Rockhurst News

It’s been a while since Rockhurst University last hosted a December commencement ceremony in person, on campus.

Rockhurst prides itself in providing learning opportunities beyond the classroom, but now it can add Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, to the list of its educational environments.

This fall, six Rockhurst Honors Student Association E-Board members attended the National Collegiate Honors Council’s 54th Annual Conference after having to miss last year due to its COVID-19 cancellation. RU Honors Program Director Maureen Walsh accompanied the group to the site of this year’s event, Disney World.

Rockhurst University students working out in The MAC (Magis Activity Center) will regularly see individuals in yellow shirts asking if they’d like assistance. They’re not doctors, but they help students get a healthy dose of medicine.

A new pilot program at Saint Luke’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences is opening career doors as early as high school for some future Kansas City healthcare heroes.

The work Rockhurst students do in the classroom often doesn’t stay in the classroom, and instead makes a true impact in the real world.

A Rockhurst MBA team completed a capstone project that led Pediatric Associates Kansas City to open a new clinic in Overland Park.

Mike Paar, Dr. Saba Siddiqi, Matt Seifert, Nick Timmons, Amin Wakas, Alexander Wegener and Brian White were all part of a Rockhurst team that helped determine if there was enough demand for a new PA medical clinic – and if so, where?

A campus leadership and professional development program is growing exponentially thanks to the competitive advantage it gives Rockhurst University grads entering their careers.

Like a lot of college students, Maddie Dierkes, ’19, ’21 M.S., said she came to Rockhurst University not knowing exactly what she wanted to do.

She arrived planning to major in computer science, but it didn’t quite fit. She took mathematics courses, too, and “floated around” while looking for what clicked with her.

In 2019, Rockhurst began a service-learning partnership with Operation Breakthrough, the largest early learning center in the Kansas City region.

Under the agreement, Rockhurst occupational therapy and speech-language pathology students work with some of the hundreds of kids at Operation Breakthrough, learning how to properly evaluate children and provide intervention.

Rockhurst asks students to challenge themselves, inspire others, and impact our world. For the University’s first Peace and International Studies (PAI) students, who walked with the Class of 2021 in May, they truly do aim to “impact our world.”

Like many other veterans, the last two weeks have brought a lot of old feelings to the fore for Ellen Stephenson, DNP, assistant professor of nursing.

The images of the evacuation of Afghans who helped American and NATO forces in the country has, for Stephenson and others, brought to mind their own experiences in the country, and inescapable feelings of grief and anger at the thought of leaving people behind. As well as the American casualties in the 20 years since the fighting began.