Father Daffron to take Loyola reins

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Jesuit Father Justin Daffron, who will become the interim president of Loyola University New Orleans in July, said he hopes to emulate the grace and leadership style of Tania Tetlow, who announced Feb. 10 she was leaving New Orleans to become the first laywoman to serve as president of Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York.

“What I’ve taken away from Tania Tetlow is her great love for faculty, staff and students,” said Father Daffron, 49, who officially will begin his term as interim president on July 1. “She’s one of the most empathetic people I have ever worked with.”

Father Daffron, a native of Dallas, has served as vice president for mission and identity at Loyola since 2019. He  will be a candidate for the  permanent president’s position when a national search committee is formed this spring with a goal of having a new president in place by July 2023.

“I feel like I have the opportunity to have an extended job interview – just for the community to test me and for me to test and to build the confidence that this is the right move,” Father Daffron said. “I’m grateful for that opportunity, and we’ll just take it one day at a time.

“I’ve told other people that I’ve always thought about the idea of being a president, but I’m in no hurry. It’s always been under the right circumstances, at the right time, at the right place. I would be willing to do it given my experience.”

Tetlow moved Loyola ahead 

In 2018, Tetlow became the first woman and the first non-Jesuit to serve as Loyola’s president. Her tenure has been marked by the institution’s overcoming a number of existing challenges, particularly in finances and enrollment.

The university improved its bond rating, reversed budgeting shortfalls, increased student retention, increased enrollment and expanded online, graduate and professional programs.

A strategic plan set goals of expanding academic programs for local and regional needs, particularly in health care. 

The university also concluded a $100 million “Faith in the Future” capital campaign, with funds earmarked for scholarships, endowed professorships, improvement to academic programs and the construction of the new Chapel of St. Ignatius and Gayle and Tom Benson Jesuit Center. The center is scheduled for  completion this year.

Goes beyond finances

Father Daffron said Tetlow’s leadership ranged far beyond getting the university back on a sound financial footing.

“She uses empathy in a way to build relationships that allow for work to be done in a way that’s joyful,” Father Daffron said. “She radiates joy. That’s a byproduct of being a person of deep faith.

“In that sense, I’m a person of deep faith, and I feel like I have a blessed life. My takeaway is to continue to be me and to continue to appreciate Tania for who she is and the gifts that she has given to Loyola. Four years ago, the Loyola she inherited was not the Loyola that is today, and four years from now, I hope that Loyola is going to be stronger for our faculty, staff and students.”

Father Daffron was a key administrator who engaged the Loyola community in a “Mission Priority Examen,” which overlapped with the development of the university’s strategic plan under Tetlow.

“I came to Loyola because of Tania Tetlow,” Father Daffron said. “She inspired me and I wanted to work as part of the turnaround. My position within the office of mission and identity is responsible for helping to build a strong Jesuit, Catholic culture. I’ve always understood how in a complex organization, you drive culture.”

Father Daffron said sometimes the planning process can be tedious, but it is important nonetheless to get the reflection done across all levels of the university.

“My way of doing it is to make sure there’s wine and cheese and king cake,” Father Daffron said, laughing. “You’ve got to make it fun.”

   Introducing Tetlow to the Fordham community and others via Zoom Feb. 10, Jesuit Father Joseph McShane, the university’s outgoing president, said it was a historic day for the university.

Tetlow has strong ties in New Orleans, where she grew up and where she served as federal prosecutor and law professor at Tulane University. But in the Zoom presentation, she said she was glad “to be home” at Fordham when she begins her new role there July 1.

She said the university has “loomed so large” in her family. Her dad, a former Jesuit priest, met her mom at Fordham when they were graduate students.

In a video message to the Fordham community, she said she has come from “a family full of Jesuits” who taught her that “faith and reason are intertwined” and they also instilled in her “an abiding curiosity to find God in all things.”

Her uncle, Jesuit Father Joseph Tetlow, served for eight years in Rome as head of the Secretariat for Ignatian Spirituality of the Society of Jesus.

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