Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose agreement is welcome

In May, officials with Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose universities publicly disclosed an effort to join forces to be better positioned to deal with challenges facing higher education. The closure in 2023 of Iowa Wesleyan University was still on our minds.

“St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy deserve considerable credit for joining forces to meet the headwinds facing higher education. We’re optimistic the schools can succeed,” we wrote in a Gazette editorial.

Just less than three months later, the universities’ presidents have signed a formal agreement the combine Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose. Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose will keep their names. The Mount Mercy Mustangs will still play against the St. Ambrose Bees in sports.

But St. Ambrose, the larger of the two schools, will be the nonprofit parent organization. Eventually, Mount Mery’s name will be the “Mount Mercy Campus of St. Ambrose University.

“Over the course of the next two years, we will be working alongside one another to bring those two institutions together,” said St. Ambrose President Amy. Mount Mercy’s President Todd Olson, played a pivotal role in making collaboration happen.

We think campus leaders still deserve considerable credit for taking the plunge.

Mount Mercy, founded in 1926, and St. Ambrose, founded in 1927, have each seen their enrollments drop. Mount Mercy faced a $3 million budget deficit in 2023 after a $5 million revenue decrease wasn’t offset by spending cuts.

One major detail left to be hammered out is how the merger will affect programs. What school leaders hop is combining forces will offer students more options and develop new programs and expand academic offerings.

“What we've been talking about is what can we do together to strengthen the student experience,” Novak said.

This agreement should be just the start of conversations about collaboration in higher education. Other Eastern Iowa institutions should be exploring new relationships to strengthen their campuses for the future.

Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose are taking the risk and we hope the universities reap the reward in the decades ahead.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com