsored ministry of the CSJs within the New World, the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf (SJID), opened its doorways.
This founding mission turned an integral a part of the material of Fontbonne College. From its St. Louis campus, Fontbonne supplied bachelor’s and grasp’s packages just like these of different establishments—save for the one which grew from that 1836 mission, a graduate program that skilled academics to work with the deaf and exhausting of listening to (DHH). This system was not solely distinctive to the area but additionally graduated roughly 25 p.c of grasp’s-credentialed academics of the DHH within the U.S. For greater than 60 years, Fontbonne’s deaf training program stood as a nationwide mannequin of excellence. Its legacy was formed not solely by its excellent college and graduates, however by the enduring imaginative and prescient of the CSJs, who believed deeply within the transformative energy of training for youngsters who’re deaf or exhausting of listening to and their households.
When Fontbonne introduced plans to shut, that legacy of ministry to the members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing group felt all of a sudden fragile. At the same time as its college neighbor, Washington College in St. Louis, bought Fontbonne’s bodily plant, enabling the closure to occur with care and charm, the destiny of Fontbonne’s soul—its founding mission—remained doubtful. The information of the approaching closure introduced a profound sense of grief, uncertainty and duty. The M.A. in deaf training program—rooted in group and constructed on relationships—confronted the unimaginable: the potential disappearance of a preparation pathway that had formed the workforce and activated a mission for many years.
Alumni reached out instantly with an outpouring of concern, encouragement and help. Their messages made clear that this system’s worth prolonged far past its bodily dwelling; it lived within the educators that they had change into, the kids and households that they had served, and the unusual bond fashioned throughout class years, practicum websites {and professional} journeys. Equally highly effective have been the voices from the founding order of the CSJs. Their dedication to the mission didn’t waver within the face of the closure. As a substitute, they turned companions in imagining what may be attainable. Their encouragement affirmed that preserving the essence of this system was not solely fascinating—it was mandatory.
With that collective help, Fontbonne college and directors started looking for a brand new dwelling, guided by a singular query: What atmosphere may uphold the values, requirements and spirit that had outlined the Fontbonne program whereas additionally permitting innovation for the following era of pros? After months of conversations with quite a few faculties and universities and receiving solely tepid curiosity, the Fontbonne group lastly discovered a possible pathway.
In fall 2024, a nonprofit entity additionally sponsored by the CSJs, St. Joseph Listening to + Speech, approached the Division of Speech, Language and Listening to Sciences at Butler College, in Indianapolis, about the potential for adopting the soon-to-be-eliminated grasp’s program in deaf training. The division, located within the Faculty of Communication, had a powerful popularity within the discipline resulting from its extremely respected undergraduate program, making it a superb potential dwelling for Fontbonne’s program. One other issue weighing in favor of this pairing was Butler’s founding mission, which comported with that of Fontbonne’s. Like all potential marriage, nevertheless, there have been conversations that wanted available earlier than something might be finalized.
As a way to undertake a brand new grasp’s program in deaf training, Butler wanted to make sure it might be financially viable. The Butler Transformation Lab, an inner tutorial analysis and improvement unit led by Stephanie Hinshaw, carried out an evaluation and decided that the up-front prices of this system have been roughly $430,000—cash that wanted to be available in an effort to begin constructing this system at Butler and ideally within the door by Feb. 28, 2025. Fontbonne had no cash to provide because it was closing, and with the calendar by this time closing in on January 2025, the clock was ticking and the continuity of this system’s legacy was doubtful, regardless of Butler’s curiosity.
Name it divine intervention, a god wink or simply dedication to the mission, however at a gathering with the CSJs, Fontbonne president Nancy Blattner and St. Joseph Listening to + Speech president Jeff Chapman made an impassioned plea for help—to which the CSJs responded with a lead present to help this system. In response, Butler engaged in an aggressive marketing campaign to lift the remaining funds from Butler donors, Fontbonne donors and graduates, and the deaf communities in St. Louis and Indianapolis.
The kickoff of the marketing campaign befell at a gathering of about 40 supporters on the Fontbonne Presidential Home in St. Louis, only a few brief days after a serious winter storm battered the world with ice. This assembly offered representatives from Butler a chance to elucidate why this system was a match and the way the 2 establishments shared DNA of their respective missions. Attendees requested questions, however extra so informed tales of how necessary it was for this system to proceed and pledged to help it nevertheless they may. In simply 5 weeks’ time, the cash was raised.
What adopted was a interval of immense creativity and collaboration between Jenna Voss, the college director of this system at Fontbonne; the college in Butler’s Division of Speech, Language and Listening to Sciences and Faculty of Schooling; and the employees in Butler’s Transformation Lab. The curriculum was reimagined, not as a duplicate of the previous, however as an evolution of it, one which constructed on core facets of Fontbonne’s mannequin—complete coursework, sturdy scientific partnerships and powerful partnerships with households, faculties and early intervention packages—whereas being aware of up to date workforce wants by incorporating remote-synchronous supply in fact content material, increasing practicum networks together with tele-intervention and strengthening alignment with Council on Schooling of the Deaf and Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation requirements. Everybody knew what was at stake—the preservation of a legacy and a crucial program for the DHH group.
The curricular proposal and approval course of have been each rigorous and deeply affirming. By December 2025, the grasp of arts in deaf training was totally permitted and the Fontbonne legacy had discovered new life.
The momentum accelerated when Butler was awarded a federal personnel preparation grant from the U.S. Division of Schooling’s Workplace of Particular Schooling Packages. This venture, Companions in REaching Potential: Making ready an Interdisciplinary Workforce for Household Engagement in Deaf Schooling, ensures that starting with the inaugural cohort, college students will obtain tuition help, mentorship and sturdy skilled improvement. Extra importantly, it ensures that this system will launch not merely as a continuation, however as a strengthened, sustainable pathway that expands entry to extremely certified educators for youngsters who’re DHH throughout Indiana, all through the Midwest and past.
Whereas Fontbonne’s closure marked the tip of a cherished chapter, it additionally gave rise to a brand new one—one grounded in resilience, collaboration and an unwavering dedication to households and youngsters. This system lives on as a result of its group believed it should. At Butler, it can proceed to develop, innovate and honor the legacy from which it got here. Fontbonne’s finish is just not the erasure of its story.
