A parent visiting IWU-Marion with her daughter arrived convinced the student would ultimately choose another school, one closer to home. The campus was simply another stop on a long list of visits.
So when Danny Solms, vice president for enrollment, asked how the visit had gone, her answer surprised even her.
“I hate to admit it,” she said, “but it has been really good. Everyone here has been so kind.”
That visit changed her mind. Her daughter would later choose IWU.
For Solms, that response points to something deeper than a successful campus visit. Before families weigh majors, residence halls, or financial aid, they encounter people.
At IWU, hospitality is not only practiced. It is taught and cultivated as part of formation. A greeting at the door. An unhurried conversation. A tour guide who helps families feel seen and welcomed. Small gestures begin shaping how guests experience the university before they sit in a classroom.
That vision now has a physical home in the university’s new Welcome Center, which recently opened as the front door for visitors to the Marion campus. Located along Washington Street, the center serves as the starting point for prospective students and families. There, guests learn about academics, financial aid, student life, and athletics before stepping onto campus.
For Karen Dowling, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief people and culture officer, the meaning of the space is spiritual.
“The Welcome Center is a sacred space,” she says. “It’s where that first connection begins.”
Dowling helps lead IWU’s High-Impact Hospitality initiative, a university-wide effort to intentionally shape how students, employees, and guests experience the campus. As part of this initiative, all IWU employees participate in High-Impact Hospitality training, where they learn to apply five guiding principles: worth, welcome, warmth, wellness, and witness.
Together, these practices aim to cultivate a culture where every interaction reflects the belief that each person is created in the image of God and deserving of care and attention. “Great hospitality turns ordinary moments into sacred encounters,” she says.
Dowling believes that over time, practices of welcome shape the people who offer them and influence the culture of campus.
“When hospitality becomes habitual, mission becomes natural,” she says.
Admissions counselor Eleri Vice sees that formation every day.
“The more I’ve reflected on hospitality,” she says, “the more I’ve realized it’s simply showing up and serving and loving in small ways.”
Admissions is often a family’s first encounter with IWU. A visit may last only a few hours, yet it can become a moment of discernment as families consider where a student might grow in their Christian walk and discover a calling.
Vice reminds tour guides that their role carries weight.
“You could be the reason that someone’s entire life changes because of this tour,” she says.
That belief reflects a Wesleyan conviction that grace often meets people through ordinary acts of love. Spiritual formation happens in classrooms and chapels, but also through everyday encounters.
It is how strangers become guests, guests become neighbors, and neighbors begin to glimpse the love of Jesus.
prospective student visits to the Marion campus*
*Stats provided by IWU-Marion University Admissions
