On August 14th 2000, at the request of President Edmund Dobbin, OSA, Dr. Barbara Wall, Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences was appointed Special Assistant to the President for Mission, and head the Office for Mission & Ministry. Over the course of the next nine years, Mission & Ministry designed and implemented a variety of new initiatives that sharpened Villanova's commitment to its Catholic identity and Augustinian heritage.
Effective January 1, 2009, President Peter Donohue, OSA selected Dr. Wall to the university's first Vice President of Mission & Ministry. The Office for Mission Effectiveness was renamed the Office for Mission & Ministry and was restructured to include direct responsibility for the Augustinian Institute, the Augustinian Historical Institute, Campus Ministry, the Catholic Relief Services Partnership, the Center for Peace and Justice Education, the Patristic, Medieval, Renaissance program and the Theology Institute.