$1 million gift will help build Hanway Academic Loft in Loyola’s new Fernandez Center

The Hanway Academic Loft, which will be located on the top floor of the Fernandez Center, will be a collaborative space on the top floor of the Fernandez Center. It will offer a place for faculty and students to engage in interactive, innovative and interdisciplinary learning, according to the release.

Ed Hanway, who graduated from Loyola in 1974, serves as a Loyola trustee and was formerly the chair of the board. He and his wife, who both received honorary doctor of humane letters degrees from Loyola in 2014, are longtime supporters of Loyola. They have made multiple gifts to the school, including a $5.2 million gift that was the largest in Loyola’s history.

“Ellen and I are passionate about taking a multidisciplinary approach to education,” Ed Hanway said in the release. “We are proud to support the addition of a space that will be intentionally designed to offer innovative opportunities for faculty and students to engage in learning.”

The Hanways’ past contributions to Loyola have strengthened Loyola’s global studies program, bolstered the York Road Initiative, created the Hanway Lecture in Global Studies, helped launch a freshman program called “Messina,” added an endowed faculty chair and provided resources for faculty research and student scholarships.

“The Hanway Academic Loft will be a tangible sign of Ed and Ellen’s ongoing and transformative support of Loyola over the years, and it will offer a place for innovative, intellectual engagement, mentorship, and scholarship,” said Jesuit Father Brian F. Linnane, president. “I am deeply grateful to the Hanways for all the ways they have supported today’s Loyola students and tomorrow’s—and particularly for how they invest in helping to ensure our students graduate as leaders for our diverse and changing world.”

The Fernandez Center will be named for Trustee Miguel “Mike” and Constance Fernandez and the Fernandez Family Foundation, which made a $5 million gift to Loyola for the Fernandez Center and to support need-based aid.

The Fernandez Center will be located on the Evergreen campus in North Baltimore. In addition to the Hanway Academic Loft, the Fernandez Center will include an expanded Dan and Kelly Rizzo Career Center, the Forbes Idea Lab, active learning classrooms and innovative space for faculty.