Rockhurst News

For the fall 2023 semester, the Helzberg School of Management at Rockhurst University is launching a new way to earn their signature MBA degree — one that lets students build it from the ground up.

The new Stackable MBA, the first of its kind in the region, lets students build a degree by earning three certificates — one of which being the business administration certificate. It’s the same makeup of the traditional MBA degree, with courses in management, marketing, business intelligence and economics in addition to a Jesuit core values course.

David Brooks, a New York Times columnist and bestselling author of “The Road to Character,” will bring his unique perspective on the American life and keen insights into present-day politics and foreign affairs to Kansas City as the keynote guest of the 11^thRockhurst University Leadership Series event at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri.

Rockhurst University awarded close to 300 degrees at its winter commencement ceremony, held Dec. 11, 2022, at Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in downtown Kansas City.

The program featured two student speakers, with Nhukim Nguyen, a biochemistry major, representing undergraduate students, and Jessica Davis, a Doctor of Education degree recipient, representing graduate students.

Students who earned degrees are:

Erica Akins

Celeste Allen

Jennifer Amundson-Mullins

Erin Anderson

Annabel Avery

Ettore Ballestracci

Emily Bange

Rockhurst University student-athletes are at the top of their conference and in the top 10 nationally among all NCAA Division II schools in a new report measuring academic success.

Diego Gutierrez, DBA, assistant professor of management and marketing, is no stranger to the excitement of soccer on the big stage. The Rockhurst University graduate was a member of the Hawks soccer team during his time here, then had a long career in Major League Soccer with both the Chicago Fire and the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting KC) and was part of the U.S. Men's National Team before becoming a soccer broadcaster with Fox Sports 1.

“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.

“Go Hawks.”

Sandra Cassady, Ph.D., closed her inaugural speech Friday with a cheer, marking her official appointment into the 15^th president of Rockhurst University.

Cassady — who assumed duties of the presidency in June following the departure of the Rev. Thomas B. Curran, S.J. — was officially installed Friday, Nov. 11, in a series of afternoon events on campus.

Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU) will launch a new award for students at Rockhurst University to execute multimedia creative projects centered around diversity, equity and inclusion in honor of John P. McMeel, co-founder of AMU.

This is it, folks.

This Friday, Nov. 11, Sandra Cassady, Ph.D., will be inaugurated as president of Rockhurst University in what is shaping up to be a joyous, celebratory afternoon.

Presidential transitions in higher education are usually historic moments — in Rockhurst’s 112-year history, there have only been 15 presidents (counting Cassady). But this one will have its own distinction in our history books — Cassady is the first lay person and first woman to be inaugurated as president of Rockhurst.

Over the next two years, Rockhurst University will expand its athletics program with the addition of seven teams. Men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field will join the Hawks lineup as varsity sports for the 2023-24 academic year.

Men’s volleyball will also be added as a varsity sport beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The addition of the seven programs will increase the university’s total number of varsity sports to 22. The teams will compete at the NCAA Division II level and in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.