Following retirement from a 30-year career as a Navy submariner, Capt. Dick Schleicher '57 M.E., served as a science instructor in a Navy preparatory school program that offered scholarships to the Naval Academy as well as various NROTC schools throughout the country. Noting the sparsity of information about Villanova, he set out to promote the University. In 1990, when Villanova's Admission Office formalized a program engaging alumni in student recruitment efforts, particularly within regions boasting large candidate concentrations, Schleicher accepted the challenge to organize the San Diego area alumni in what has become the Alumni Recruitment Network (ARN). For nearly 20 years, Dick and his team have promoted Villanova at local college fairs; initiated an award from Villanova at
the San Diego Science & Engineering Fair; and organized both the annual Yield Reception and New Student Send-off Mass and Reception. He also serves on the Advisory Committee to the Office of University Admission.
This commitment to Villanova is not unusual; as a second generation Villanovan—(His father graduated in 1929)— Schleicher has supported his alma mater throughout his career. He credits Villanova's long-standing Augustinian principles, Catholic tradition, and scholastic reputation for making the University "easy to promote." With a reputation for going above and beyond, Schleicher is always ready and willing to answer a call for help from his alma mater. (He recently attended a college fair only one day after being released from the hospital!). It is his involvement with new students, he notes, that keeps him young.
