La Salle University
Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D.
Drawing on a career in Catholic higher education spanning more than 20 years, Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D., began his term as La Salle University’s 30th President on April 18, 2022.
Under his leadership, La Salle has been implementing a strategy to address opportunities for growth that focuses on increased enrollment and student retention, while enhancing the student experience with greater numbers of students living on campus.
Evidence that this plan is working can be seen in fall 2024 numbers that included 600-plus new and transfer students (a 23% increase over the previous year) as well as a 10% increase in new international students and a 100% increase in new transfer students. Additionally, retention rates have risen by 8 percentage points since 2020, including a 3-point increase in fall-to-fall comparisons for the class of 2023 returning for 2024, and 75 more students (new and returning) living in college housing than the previous year.
Improving the student experience includes launching new academic programs such as the sport management major which offers students a well-rounded curriculum that integrates business fundamentals with specialized sport management courses. The University is also developing new educational opportunities to meet the needs of our students in an ever-changing career landscape.
The growth in athletics through the addition of four teams, which will begin play in 2025-26, will not only add to enrollment but continue to create energy on campus. And in fall 2024, the University opened the renovated John Glaser Arena at TruMark Financial Center, home for Explorers’ basketball, that will transform the game-day experience for all fans.
Allen had previously served as the Senior Vice President for Advancement and External Relations at DePaul University—where he held leadership roles since August 2015. In this capacity, Allen provided leadership and executive management for all fundraising, alumni relations, and advancement communications strategies. He also served in a leadership capacity as an administrative officer of the university. At DePaul, Allen previously served as associate vice president for principal gifts and vice president for development.
Prior to joining DePaul, Allen served as senior associate dean for external relations at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He also served as vice president of institutional advancement at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill., and at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.
Allen has frequently presented at various educational and healthcare development conferences and seminars.
Allen is a product of Catholic education. He completed his doctoral studies at Loyola University-Chicago, from which he earned a Ph.D. in education with a concentration in higher education. He received his master of arts in physical education and bachelor of arts in English literature from Loras College, a Catholic institution located in Dubuque, Iowa.
He continues to pursue his interest in the area of postsecondary educational access for low-income students. His doctoral dissertation considered how academically talented, low-income students access highly selective postsecondary education. He has presented work on improving opportunity for academically qualified, low-income students to the Association for Institutional Research and has had his research published in “Research in Higher Education.” Allen also has presented research on college choice and social reproduction to the American Educational Research Association, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling. His scholarship focuses on how various forms of human, cultural, social and economic capital influence the college choice behavior of low-income students. Allen is a board member of the International Association of Lasallian Universities, a group of 64 universities located across the globe. In 2023, he was named to the Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan civic leadership organization, and the transition subcommittee on education for Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker as well as inducted as a fellow into The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.