Rockhurst News

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.”

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.

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.