Rockhurst News

For almost a quarter century, Bill Kriege has been a part of the spiritual journey for countless Rockhurst University students.

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.

Representatives from Rockhurst University are part of a select delegation from higher education invited to the White House today to help unveil a national strategy to increase equity in the STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine).

The next time you pass through Van Ackeren Hall, look up.

On the ceiling of what was formerly a mostly white entry way is a burst of blues and greens in the form of a new mural celebrating different faith traditions and the connections between them.

The new campus art is the result of a Faithfully Forward grant from the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, awarded to institutions in the hopes of celebrating religious diversity on the campuses of Catholic colleges.

“Why me, oh Lord?”

It’s a question Alvin Brooks said he has asked himself at different points throughout his life — in trying times and in moments of triumph. And it was one, he said, that he found himself asking again on Friday as Rockhurst University broke ground on a faith-justice center named in his honor. It was only recently that Brooks said he got an answer to the question, coming down the escalator after receiving the 2022 Henry W. Bloch Human Relations Award with his close friend, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II.

Nhukha (’21) and Nhukim (December '22) Nguyen are many things, but first and foremost they are sisters and best friends. Born two years apart, they are also the daughters of Vietnam immigrants, as well as student and community leaders, Buddhists, and Rockhurst Hawks.

The University prides itself in living out the slogan “A Home for All,” which includes different faiths and diverse backgrounds. Its faith tradition is “one of invitation and inclusion, not of expectation or requirement.” 

LaTisha Davis may have a business card that says Rockhurst University Director of Multicultural Belonging and Engagement, but her role can be simplified to one thing for students: She’s here to be your person if you need one.

Everyone needs a support system and to feel like they’re included, and before she was the University’s first director of the office, Davis was a first-generation student from a marginalized background trying to fit in at Wichita State University.

Last Thursday, during a virtual panel discussion about Black-owned businesses in Kansas City, guests and members of the Black Student Union were subjected to racist hate speech and obscene images from individuals who hijacked the event.

Rockhurst University will honor Alvin Brooks, longtime Kansas City leader in social justice and civil rights, with the establishment of the Alvin Brooks Center for Faith-Justice on campus. The center will house many of the university’s faith-justice related efforts, including a chapel, mission and ministry programs, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Work has begun to raise funds for the center and to identify a location and construction and design partners.

This week, Rockhurst University will celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in a whole new way.

Normally, the University schedules its MLK Day celebration in January to honor King’s birthday. However, COVID-19 means things look a little different this year as a result of the later start to the spring semester.

Instead of honoring King’s birth, the week’s activities will instead be in recognition of one of King’s most famous pieces of writing, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” written on April 16, 1963.