Dan Ryan was named president of Dowling Catholic High School effective July 1, succeeding Jerry Deegan on his retirement. Ryan and his wife began their careers as public school teachers in Colorado, but chose to move back to Iowa so that their children could attend Catholic schools like they did. The Iowa native worked as a Catholic high school principal in Fort Madison and then Davenport before becoming superintendent of the Diocese of Sioux City, where he worked for eight years before being selected as president of Dowling. The Catholic high school’s West Des Moines campus has grown by nearly 400 students in the past 12 years to its current enrollment of nearly 1,400, and has had $27 million in capital improvements in that period. Here’s a glimpse at what Ryan sees as some of Dowling’s priorities moving forward.

What do you find most appealing about Catholic education? 
What I really find enjoyable about the Catholic school system is that I think we deal with the whole child; we have great connections with the family. Dowling has a tradition of excellence that I’m really working to continue. At Dowling and at Catholic schools in general, we really take into consideration not just the academic piece — which is really developing their God-given gifts — but also help them develop those virtues, those morals that are just as important. I feel like we really become part of a greater family together, and it’s really unique as an educator to be able to deal with both aspects and not just focus on the academics. 

Dowling has had a lot of facility growth in the past 10 years; what’s next? 
As I’m looking at the future of Dowling, one of the things I’m hoping will come to fruition is really about innovation. We are taking some models that already exist — like Maroons in Health Sciences, where we partner with three entities — Mercy, Kemin and Rock Valley Physical Therapy — and get our students out there to have some experiences. We also have a really extensive engineering program in which a lot of our teachers have done externships and have been involved in STEM projects and Project Lead the Way. That’s touching a certain segment of our population, but we think that all of our students really need to have a similar experience. So we’re getting ready to pilot some ideas about how everyone can get an internship experience. 

Do you see additional employer partnerships ahead? 
What we’ve been able to do already in the time I’ve been here is create kind of a concept map of what this innovation program will look like. We have a preliminary agreement with one business to create this innovation program, and we’re going to be looking at one or two other partners as well. What we’ll look to do is help our teachers have a better understanding of what’s going on in that business field. If you were trained to be a teacher, you might not have a very good idea how the math or science is applied in a different field. We want to get them into externships, give them some paid time to connect that to the current curriculum. … We see that as a great area of expansion and really a continuation of our tradition of excellence here. 

Will this program look like Waukee Apex?  
Yes, we would have similarities in the sense that we’ll have a strong business relationship. I think both programs would provide that authentic learning experience. I think some of the differences are that we want it in a way that really affects the whole student body. That may take several years, but we really have an idea how that can be integrated so that by the time everybody leaves Dowling, they will have had those experiences. The benefit is that they’re getting connected with Des Moines-area businesses. 

What do you see as the biggest issue connected with growth? 
One of our biggest issues moving forward is access. We have worked very hard to make sure Dowling is open to all who seek a faith-based education. … One area that is still a need is making sure that socioeconomic factors don’t keep them from attending. A lot of good things have been done. We give out about $2 million in tuition assistance to needy families, and that reaches nearly 40 percent of our students. But when we looked at our families’ applications — and we use a third-party company to help us decide on awards — we saw that we still have about $500,000 in unmet need. So we just need to look at our future and decide how can we make sure we’re available to all so that finances aren’t really a barrier. 

How is Dowling responding to the needs of non-college-bound students? 
There’s been some changes already. The vast majority of Dowling graduates will still be continuing on to a four-year path. But this also ties back to that access issue. As the amount of tuition assistance has grown, some of the neediest families’ enrollment here has increased. Many people would be surprised to know we have about a 24 percent minority population here at Dowling. As those families with greater need have increased, sometimes a four-year college isn’t the right path for them. What we’ve done is really worked to personalize the education program for them. Our counselors are regularly working with them to determine what interests they have, what classes they would need to take to get into the programs they want. But we don’t want to create just one or two paths; we want to be able to match it to what their need is. 

What civic and community interests have you brought with you? 
The first ones are Catholic organizations — our two youngest children go to Sacred Heart. Our oldest two are in college. So first of all, we’re becoming active members at Sacred Heart Parish, and at the elementary school as well. Second, the Sierra Club here in town promotes vocations and I’ve been involved with them in the past, so I’ve been out there to speak to them as well. 

What do you enjoy as hobbies? 
My wife and I are big music fans, and we enjoy a wide variety of music. I had a chance run-in with someone who runs the 80-35 Music Festival, so I think that’s one of the things we’ll try to volunteer at as we get out into the wider community. I also recently got into the Greater Des Moines Partnership, so I’m getting active in that to meet people and see what’s happening.