Madonna University Proposal Earns Ladywood Property

LIVONIA, Mich. – Chicago-based Felician Services Inc. (FSI), recently completed a comprehensive bid process for the Ladywood High School property in Livonia. After reviewing the proposals of three finalists, FSI selected Madonna University’s proposed plans for the Ladywood site.

“While all the finalists submitted good proposals, Madonna University was decidedly the best,” said Andrea White, FSI president. “We were impressed by their proposed partnership with another Felician ministry, and we are very pleased that the property will remain in the Felician family.”

The University plans to utilize the property for four primary purposes:

• Grow its undergraduate forensic science program (accredited by the Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission) and develop a graduate forensic science program. The additional lab space at the Ladywood complex will accommodate graduate research and lab activities. Plans also include establishing a Forensic Science Institute, where faculty and student researchers could provide analysis of sexual assault kits to help reduce the national backlog of untested kits.
• Utilize the athletics facilities for intercollegiate athletics. The continued growth of Madonna athletics programs has generated greater demand for parking spaces, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, locker rooms, classrooms, and other spaces. Use of the Ladywood athletic complex will increase Madonna’s capacity to provide intramural and open-gym activities, and other social functions that increase student engagement. Expanding Madonna’s athletic programming will increase the number of undergraduate students, and contribute to a sense of community through spectatorship, a sense of belonging, and the shared goals and values of Madonna University.
• Expand the instrumental music program. The University envisions adding a string quartet, a marching band, a drum line, and a concert band to its instrumental music program, which already includes a pep band and jazz band. The Ladywood band room, instrument storage space, and band director office space would provide the capacity needed to support 75 additional students as part of Madonna’s performing arts co-curricular program.
• Create an early childhood education lab school in partnership with another Felician-sponsored ministry. The lab school would provide opportunities for Madonna early childhood education students to learn, and gain hands-on experience while working closely with licensed child care providers to observe and assist in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms. The children would benefit from the additional time and attention they receive from the Madonna students.

“We are honored and blessed that our proposal for the Ladywood Complex was selected,” said Madonna President Michael A. Grandillo, Ph.D. “We are grateful, indeed, to receive such a valuable treasure from the Felician Sisters. Just a stone’s throw from Madonna’s other buildings and our Felician partner ministries, this beautiful facility affords us the space to expand some of our key programs. We will continue to carry forward the legacy of the Felician Sisters, and we plan to use some space to honor Ladywood High School,” he said. “Our growth is going to be really good for the Livonia community, too.”

Grandillo indicated that there are some areas of the complex, i.e. the parking lot and outdoor athletic field, that the University can begin using on an immediate basis, while others will require some modification. Plans are to complete capital improvements by July/August 2019, so that the athletics department, forensic science and instrumental music can move over. In September 2019, plans are to have the Crusaders volleyball and basketball teams compete in the updated gym at Ladywood.

About Felician Services Inc.
Felician Services Inc. (FSI) safeguards the interests and assets of the Felician Sisters of North America at their Felician-Sponsored Ministries, and assures their ministries’ present and future financial viability. FSI provides the Felician Sisters Our Lady of Hope Provincial Council with expertise and advice to allow the Council to make informed decisions. FSI assures that sponsored ministries are managed in accordance with the Mission Integration Policy which is consistent with Catholic Social Teaching, and with sound and ethical business and governance practices. 

About Madonna University
Liberal arts education, career preparation and service-learning have been the hallmarks of a Madonna University education for 80 years. In addition to the beautiful main campus, conveniently located at I-96 and Levan Road in Livonia, Madonna offers academic programs in Gaylord, Macomb, and online in China, Haiti and the United Arab Emirates. Michigan’s most affordable, independent, Catholic, liberal arts university, Madonna offers more than 100 undergraduate and 35 graduate programs in the colleges of arts and humanities, natural and social sciences, education, and nursing and health, as well as the School of Business.

About the Felician Sisters of North America
A joy-filled, apostolic congregation of women religious, the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Felix of Cantalice, known as the Felician Sisters, is a Franciscan community inspired by the spiritual ideals of its Foundress Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska and Saint Francis of Assisi. Consecrated to God through the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Felician Sisters of Our Lady of Hope Province live in community and dedicate their lives to God and the Church. At Felician-sponsored ministries across North America the Sisters can be found serving the impoverished; marginalized; the imprisoned; the sick, elderly, and the infirm; those with profound disabilities and those with developmental and physical disabilities; young adults and youth ranging from pre-school through college.

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