There’s More to LMU’s Story: IHIP Brings Untold Campus Histories to Life

The Inclusive History and Images Project encourages students and alumni to explore the often untold stories, images and experiences that have shaped Loyola Marymount University.

How much of LMU's history do you really know?

As a senior, I can say that there is still so much about LMU's history that I have not learned yet, and I imagine many current LMU students feel the same way. For us, LMU is shaped by the current people, traditions and spaces that make up campus life. However, what is often overlooked is that there are generations of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, particularly those of historically minoritized or marginalized groups, whose stories helped build LMU into what it is today. Many of these stories have not always been fully represented in LMU's historical record. The effort to celebrate and illuminate these lived experiences is the intent of the Inclusive History and Images Project (IHIP).

The new IHIP exhibition, currently on display in the William H. Hannon Library through November 25, 2026, is a great place to start discovering the depth and diversity of LMU's history.

The exhibition brings together photographs and stories from across LMU's history and the project serves as a community archive, gathering materials from alumni and the greater LMU community to help tell a fuller and more inclusive story of the university. The nature of a "community archive" invites members of that community to tell its own story.

The collection includes images from Special Games from 1988, student activism, cultural organizations and campus events, alongside photographs capturing everyday student life. There is also a digital exhibition, allowing visitors to explore additional stories and images from LMU's history.

IHIP is a part of the larger LMU commitment to diversity and inclusion. It was activated under then Vice-President of Equity and Diversity Jennifer Abe, PhD. The inaugural and still sitting co-chairs are Michael Engh, chancellor of LMU, and Bryant Keith Alexander, dean of the LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts. Engh said the project grew from a desire to expand upon LMU's published centennial history by including the personal experiences of the people who lived it.

"What we lacked, however, were interviews in which people shared their stories or their photos and documents in a community archive housed in the university archives," Engh said.

For Alexander, the project was an opportunity to bring more visibility to stories that had not been fully represented in LMU's historical record.

"I was very much interested in helping to illuminate the often-untold stories of

minoritized populations on and within the history of the campus," Alexander said.

However, IHIP is not just about looking backward. Alexander hopes current students see themselves within the process of creating new futures relative to those who will follow them.

"I hope that it reinforces their sense of belonging and their ability to make a meaningful impact on the university," he said, emphasizing that previous generations helped lay a foundation for students on campus today, as students today will leave their own powerful legacy, rooted in the LMU mission, for the next generation of students.

The Inclusive History and Images Project (IHIP) has been funded in part by the Network for Vocation in Higher Education (NetVUE) and the Grace Nixon Foundation.