New venture, enterprises, risk—if you like that lingo, the business of launching businesses may be for you. You’ll want to talk to Loyola's School of Business Administration Clinical Professor Leonard Gingerella. "Business is my passion—I love the stuff," he says.

But you can find inspiring professors in any school or department at Loyola. Loyola selects faculty who stand at the front of their field and are outstanding resources for your learning and success. Our faculty-to-student ratio of 15:1 means you get direct access to these experts.

Loyola's outstanding Chicago location makes it possible to bring you field experts like Gingerella, with years of insider knowledge in industry. An entrepreneur, he has founded and sold a multi-million dollar automation consulting business. He is the senior member of two new successful technology start-ups, and he spearheaded the launch of Loyola’s Entrepreneurship program. Essentially, Gingerella can't get business out of his system—his passion and interest run that deep. When he isn't in the classroom or at a CEO meeting, he mentors new business start-ups and looks for ways to help entrepreneurs grow. He also consults for high tech start-ups and major manufacturers.

Gingerella wanted to channel all that relevant experience. "As an entrepreneur turned adjunct professor, I saw the need to bring entrepreneurship closer to what the real world of business demands. I saw at Loyola the opportunity to develop and teach an entrepreneurship program that’s real-world focused and rich in cutting-edge content," Gingerella explains.

Preparing students for the real world is Loyola's mission. Gingerella credits Loyola's nurturing, encouraging Jesuit environment for students’ success. "We push our students to challenge the status quo. In doing so, Loyola students become exceptional thinkers and leaders—what successful entrepreneurs need to be."

As Gingerella will attest, that makes Loyola a sound educational investment.

The big picture—that’s what a Loyola education is all about. Loyola students travel and see the world, so that they can stand ready to address the issues of today’s global society.

For Tricia Gawlas, Loyola’s Ricci Scholars program allowed her to do just that. As a highly motivated student, Gawlas was awarded the scholarship for her entire junior year—and was able to spend one semester each at Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center and The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies.

For Gawlas, the study abroad experience pushed her to develop self-reliance and confidence—great leadership qualities. And, it gave her valuable new insights into our home culture. "China is such a different place than Chicago," says Gawlas. "China's government, economics, and way of thinking are so different than our own. If you try to understand them, America is going to make a lot more sense."

Working with Rome and Beijing professionals, Gawlas also began a research project on the localized marketing strategies of multinational corporations.

Did she miss a beat while abroad for a whole year? Nope. "I have been applying for internships, and employers love to hear that I've been abroad." In fact, she secured two Chicago summer internships—while she was still in China, via interviews on Skype. "My Ricci study abroad experience has really proved to be a resume-enhancing opportunity and something that I will value my whole life."

Close to graduation, Gawlas stands on the cusp of another great adventure: she plans to head to graduate school, or into an immediate career. Loyola has prepared her for either destination. She can speak with a global perspective, use the skills gained from her internships, and consult with her personal and professional international network.

Steeped in these Loyola experiences, Gawlas is confident and ready. "My options are still open, but my opportunities are endless."

I started out at Loyola feeling nervous, like every student in a freshman class. But at orientation, I already felt at ease as my orientation leaders spoke openly about having coffee with their favorite professors and their appreciation of Loyola’s locale of Chicago. Then in September, I was hired to be a Student Ambassador for the Undergraduate Admission Office. From a tour guide to eventual team leader, I not only learned about Loyola—I met with hundreds of prospective students over the course of the three years I worked there. What I expressed to those students and their families, I wish to express here: no matter what, no matter the university, you will find your place in this world.

What is unique, though, to Loyola and to the Jesuit liberal arts tradition, is the rigorous method through which you can examine what your place might be. You are invited to try new things, like an Anthropology class, or maybe Biology through Art. Father Garanzini, Loyola's President, is eager to meet you as he serves pancakes and sausage at the traditional Loyola Finals Breakfast, staffed by Loyola faculty. I was so lucky as to have professors who transformed my abilities as a writer and a communicator, and who facilitated my going abroad for a year to Nantes, France, where I lived with a French family and gained linguistic fluency from a total immersion experience.

If you are seeking a university that will teach you not what to think but how, Loyola is the home for you. And that is just what it will become: home. You might depart one day from Dumbach Hall, and leave behind the elegant glass of the Information Commons, but Loyola’s maxims will linger, guiding you in the "real world."

Having graduated a semester early in December of 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in French and in English, I pursued my long-time dream of working in law with an immigration firm in Brussels, Belgium. In 2010, I had the opportunity to teach English at an international school in Warsaw, Poland, where I picked up my Jesuit thinking cap and at last embraced the vocation that fait battre mon coeur, as the French say ("makes my heart beat"). This September, I will be completing my MA in Educational Sciences at the Sorbonne in Paris as I teach in an innovative new school, called Living School, a bright light in a jaded education system. In a few years, I hope to open my own school in Paris, and eventually a sister-school in Africa.

Loyola taught me to better the lives of others in a way that is enriching, to listen to that voice that nags at us when we feel that something or someone is disingenuous, and to aspire always to give unto others—these are the ways that lead us to being content human beings and well-rounded citizens of the world.

If you choose to come to Loyola, like I hope you do, I can promise you that if you commit to self-assessment, to reflection and consideration of the fundamental questions of life, and to learning in a way that will inspire you to learn all the days of your life, you will graduate with a degree that will not only assist you professionally, but will change you for the better, and indeed, lead you to live an extraordinary life.

You are the dream: come to Loyola, and make it a reality.

People would constantly ask if I was excited to go to Rome. And my answer was always, "I don't know."

For me, it was hard to feel anticipation or a thrill over something completely beyond anything I've ever known. I did not really understand what Rome looked like or the scent of its air. I wasn't even certain how well I would fare with the budding Italian speaking skills I'd gained through classes at Loyola's Chicago campuses.

So I focused on the bustle of everyday life until I stepped off the plane at Fumicino. And on the bus ride to the John Felice Rome Center, I began to see why everyone at home seemed so thrilled at my opportunity to study abroad.

Even the most mundane of Roman scenes seemed as if they'd popped out of post cards. Everyone, including garbage men, possessed a keen sense of appearance and fashion. Even the sun at the end of August, one of Rome's most oppressing months of heat, felt somehow better.

It was no surprise, then, that the Rome Center, tucked away from the city center in Monte Mario, also felt just perfect. Its front courtyard garden, the old-school dorms, and even Rinaldo's café proved immediately inviting.

My four classes focused on the theology of Jesus Christ, Italian-American cinema, Italian culture, and Dr. John Nicolson's Art in Rome. The latter took us on-site to some of the world’s greatest art and architectural treasures, where we studied their history and symbolism. Very quickly, I found myself earning high marks on tests and papers because I was so enamored with the concept of living in the place I was learning about, and vice versa.

Everything I studied in class came to life as I walked Rome's streets, met its people, and visited its churches and monuments.

Through this combination of classroom and practical learning, I was falling in love with Rome every day. And to prove it, I ultimately earned straight A's with what seemed like no effort. After all, every assignment was a labor of love.

During my semester I visited 13 other cities in Europe, a privilege that humbled me as I struggled with language barriers, learned to navigate strange cities and different cultures, and budget money wisely. Most importantly, these travels and my time in Rome helped me understand just how big the world really is. I gained a broad perspective that still guides me in my current career as a journalist.

Cities like Barcelona, Vienna, and Berlin could have tempted me to live there, but ultimately I always felt a pull to return to Rome. Truly, it had become my new home.

It makes sense, then, that much of my heart still remains in the Eternal City and at the Rome Center. If life had worked out as I'd liked, I would have never left and remained as an English teacher, a tour guide—anything that would let me stay connected to the profound growth I experienced at Loyola. But at home my single mother, who struggled with a rare heart condition, needed my help raising my 6-year-old sister, Megan. Plus, how could I miss all those school plays?

Ultimately, I was needed for much more than elementary school milestones. My mother's heart disease eventually won and, at 26, I found myself a single parent to Megan, who was just 11 at the time. But even amid my grief and adjusting to my new role, I quickly planned a visit to the city and campus of my heart.

When words and even family could not bring me peace, I was certain I would find solace in the place that first taught me where I fit in on this earth. And when I returned home, I was ready to rise to the challenge of my new life as a parent.

Today, a decade later, I am comforted and inspired to see the newest crop of students each year stumbling through Italian sentences, mastering their way around Rome's winding streets and showing off their newfound art history knowledge to their visiting parents. Someday, I hope Megan will be lucky enough to share this experience and leave the Rome Center knowing where she fits into the world and how she can impact it—in the words of St. Ignatius Loyola—for the greater glory of God.

But for now, I always aim to remain involved with the Rome Center so I might help other students discover its blessings. And, of course, I will always come back to my second home.

Loyola graduates are known for choosing careers that don't always provide an easy path. Juan Bottia wanted to teach bilingual elementary education but worried about whether he was up to the challenge of being responsible for students' education at such a critical, formative period in their lives. The passion he saw in his own teachers in Loyola’s School of Education solidified how vital the job was and gave him the confidence he needed. "Observing my Loyola professors and how much they love what they teach really inspired me."

Bottia also says he always felt supported by the faculty. "My professors were always willing to lend me a hand and help me." In fact, one of them helped Bottia land his teaching job.

Loyola’s emphasis on cross-cultural understanding and global perspectives helped prepare Bottia for the real-world classroom. Loyola’s own multicultural student body and location in Chicago, home to more than 100 ethnically diverse neighborhoods, augmented Bottia’s cultural literacy and his teaching experience. "Loyola gave me the opportunity to observe schools in the Chicago area," he says. "I was able to learn from a variety of environments and work with different ethnic backgrounds. It really expanded my world view and allowed me to really become a better teacher and prepare myself for this career—which takes a lot of planning, a lot of hard work, and a lot of passion."

Now as a third- and fourth-grade bilingual teacher at an elementary school in suburban Chicago, Bottia works to inspire his own students, all of whom are learning to speak, read, and write in English for the first time. "We’re trying to let our students know that they can go to college one day. They are going to have the opportunity one day to make a career. A lot of these kids don’t know that."

Bottia’s Loyola education has prepared him to address the hopes and challenges of his classroom and our world. He exudes a critical Loyola belief—that with the right support and inspiration, one can prepare to lead an extraordinary life. That can be understood in any language.