Higher education is once again thrust into an era of turmoil and change. The much-feared admissions cliff of the last decade is finally here, with nearly 100 colleges closing since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that number expected to grow in the coming years. In these fraught times, we would do well to remind ourselves of Seneca’s wisdom (popularized by Semisonic ): “Every new beginning comes from the ending of other beginnings.”
This may be the case even if universities are closed. This is not a story about the end of the university, but the enduring story of its founding mission.
Fontbonne University, which will close in August 2025 due to declining enrollment and financial challenges, was founded more than a century ago by a group of religious nuns who were first invited to the New World in 1836 by Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis. In response to the bishop’s call for aid, six nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) embarked on a seven-week voyage from Lyon, France, to New Orleans. Their journey continued up the Mississippi River to the Carondelet community of St. Louis, where they built a log cabin and began their teaching ministry and service to the deaf community. The next year, 1837, two more nuns trained in the education of the deaf and hard-of-hearing arrived from France, and the first CSJ-sponsored ministry in the New World, St. Joseph’s Institute for the Deaf (SJID), opened.
This founding mission became an integral part of the structure of the University of Fontbonne. Fontbonne University offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at its St. Louis campus similar to those at other institutions, with the exception of a graduate program derived from Mission 1836, a graduate program that trains teachers to work with the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). Not only is the program unique in the region, approximately 25% of DHH’s master’s degree teachers in the United States graduate from the program. For more than 60 years, Fontbonne’s deaf education program has been a national model of excellence. Its legacy is shaped not only by its outstanding faculty and graduates, but also by CSJ’s enduring vision, who believed deeply in the transformative power of education for children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families.
When Fontbonne announced plans to close, the legacy of ministry to the deaf and hard of hearing suddenly became fragile. Although its college neighbor Washington University in St. Louis purchased Fontbonne’s physical plant, allowing the plant to be closed cautiously and gracefully, the fate of Fontbonne’s soul—its founding mission—remains in doubt. News of the impending closure brings with it a deep sadness, uncertainty and sense of responsibility. Deaf education master’s programs—rooted in community and built on relationships—face the unimaginable: Preparatory pathways that have shaped the workforce and activated mission for decades could disappear.
Alumni immediately reached out and expressed their outpouring of concern, encouragement and support. Their message made it clear that the value of the program extends far beyond its physical space; it exists in the educators they become, the children and families they serve, and the unusual bonds formed in the classroom, on placement sites, and on their professional journeys. The voices from CSJ’s founding groups were equally powerful. In the face of closure, their commitment to their mission has not wavered. Instead, they become partners in imagining possibilities together. Their encouragement demonstrated that preserving the essence of the program was not only desirable but necessary.
With this collective support in hand, Fontbonne faculty, staff, and administrators began the search for a new home, guided by a single question: What environment could uphold the values, standards, and ethos that define the Fontbonne program while allowing the next generation of professionals to innovate? After months of conversations with multiple colleges and universities but receiving only tepid interest, the Fontbonne community has finally found a potential avenue.
In fall 2024, St. Joseph Hearing + Speech, a nonprofit entity also sponsored by CSJ, approached the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis to explore the possibility of adopting the soon-to-be-defunct master’s degree program in deaf education. The department, located in the School of Communication, has a strong reputation for its undergraduate programs and a strong reputation in the field, making it a good potential base for the Fontbonne project. Another factor supporting the pairing is Butler’s founding mission, which aligns with Fontbonne’s. However, like any potential marriage, there are some conversations that need to happen before anything is finalized.
In order to adopt the new master’s degree program in deaf education, Butler needed to make sure it was financially viable. The Butler Transformation Lab, an in-house academic research and development arm led by Stephanie Hinshaw, conducted an analysis and determined that the upfront cost of the project would be approximately $430,000, the amount needed to begin construction on the project at Butler, with delivery ideally by February 28, 2025. Fontbonne has had no funds to donate since the project closed, and the calendar is now approaching January. In 2025, the clock is ticking, and despite Butler’s interest, the continuity of the program’s legacy remains in question.
Call it divine intervention, a wink from God or just a dedication to the mission, but during a meeting with CSJ, Fontbonne President Nancy Blattner and St. Joseph Hearing + Speech President Jeff Chapman made an impassioned plea for support, and CSJ responded with a major gift to support the program. In response, Butler launched an aggressive campaign to raise remaining funds from Butler donors, Fontbonne donors and graduates, and the deaf communities of St. Louis and Indianapolis.
The event, held at the Fontbonne presidential palace in St. Louis, where about 40 supporters gathered, was launched just days after a major winter storm hit the area and froze the area. The meeting provided an opportunity for Butler representatives to explain why the program was a fit and how both institutions share DNA in their respective missions. Attendees asked questions, but mostly spoke about the importance of the program continuing and pledging to support it in any way they can. Funding was raised in just five weeks.
What followed was a period of creativity and collaboration between Jenna Voss, the program’s academic director at Fontbonne University; faculty in Butler’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and School of Education; and staff at Butler’s Transformation Lab. The curriculum has been redesigned not as a replication of the past but as an evolution of it, building on the core aspects of the Fontbonne model—a comprehensive curriculum, strong clinical partnerships, and strong partnerships with families, schools, and early intervention programs—while addressing the needs of the contemporary workforce by incorporating remote synchronous delivery of course content, expanding the practicum network to include remote intervention, and increasing alignment with Council on Education of the Deaf and Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation standards. Everyone knows what’s at stake – protecting the heritage and critical programs of the DHH community.
The course proposal and approval process is both rigorous and deeply affirming. By December 2025, the Master of Arts in Deaf Education was fully approved and the Fontbonne legacy found new life.
That momentum accelerated when Butler received a federal Personnel Readiness Grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. The program, titled “Partners in Reaching Potential: Preparing Families to Participate in Deaf Education for an Interdisciplinary Workforce,” ensures that students will receive tuition support, mentorship and strong professional development starting with their first cohort. More importantly, it ensures that the program will be launched not just as a continuation, but as an enhanced, sustainable pathway to expand access to highly qualified educators for DHH children in Indiana, throughout the Midwest and beyond.
While Fontbonne’s closure marks the end of a cherished chapter, it also catalyzes a new one—one based on resilience, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to families and children. The program continues to exist because its community believes it must continue to exist. At Butler, it will continue to evolve, innovate and honor the legacy of its origins. The end of Fontbonne is not the erasure of its story.
