Music Sacra Chorus and Orchestra, the ensemble-in-residence Rockhurst University, is a unique musical entity.

On Wednesday, 11 new Hawks joined Rockhurst University’s worldwide alumni network. And in receiving their associate of arts in liberal studies degrees, these students earned another distinction – they became the first graduates of the University’s Companions in Chillicothe program at Chillicothe Correctional Center, located about an hour and a half northeast of Kansas City.

Phil Hageman, ’13, passed away tragically and suddenly in December 2021. On Tuesday, members of his family — parents Tom and Vicki and sister Naomi, ’17, ’19 CSD — helped members of the University community dedicate a new site on campus that honors his passion and his memory.

Close to 800 undergraduate and graduate students walked across the stage at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium as part of Rockhurst University’s annual commencement ceremony on Saturday.

Half a century after Rockhurst University started its first women’s athletic programs, female sports are stronger than ever.

Rockhurst University Leadership Series guest Kevin Roose said AI is changing the landscape of the workforce, but gave three pieces of advice to those in the audience who felt uneasy about this technology

As part of the Rockhurst University Leadership Series event Tuesday night, the University honored Dave Harrison, ’81, founder and president of VanTrust Real Estate, with this year’s award. In more than 40 years in commercial real estate, Harrison company has left a recognizable mark on Kansas City and beyond.

Senior Caroline Knopke said she grew up diving — “it's the only sport I've really ever known,” she said — and competed through high school. When it came time to choose a college, she found herself drawn to Rockhurst University. But that meant the end of her competitive diving career (though she would still coach a local girls’ team). Until this year.

Few areas of contemporary human life have not already been affected by the sudden rise of artificial intelligence technology.

Photos courtesy Kenny Ellison.

Glenn North has a number of titles on his resume — he’s a 2006 graduate of Rockhurst University, an adjunct faculty member in the English department, director of inclusive learning at the Kansas City Museum and poet laureate for Kansas City’s Historic 18^th and Vine District.

Mark your calendars for Friday, Sept. 29. Family and Alumni Weekend will bring hundreds of Hawks — past and present – and family members to campus for the annual Family and Alumni Weekend festivities. The centerpiece that night will be the tailgate, with food and activities for attendees while volleyball and women’s and men’s soccer games take place in Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse and on Bourke Field, respectively.

Wednesday, Sept. 6, will be the first official Rockhurst Night at Kauffman Stadium, complete with a tailgate, a custom RU/Royals jersey for those purchased special tickets, and a night at the historic Kauffman Stadium watching the Royals alongside fellow Hawks.

For Rockhurst University President Sandra Cassady, Ph.D., it’ll also mean getting out on the field, at least for pregame activities. With the focus on RU for the night, it only made sense for someone from the University to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Cassady got the first call. It was not a hard decision.

Kansas City has had a fair amount of time in the national spotlight lately.

There are a lot of reasons for that — many of them, admittedly, sports-related. But Kansas City is also a vibrant, attractive place because of the people here committed to doing new, creative things.

Every name. Every stat. Every game. Every date.

Ask Dominique Washington, ’16, former Hawks basketball player and director of the MAC, a question about his experience playing basketball growing up, and recalling specifics is like second nature.

Since the 1950s, the small, paved area on the northeast corner of the quad has served a lot of functions.

Established as a home for a statue of Mary donated by the class of 1954, over the years this site has served as both a social and spiritual hub, a place for students, faculty staff and visitors to visit with each other during down time, to study between classes, or sit or stop for a quiet moment of reflection.

Filmmaker Chad Sogas, '03, had a rat tail for 10 years growing up. It was so much a part of his history that he decided to make a film about it, but the film uncovered something he kept hidden for years.

Sogas is now an editor/director in the advertising industry in Brooklyn, New York. He created the film “Rat Tail” and it has won a hoard of awards and been shown at the two biggest film festivals in North America – Hot Docs & DOC NYC. However, his biggest accomplishment is the change he was able to make in himself.

Ashley Neybert was taught at a young age that she could accomplish anything she set her mind to. This critical lesson followed her as she faced unimaginable challenges during her college career.

Neybert began her college career at the University of Northern Colorado. One day she received a phone call that her family had been in a car accident and had to be life-flighted to a hospital. To assist in her family’s recovery, she moved with them from Colorado to Kansas City, where she ended up at Rockhurst. While helping her family recover, Neybert was going legally blind.

Two friends who met while theatre students at Rockhurst are now bakers in St. Louis, specializing in pretzels, pies, brownies, cheesecakes, cookies, bagels, coffee, etc.

That “etcetera” will be key to their story later. 

If the walls of Conway Hall could talk, they’d probably be laughing.

Richard “Dick” Shaw is one of the most beloved and entertaining professors to ever teach at Rockhurst. You don’t meet Dick Shaw and walk away without a story and a smile, and now the retired teacher of 43 years is sharing those with a wider audience.

Shaw released his first book, "Tales from the Professor: Life is a Hoot!," in March through Amazon.

Rockhurst University and Hawks soccer has gone international as five former men’s soccer players created a school in their native Italy, providing educational and athletic training for international college athletes.

Don’t call it a comeback — when Caroline Campbell took over the position of director of alumni relations at Rockhurst University in May, it marked a return to more than just Jesuit education (she’s a graduate of Marquette University) — it’s also a chance to come back to an institution with which she is very familiar.

When Greg Nicholas ('97, '00) and Amy Essner ('98, '01) met at Rockhurst as undergrads, little did they know how their lives would change…and how many kids’ lives around the world they’d change together.

After completing their undergraduate degrees, the two finished physical therapy school at Rockhurst and got married. They've spent a life in service ever since, though selflessness has always been a part of who they are.

“That’s why we chose RU,” Amy said. “The values we got from Rockhurst deepened that need for service.”

Rockhurst University will present the 2022 St. Ignatius Award to national healthcare leader and physician Dr. David Wild, ’19 EMBA. The award is presented annually to a Rockhurst graduate in recognition of outstanding accomplishments, leadership, and reflection of Jesuit values in the person’s professional career.

In 1997 Merritt Neil was about to graduate from Rockhurst with a degree in Communication Studies. Like other seniors, she needed a job.

Little did she know that the door that would open thanks to a Rockhurst alumnus would lead to what she called “one of the greatest gifts of my life.”

Near the pedestrian entryway to campus outside Arrupe Hall stands a new piece of campus art that serves as both a tribute and a reminder.

  They met through a mutual connection, hit it off, a first date on a hay ride on a crisp fall night.

It seems like one of those “happily ever after” stories. Eventually, though, Tony LaRusso, ’02, and Kristin (Suter) LaRusso, ’03, went their separate ways, Tony said.

One of the first things you see as you enter Kateri Community is now a large ink drawing of two entwined hands, framed by a thick wooden frame. This, believe it or not, is a portrait.

It’s been quite a year for all health care professionals, and certainly in the nursing profession.

That makes this past week’s Nursing Appreciation Week, which concludes today with International Nurses Day, especially important as a way to look back and thank those who have sacrificed so much to take care of others over the past 12 months.

When Rockhurst University last updated its vision statement, one very specific word was included — “transformative.”

It’s a term University leaders use often, and one that alumni evoke when describing what their education meant to them.

For many, the news in December of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer was, understandably, cause for celebration.

But it would mean a mobilization like the nation has not seen since World War II to get those doses to the American people. And that’s where people like Brad Dunn, ’08, and the family business in St. Louis where he is vice president, Cee Kay Supply, come in.

Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences becoming part of Rockhurst University means lots of new connections are being forged — between faculty and staff colleagues and students. For sophomore Emma Barben, it’s meant sharing a surprising new connection with her grandmother.

“It was special to see mail arrive from Rockhurst for both myself and my grandmother,” said Barben. “It was not until this past fall, with the discussion of the merger, that I fully realized my grandmother graduated from Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences.”

In 2011, Rachel Stotler Clasemann, ’97, MOT ’99, was driving home from work in Omaha, Nebraska, when a car accident changed her life.

The immediate result of the accident was a ruptured spleen and traumatic brain injury. In the years since, she has endured multiple surgeries, successes, setbacks, infections and therapy. But, according to those who know her, Rachel has never shied from a challenge, and remains steadfast in her path to recovery alongside her family, including her two sons.