Leadership and Ethics Day Turns Classroom Over Alumni Leaders

Once a year, Rockhurst University alumni are invited back to the classroom, this time as teachers.

The annual Leadership and Ethics Day has become a tradition in the College of Business, Influence and Information Analysis at Rockhurst — a one-day marathon of guest lectures from alumni, who bring their own experience into the classroom on everything from statistics to leadership, with many touching on the difficult ethical challenges they have been faced with and how they’ve navigated them.

On Tuesday, close to 40 leaders — many of them executives or rising stars in their field — came to campus for daytime and evening classes, along with virtual sessions. To many alumni, the opportunity to return and share some of what they learned both at Rockhurst and since is also a chance to pay their education forward. Jennifer Loper, ’93, president of C3, thanked those who helped her transfer here, and expressed appreciation for what it did for her career.

“I enrolled at Rockhurst and I flourished here. I loved it,” she said. “The people, the professors — you have a treasure here, such a wonderful school and community.”

Younger alumni were also inspired by the experience of being on the other side of the classroom and soaking in the lessons from established business and organizational leaders.

“I remember sitting in a class during Leadership and Ethics Day when I was a student and I always thought it was a great way to learn and ask questions,” said Olivia Oldenbuttel, ’14, currently a business integrity escalations specialist, risk and response, at Meta. “I saw a post on LinkedIn from Myles Gartland (Ph.D., dean of the CBIIA) that this was coming up, and since I just moved back to the area, it seemed like a good opportunity to give back a little.”

Oldenbuttel presented in the introduction to social impact leadership course, talking about the work she does in the tech industry as well as how she got there as a double major in business administration and French.

For sophomore Ashley Blondo, hearing from someone in the early stage of their career, even if she doesn’t plan to take the same path, made for a different classroom experience.

“I really enjoyed hearing about all of her work experience,” Blondo said. “It felt just like having a conversation and she seemed really approachable.”