VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY NEWS

National Catholic Reporter
US Bishops Under Work Pressure Find New Formation and Fraternity at Villanova

January 5, 2026 - "We wouldn't have been able to do the pilot without Pope Leo's invitation and blessing," said Matthew Manion, the Grenon Family Faculty Director of Villanova's Center for Church Management, who led the program. "If he didn't give us the chance to address the American bishops, I don't think the program would have ever happened."

Sports Illustrated 
Follow the Money in Our Top 10 Business of Football Stories for 2025  

January 1, 2026 - "Business was booming in 2025, as it has every year for the NFL, the undisputed king of the sports attention economy in the United States. There are so many items to choose from, but here are, in no specific order, my top 10 business of football stories from the year." Andrew Brandt is the executive director of the Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law at Villanova University.

The New York Times
At the Center of the Latest Mangione Hearings: A Battle Over a Backpack

December 21, 2025 - A three-week hearing that ended Thursday focused largely on when and how Luigi Mangione's backpack had been searched when he was arrested in Pennsylvania last year. The revelation at the hearing that officers selected pages of Mr. Mangione's journal as part of a so-called inventory search and sent them to New York officers en route to Altoona could be an "area of concern" for prosecutors, said Steven L. Chanenson, a Villanova University law professor.

Associated Press
Military Lawyer Swiftly Fired from Immigration Bench After Defying Trump Deportation Push    

December 19, 2025 - The Uniform Code of Military Justice, forbids senior military leaders from interfering or retaliating against military attorneys for their actions in a military tribunal. But whether those standards apply to military lawyers working outside of the normal confines of a military tribunal is untested. Brenner Fissell, a Villanova University law professor, said that there are a number of personnel actions that can be taken—letters of counseling or reprimand—that, even if found to be baseless later, would affect one's potential for promotion and impact their discharge.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Nursing Crisis Has a Cure — and it Begins in the Classroom

December 16, 2025 - "The nation’s nursing shortage is straining hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities. Yet as this well-known crisis reaches a critical point, a quieter one threatens to make it worse: the growing shortage of nursing faculty. Without enough educators to train the next generation of nurses, efforts to expand the nursing workforce will fall short." Donna S. Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN is the Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor at Villanova University’s M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing.

New York Times
Troops Involved in Boat Strikes Face a 'Moral Injury' Risk, Experts Say    

December 12, 2025 - Military personnel have little if any say over the assignments they get or the orders they receive...Military personnel are allowed — and, in fact, are obliged — to refuse illegal orders. But to do so would probably result in swift punishment, while determining the actual legality of the order could drag on in court for months or years, according to Brenner Fissell, a law professor at Villanova University.