Summary

James Brown, known to many as JB, is no stranger to Kansas City. He said he has visited the city many times as a longtime broadcaster on “The NFL Today” on CBS and elsewhere. He knows the Chiefs, obviously, but also local landmarks like the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and has opinions on barbecue (but also knows enough not to pick a favorite).

U.S. News and World Report released its Best Grad Schools 2025 rankings Tuesday, with several programs in the College of Business and Technology ranked among the nation’s best, along with several of Rockhurst University’s health sciences programs.

Hoping to offer another unique opportunity for students and further enhance the gameday experience for spectators, Rockhurst University athletics today announced the addition of pep band to its slate of offerings starting in fall 2026.

Yu Liu, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, knows that organic chemistry has a bit of a reputation. It’s an innately difficult subject; a crucible for generations of science majors at Rockhurst. Despite being the face of what many consider Rockhurst’s most difficult class, Liu was named Faculty of the Year by students at the Festival of Student Achievement in April. How does he do it?

Rockhurst University has been recognized in several categories as among the best in the country by Colleges of Distinction.

Each spring, a handful of students in the University’s criminal justice program are invited to be part of the Innocence Project course. This small group spends their semester reviewing a case where an incarcerated person has raised questions of innocence. Their goal is to review the case and report to the Kansas City-based Midwest Innocence Project whether they believe a case for innocence exists.

Denny Thum, a 1974 graduate of Rockhurst University who spent 36 years with the Kansas City Chiefs during one of the franchise’s most successful periods, will be honored by his alma mater with the Rashford-Lyon Award for Leadership and Ethics as part of the Rockhurst University Leadership Series on Wednesday, April 2.

Recommitting itself to its students, staff, faculty and alumni, and redefining its place in higher education, Rockhurst University has unveiled updated branding and messaging including its new tagline, “Lead with Courage. Live with Purpose.”

Students, faculty, staff and community members alike are invited to take part in a recognition Friday, Jan. 24, of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

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

Rockhurst University has announced the dean’s list for the fall 2024 semester. This honor recognizes students who have achieved a grade-point average of 3.5 or above.

The world is about to get more Jesuit-educated health care, education and business professionals. That’s after a series of hooding and pinning ceremonies Saturday that marked the completion of studies for more than 200 students in several Rockhurst University’s graduate degree programs and its Bachelor of Science in nursing program.

For many years, lacrosse was life for Dominic Diaz, who is about to graduate with his Occupational Therapy Doctorate. He knows the history of the sport, its regional variations, and the strategy behind the game itself. He played at the collegiate level and coached at all levels up to high school.

Rockhurst University has received the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence for achieving four-year Academic Success Rates of 90% or higher for the 14th consecutive year.

“Holiday Touchdown: a Chiefs Love Story” is an all-new Hallmark Channel feature film that, as the title implies, is set in and around Kansas City and revolves around the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s set to premiere Nov. 30, complete with a red-carpet premiere, and features familiar locations in the city. Among them is an antique store on the Independence, Missouri, Square called The Keeping Room that has a connection to Rockhurst.

Jacob Scallorn, ’15, has a lot to be thankful for — and he’ll be the first to admit it. About 15 years ago, he was a deep in the cycle of addiction. He had lost seven jobs in eight months and wrecked his car twice. “God put me on the bench,” is how he puts it. But then something amazing happened — Scallorn said he entered rehab and it changed not just his physical health, but his mental wellbeing. He began to say “yes” to doing hard things and to devoting time and effort to accomplishing goals.

On Friday, leaders from Rockhurst University and Kansas City University signed a pivotal new agreement establishing and accelerated pathway for high school students and others to earn KCU’s medical and health care degrees.

In a recent study, two members of the Rockhurst University community — an alumna and a faculty member — sought to glean lessons from how one veterans service organization approached inspiring young vets to stay connected and continue to serve after their military careers were over.

Ben Winbinger had experience with robotics. But when it came time to look for a community work study position through Rockhurst University helping mentor younger students in robotics wasn’t an opportunity he knew existed. But he took a chance.

The Best Colleges 2025 list from U.S. News and World Report is out today, and in it, Rockhurst University has entered the top 10 on the list of best universities in the Midwest.

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.

What was on your summer to-do list? Beach time? Internship? Visiting friends? For an unprecedented number of Hawks in Rockhurst University’s graduate programs, the answer was “get started on my future.” A total of 1,023 students were enrolled in graduate programs at the University during the summer term.

The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Community Forestry Council recently announced Rockhurst University has been awarded a 2024 Missouri Arbor Award of Excellence in the business and institution category, recognizing the outstanding efforts by the University to improve and preserve the natural environment on campus and beyond.

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.

The votes are in. On Monday, Kansas City Favorites, a magazine published by the Kansas City Star that ranks the best in everything from restaurants to law firms in the area, named Rockhurst University the top higher educational institution in the Kansas City metro.

The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation has given Rockhurst University a $900,000 challenge grant to fund the construction of a new campus chapel.

Rockhurst University has announced the dean’s list for the spring 2024 semester. This honor recognizes students who have achieved a grade-point average of 3.5 or above.

Rockhurst University’s Saint Luke’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences will once again expand its specialized nursing certificate offerings with the launch of the Registered Nurse First Assistance program starting in fall 2024.

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.

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).

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

Two specialty graduate business programs at Rockhurst University’s College Business and Technology are ranked among the top 30 in the nation, alongside rankings for occupational therapy, physical therapy and communication sciences and disorders, in the Best Grad Schools list released today by U.S. News & World Report.

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

On Saturday, hundreds of Rockhurst University students will receive their degrees in front of family members and friends during the spring commencement ceremony at Municipal Auditorium. Below, a few members of the Class of 2024 tell their stories.

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.

A premier Kansas City educational institution with deep roots in whole-person learning, leadership and service and a local business are announcing an exciting new partnership to elevate their brand, tell their story and welcome more students.

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.

Niche, one of the largest online college search resources for students, has ranked Rockhurst University’s nursing program as the best in Missouri in their Best Colleges 2025 rankings.

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.

It’s completely normal for a college student to see something they want and decide it’s too expensive – especially shoes. And especially Nike Air Jordans, which can run into six figures depending on what you’re looking for… unless you can make them yourself and sell them to musicians and athletes.

There was a unique addition to the Thomas More Dining Hall that may have caught your eye this year. Renovations to the dining hall during the summer of 2021 brought with it the introduction of a hydroponics grow room offering an alternative to soil gardening.

Hydroponic gardens produce more plants quickly with less space and less water than soil gardening. This system utilizes nutrient-rich water and recycled soda bottles as a mesh-type medium that serves as the soil alternative to support the roots of the plants in grow towers.

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.

As the August 18-20 move-in days approach at Rockhurst, students are using Instagram videos to encourage incoming Hawks to be sure they are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Since 2004, Rockhurst University has marked the solemn occasion of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, with an interfaith ceremony in partnership with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.

This year, in addition to a ceremonial reading on Kinerk Commons of names of those killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust – a list that includes 152 members of the Society of Jesus — the day included another symbolic gesture of interfaith cooperation and companionship.

Rockhurst University Companions,

After securing all but nearly $1 million of the expected $23 million cost, Rockhurst University will begin construction on the renovation of a campus cornerstone, Sedgwick Hall, into the future home of the Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences at Rockhurst University.

Spanning centuries, styles and places of origin, the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at Rockhurst University is something of a treasure on campus.

Each piece in the collection has a story behind it, but unfortunately are currently unavailable for viewing both because of ongoing renovations to Sedgwick Hall (the pieces are currently being safely stored offsite) and a citywide stay at home order to combat the spread of covid-19.