Rockhurst News

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.

Remember the first time you set foot on a college campus?

Hopefully, that experience was a positive one. Maybe it was at Rockhurst at tulip time in the spring, or perhaps the fall, when the leaves turn color. You might have had an interaction with a faculty, staff member or student that really made the difference in your college decision.

Rockhurst University and William Jewell College, located just 21 miles from each other, have enjoyed a healthy rivalry since the 1900s, and since 2011 have been Great Lakes Valley Conference opponents, as well.

This year, the two insitutions have a new prize to play for, as the two schools have agreed to create the Kansas City Crown, presented by Mammoth Sports Construction, with the inaugural competition set for the 2022-23 season across a dozen sports.

The Greenlease Gallery, Rockhurst’s on-campus art gallery since 2000, was temporarily closed during the two-year renovation of the adjacent Sedgwick Hall. This fall, it comes back with a new mission, a slightly new look and a new temporary exhibition that in part showcases the city Rockhurst calls home.

Rockhurst University earned the highest ranking among institutions in the Kansas City region and the second highest ranking in the state of Missouri on Money magazine’s 2022 Best Colleges in America list.

The list, which focuses on college value, looks at 2,400 four-year colleges “with sufficient data and above-average graduation rates,” scoring each institution on 24 different measures in three areas — quality, affordability and outcomes — that are important to families making a choice about what college might be the best fit for them. In other words, it’s all about value.

There is a lot of buzz around soccer in the United States with the recent news that North America will host the 2026 World Cup, and for Tom Heinemann, ’09, even moreso.

He’s not just a lifelong soccer fan (who played for the Hawks during his time here), he’s also starting a new job at this moment in the sun for the sport he loves — in February he was named head coach of the of the U-15 Boys’ National Team, where he will be guiding the next generation of U.S. National Team stars. It’s a new challenge, but one Heinemann said he is very excited about.

Dominique Washington is a 2016 graduate of Rockhurst University, where he also played basketball for the Hawks. He is the new director of the MAC and intramural coordinator.

What’s it been like to be back on campus? Talk to us about your experience as a student here.

Sometimes there are obvious clues left behind at a crime scene.

Broken glass can indicate a point of entry. Missing items point to a robbery, etc.

But there are less obvious clues, too — things left behind at the molecular level.

Meet the Expert

Patrick Mitchell, SHRM-SCP, ’05, ’09 MBA, is vice president for human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. He is an enthusiastic people and culture leader with a passion for helping others become the very best version of themselves.

From performing in a film for the first time to starting a podcast from scratch to jumping at leadership opportunities, freshman Chidera Okafor has embraced what Rockhurst University has to offer.

But it could have gone another way — Okafor said she came to Rockhurst to be a nursing student after being waitlisted for medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She decided not to wait — instead choosing Rockhurst’s nursing program — but it has been anything but a backup plan.