University to Receive Award for Excellence From Missouri Department of Conservation

With summer heat and sun still in full effect on campus, it’s never been a better time to thank a tree — or the team on campus that maintains their health behind the scenes.

The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Community Forestry Council recently announced Rockhurst University has been awarded a 2024 Missouri Arbor Award of Excellence in the business and institution category, recognizing the outstanding efforts by the University to improve and preserve the natural environment on campus and beyond.

The University will receive the award at the Missouri Community Forestry Council Conference Aug. 22. It recognizes the outstanding work of University faculty, staff and students to ensure that green spaces on and around campus are not only beautiful, but also healthy, ecologically diverse, and contributing in a meaningful way toward sustainability as established in Rockhurst’s strategic plan.

Among the efforts for which the University was given the award are the planting of dozens of trees of different varieties on and off campus; the establishment of the Kateri Community, a student housing option that is partially focused around the ideas of environmental sustainability; the development of an urban ecology course in the biology program that allows students to research and learn about the unique natural conditions in the city; was named the first Tree Campus in the Kansas City area; and either organized or participated in service projects to clear invasive species from public spaces in the surrounding communities.

No one person does that alone, said Chad Scholes, Ph.D., professor of biology. Students, staff and faculty together work year-round to strengthen not only the tree canopy on campus, but the areas surrounding campus too.

“Matt Young [grounds director] and our campus arborist, Nick Goergen, spend a lot of time and effort to ensure that our campus trees are happy and healthy,” he said. “[Student organization] RU Green has held bake sales the last few years to raise money to plant trees on campus and around the neighborhood. Our sustainability committee has worked for many years to support many efforts, including planting trees.”

For Katie Lewis, a sophomore who serves as president of the RU Green student group, these activites do more than just improve the landscape.

"Planting trees and cleaning up invasive species near Rockhurst not only helps the citizens, wildlife, and vegetation flourish but also allows RU Green and Rockhurst students to reconnect with our community and give back," she said. "It further allows us to create bigger impact in an area we call home and ensure that we are helping create a better planet everyday."

Bill Kriege, director of campus ministry who also helps lead sustainability efforts on campus, said these efforts energize students. This award is likely to further fuel their enthusiasm in pursuit of what Pope Francis called “care for our common home.”

“It’s a huge shot in the arm,” he said. “I think the Rev. Daniel Berigan, S.J., once said, ‘Engaging in social justice work is like dragging a piano across a plowed field.’ It’s slow work. Caring for our on- and off-campus urban forest is social justice work. It is the definition of slow work. Trees grow slowly.”