In the City for Good
A proud member of the community for more than 100 years with a pledge to remain “in the city for good,” Rockhurst University stands firm in a commitment to its Jesuit heritage and its two campuses in midtown Kansas City, Missouri — along historic Troost Avenue. Rockhurst has long had an impact on the city and community, which can be seen in a variety of projects and accomplishments.
Rockhurst has created a legacy of educating and transforming young people into engaged community members who embody the Jesuit tradition of being men and women for and with others. But the University also makes a significant economic and cultural impact in the broader Kansas City community.
Keeping Funds Local
Rockhurst University supports the economy of Kansas City with a majority of its expenditures spent locally. Of the $54.2 million total expenditures during fiscal year 2020, 45 percent, or $24.4 million, was spent directly by the University on expenses not tied to salaries or benefits. This included instructional materials, technology, office equipment and utilities.
In addition, during fiscal year 2020 Rockhurst University spent $6 million on capital expenditures, which funded new plant, property and equipment as well as the maintenance of existing facilities.
The University invests in women and minority-owned businesses. In addition to serving as a member of the Minority Supplier Council, Rockhurst University holds $615,440 worth of contracts with women and minority-owned businesses, among them Excellence Floor Care, Magnetic Products, Mobilefone, See-More Signs, and Kansas City Air Filter.
Major Midtown Employer
In fiscal year 2020, the University reported an annual payroll of $24.2 million, with 153 full-time faculty and 248 full-time staff positions, and 202 part-time faculty and 34 part-time staff positions. Rockhurst’s payroll contributes $1,012,000 to state and local income tax collections. In addition, members of the Rockhurst faculty and staff contribute to the local economy as consumers of goods and services.
Attracting Talent and Human Capital to the City
Total student enrollment at Rockhurst University is around 4,000. Of these students, about 700-800 live on campus or in University-owned or -affiliated properties. The remaining students lived off-campus, serving as tenants for local landlords, shopping at local grocery stores and becoming customers for local utilities.
Those students come from 35 states and 27 countries. They reflect a variety of experiences and interests and represent the future of a number of different career paths and industries.
Each year, approximately one-third of our new student population comes to Rockhurst from the surrounding Kansas City metro area, but we’re proud to say that 60 percent decide to stay in KC after graduation.
Caring for the Environment
Committed to remaining good stewards of the earth as well as good neighbors, Rockhurst University has implemented several programs aimed at reducing waste and improving the sustainability of campus. These efforts have included retrofitting lighting with motion-detecting models to reduce waste, adjusting toilets and showers to reduce water usage. The installation of exterior LED lighting and to the interior of the Greenlease Library, along with a building intelligence system, has helped reduce carbon dioxide production by 831,000 pounds annually. Newer campus structures, such as the MAC health and recreation center and renovations to Sedgwick Hall currently underway, incorporate a number of features aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the University.
There are also ongoing efforts to reduce waste in the University’s food service sites. Styrofoam containers and disposable straws have been eliminated in response to requests from students. A hydroponic herb garden has been installed in the Thomas More Dining Center to provide Rockhurst Dining Services with fresh ingredients for its operations. The University also composts its food waste, preventing more than 44 tons of material from going into landfills since July 2019. The Leftovers With Love program sends surplus food to St. James Place, where it becomes meals for members of the community. As the result of a student-led initiative, in 2016 Rockhurst became Missouri's first Fair Trade University.
Investing in Our Community
Rockhurst University lives its Jesuit mission by engaging and seeking to improve the world around it in a variety of ways.
The Rockhurst University Community Center provides space for community meetings and events. For the past five years, an average of 11,760 people and at least 65 unique organizations utilize the center yearly, for a total value of more than $180,694 annually in in-kind contributions to the community members and organizations making a difference in our city. During the pandemic, the RUCC paused traditional programs and operations for care and concern for our city and community. The RUCC came back online to serve as a polling place for national and local elections and to provide computer access for community members. Rockhurst continually to seeks to foster partnerships with organizations in the city to further develop civic engagement and social justice education.
With a commitment to social ministry and community service at its heart, students at Rockhurst University are actively engaged and encouraged to take on projects that serve the community here in Kansas City as well as those in other parts of the U.S. and across the globe. The Center for Service Learning, a department that coordinates service learning opportunities, reported that over the past five years an average of 645 students were enrolled in designated service learning courses and 889 participated in community service in the 2018-19 academic year, contributing a total of 22,925 hours of service.
Students are offered a chance to earn money for their education with the community work-study program. Throughout the 2019-20 academic year, Rockhurst students earned $38,195 through community work-study, equaling 25 percent of the University’s annual Federal Work-Study allotment.
Proven Commitment and Investment
In 2010, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching awarded Rockhurst its community engagement classification, honoring the University’s commitment to engaging students in and out of the classroom with its service immersion programs here and abroad and for the formation of the Rockhurst University Neighborhood Council, which brings representatives from the surrounding neighborhoods together to talk about issues facing the community of which Rockhurst is a part.
Members of the RUNC worked together to produce a guiding document for the University’s future, the 20-year campus master plan. The plan was approved by the city of Kansas City, Missouri, as a planned development zone.
The University continues to invest in the campus, strengthening its commitment to remain part of the Kansas City community well into the future. In August 2015, Rockhurst opened Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Hall, a $20 million building that houses classrooms to accommodate a variety of teaching-and-learning concepts, a 500-seat auditorium and faculty offices. In August 2016, Rock Row, a new student housing development, was launched on Forest Avenue, just south of campus. The project was designed to reflect the architecture of nearby homes and was developed in partnership with students and neighborhood leaders. In late 2019 the University opened the MAC (Magis Activities Center), a $7 million health and recreation facility for students, faculty and staff. The University also underwent a $23 million renovation of its first campus building, Sedgwick Hall, which became the home of Saint Luke's College of Nursing and Health Sciences.