Meeting the Next Great Need: Inside Carlow University's Purpose-Driven Growth

Ninety-five years ago, five members of the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Pittsburgh with a simple charge: meet the need in front of them. Today, that same instinct shapes every decision Dr. Kathy Humphrey makes as the 11th president of Carlow University, from how the institution talks to prospective students to which academic programs it builds next. In a recent conversation, Dr. Humphrey laid out how Carlow has grown enrollment by nearly 500 students in four years, not through aggressive marketing, but by staying close to its founding mission and to the needs of the local Pittsburgh community.

A Mission Built to Meet the Next Great Need

Carlow's founding story is central to how Dr. Humphrey frames the university's identity today. "We began 95 years ago, by the Sisters of Mercy. And these were five gutsy, gritty women who came from Ireland to meet the next great need in Pittsburgh," she said. That need, in 1929, was access: "Initially it was to provide Catholic and other women an opportunity to get an education when nobody else was allowing that to happen." She points out how radical the timing was: "Women had just begun to vote. And here are these five women starting really an enterprise that would live for hundreds of years later, in communities, providing hospitals, educations, elementary schools, and universities."

For Dr. Humphrey, that origin story isn't history to be honored from a distance. It's an operating principle. "This work that they did, to provide opportunities to those who would not have opportunities, is some of the work we continue to do today at Carlow," she said, "and specifically to meet the next great need. So much of our work is to say, okay world, what do you need? Okay world, who's not getting an opportunity to get an education, how can we get you that education?" For her, the question isn't rhetorical; it guides curriculum development, community engagement, and student purpose.

Growing Enrollment by Listening to the Community

Carlow’s mission-driven approach has translated into real enrollment growth, at a time when many institutions are struggling to hold steady. "In the last four years, we've gone from an enrollment of about 1,987 to an enrollment of about 2,456," Dr. Humphrey said. "In this environment, that's a tough job to do. And people often say, ‘How do you do it? How are you doing it in this environment?’ And I say, ‘We're doing it by being intensely who we are.’" In practice, this means responding to the needs of the greater community.

To identify community needs, Dr. Humphrey meets directly with local employers and keeps her eyes and ears open, even when she is off the clock. "When I came into the position, I went into the hospitals and said to the teams, 'What do you need here? What's missing?' Of course, nurses. So we created an LPN program." A conversation with a surgeon led to another: "One of the surgeons said, 'You know, I have to cancel surgeries because I don't have enough surgical techs.' And immediately it becomes personal, ‘What do you mean you have to cancel surgeries? That could be me someday. My surgery could have to be canceled.’ And so we immediately figured out how to start a surgical tech program."

While these interactions help close immediate employer gaps, these new opportunities are just as profound for the students. When Carlow opened its surgical tech programs, one student shared: "You know what? I'd been mopping the OR my entire career, and I thought I could do more."

Outside of scheduled meetings with employers, Dr. Humphrey also has a keen eye for signals she sees in daily life. For example, Carlow is now investigating an automobile technician program after she repeatedly noticed "technicians needed" signage when she was shopping for a new car. For Humphrey, this is an exciting opportunity to rethink traditional notions of certain programs. She was quick to point out that automobile technician no longer means just understanding where a certain part goes, but all of the technological elements that now go into cars. She asks: "How can I provide something that's really going to assist the community, but also change my curriculum to meet the needs of the 21st century?"

Selling Purpose, Not Programs

While offering programs that meet real employer needs is one piece of the puzzle, simply advertising the programs is not enough to get students excited. For Dr. Humphrey, this means moving away from traditional higher ed marketing. "We want you to know why you are going to come to Carlow. So we spend our time talking about our values, who we are, what you can expect, as opposed to just saying, 'Come, because we have this program.'"

To achieve this, Carlow leads with purpose over program. "You're not just getting this education for yourself. You're getting this education to make the world better. This is your piece of the puzzle, but it's not just for you," Dr. Humphrey tells students. The homepage of Carlow’s website doesn’t list the word program or any specific degree programs. Rather, it highlights how students can explore their purpose: healing, expression, discovery, service.

A University That Rejects Traditional Labels

Most higher ed leaders can easily rattle off the expected categories that their institution fits in. Dr. Humphrey directly posed this question to her team and found that liberal arts college, technical college, or any other classification simply didn’t fit. She found “We don't have a term for who we are, because we're all of that. We need a new term." Her answer is a phrase she has started using to describe what Carlow is building instead: a purpose-driven education, one that leans less on a fixed institutional type and more on a standing commitment to ask what the world needs next and build toward it.

She measures success in terms that extend well past graduation: "My greatest hope is that they [students] will play a significant role, first in their own families, then in their communities, then maybe in their region, and some in the country, and some in the world."

Rethinking How Institutions Operate

While leading with mission and community drives Carlow’s success, Humphrey readily acknowledges that universities must also rethink their business models to continue to operate. At Carlow, this can mean treating other regional institutions as collaborators rather than competition: "We don't see other universities necessarily as pure competitors, and so we are partnering with other institutions with back-office functions. Our police chief is the same police chief at another university, because we don't all need police chiefs, but we all need a police chief." The goal, she said, is straightforward: "How do we share, so that we can contain our cost to provide these opportunities in a world where cost is constantly rising every single day."

If Carlow's approach holds up, it points to a different way of thinking about institutional growth altogether. As more colleges and universities face questions of identity under real financial and demographic strain, Carlow's bet is that the institutions willing to define themselves by what they're built to solve, rather than the category they've always claimed, may be the ones still standing to solve the next great need.