INSIDE > 140 YEARS: CELEBRATING MOMENTS, MILESTONES, MOMENTUM P32 SUMMER 2018 •SUMMER Volume 34 Issue 2

40 years ago, Creighton alumnus Leo Ryan was murdered on a tiny airstrip in Guyana. This is his story. Message from the President

Promise and Purpose

his month, we welcome returning students and the Class of 2022 to campus with an invig- orated sense of promise and purpose. While final numbers may fluctuate, we anticipate a record freshman class — with as many as 1,130 to 1,135 students. That would surpass last year’s historic total of 1,119 students. It’s deeply gratifying that our Jesuit, Catholic education; inno- Tvative, wide-ranging academic programs; outstanding faculty teaching, research, and scholarship; and significant, meaningful student opportunities inside and outside the classroom continue to be highly valued by today’s high school graduates. Sept. 2 will mark the 140th anniversary of Creighton University’s opening. We are celebrating this milestone year with a variety of events, including a Creighton 140 Presidential Lecture Series that will include an evening with former Secretaries of State Dr. Madeleine Albright and Gen. Colin Powell on Oct. 30. Suzanne Malveaux, HON’12, an award-winning journalist with CNN, will serve as moderator. Learn more about the lecture series on Page 7. This spring, a peer review committee from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities recommended that Creighton University be reaffirmed as an “excellent example of a Jesuit, Catholic university that Follow me: embraces its mission, builds upon clear mission strengths, and desires to live its mission @CreightonPres ever more fully.” The committee’s report was forwarded to Jesuit Superior General the CreightonPresident Very Rev. Arturo Sosa, SJ. We open our new state-of-the-art dental building with excitement on the northeast edge of campus. The impressive brick-and-glass facility, offering the latest in dental technology, will allow us to increase our dental enrollment capacity from about 85 to 115 students, and add to the number of people we can treat — many of whom would otherwise not have care — from about 12,000 to 15,000 annually. The building also will be home to our new Kingfisher Institute for Liberal Arts and Professions — a major initiative within our strategic plan to develop innovative, collabo- rative synergies between liberal arts and professional education. Overall, we continue to gain momentum in all strategic plan priorities. Significantly, we recently announced an alliance that makes Creighton and its partners one of the largest providers of graduate medical education in Arizona. Omaha community officials and Creighton We were saddened to learn of the death of the Rev. Michael G. Morrison, SJ, Creighton’s University leadership 22nd and longest-serving president, in May at the age of 81. Fr. Morrison served as the celebrated and blessed the new pedestrian University’s president for 19 years, from 1981 to 2000. A liturgy of gratitude for the life of bridge spanning the Fr. Morrison will be held Sept. 15, with a special Mass at St. John’s Church in conjunction North Freeway this spring. The bridge with Reunion Weekend. connects the west I invite and encourage all alumni, families, and friends to return to campus for Reunion end of Creighton’s campus and The Atlas, Weekend, Sept. 13-16, for a full schedule of events and activities. Reunion Weekend provides a new residential retail a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with classmates, professors, and even us Jesuits. development housed in the former Creighton I hope to see you there! University Medical Center. Construction on the 700-foot span, which rises 50 feet over Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ the highway, began in December. President DAVE WEAVER DAVE

1 CREIGHTON SUMMER 2018 Volume 34 Issue 2 Voices

INVESTING PUBLISHER Creighton magazine is published Heard on Campus IN FAITH in the spring, summer and Alumnus Joe Ricketts, fall by Creighton University, “This is a breakthrough. A door “If there’s one conclusion we BA’68, brings his vision 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178-0001. for an Ignatian-based is open and we have to go in. can make in this study it’s retreat experience to PRESIDENT The thing is, though, not to go that at Creighton, the research Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ life at the 936-acre in expecting everything right undergraduates are doing CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS Cloisters on the Platte AND MARKETING OFFICER away. Don’t give up all the satisfies the quality standards retreat center. Jim Berscheidt goodwill gained in opening in the disciplines of physics 28 SR. DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS this door just because there’s and chemistry.” Contents Glenn Antonucci one crisis.” PATRICIA SOTO, PHD, associate professor of ‘FOREVER GRATEFUL’ DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS physics, on a study she conducted with colleagues MAORONG JIANG, PHD, political science Rick Davis at three other institutions on undergraduate A former student fondly professor and director of Creighton’s Asian World research opportunities for physics and chemistry ASSOC. DIRECTORS OF COMMUNICATIONS Center, on a summit between North Korea and recalls the life-changing students. kindness shown to her Cindy Murphy McMahon the United States. Jiang has studied and worked Sheila Swanson with North Korea for three decades. by the Rev. Michael Morrison, SJ, Creighton’s WRITERS Amanda Brandt “To be here and expanding 22nd president, who died Adam Klinker “When people think of climate these therapies for the people this spring. Emily Rust change, the image that often of Georgia, I’m glad that I’m ILLUSTRATION comes to mind is the polar getting that Creighton name 26 32 38 Adam Cruft bear. … I would suggest a more a little further out there and CONTACT MOMENTS. MILESTONES. FEELING AT HOME Address all mail to University adequate image is the migrant, doing some good in another MOMENTUM. Communications and Marketing, Struggling to get into Attn: Creighton Magazine, 780480 more precisely, the millions corner of the world.” As Creighton turns 140 years medical school, a former California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178-0480. of people who have already TRACI SWARTZ, OTD’07, on her work bringing old this year, we take a look emigrant finds success, Postmaster: Send change of address to Creighton Magazine, P.O. Box 3266, been displaced by the effects occupational and physical therapy more to the back at significant, and light- fulfillment, deeper faith Omaha, NE 68103-0078. fore in the country of Georgia, as part of a four- hearted, moments in time, as and a home at Creighton of climate change and the year, $4.5-million grant from the United States Send alumni news (births, weddings, Agency for International Development. well as exciting developments University. promotions, etc.) to alumninews@ hundreds of millions who will on the horizon. creighton.edu. be displaced in the coming FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter — @Creighton decades and centuries.” Facebook — Creighton University RICHARD MILLER, PHD, theology professor, Instagram — @Creighton1878 who participated in an international ecological on the cover CREIGHTON MAGAZINE’S PURPOSE symposium in Attica, Greece, in June. Creighton magazine, like the University ‘HE WANTED TO GO THERE. itself, is committed to excellence and dedicated to the pursuit of truth in HE WANTED TO SEE. HE WANTED TO HELP.’ all its forms. The magazine will be comprehensive in nature. It will support Forty years ago, more than 900 members of a cult the University’s mission of education through thoughtful and compelling Let’s Get Social died in the mass murder-suicide known as the feature articles on a variety of topics. “Jonestown massacre.” Creighton alumnus and It will feature the brightest, the most stimulating, the most inspirational @hopemoreno_13: So thankful @hilary_moser: On this congressman Leo Ryan was investigating when he thinking that Creighton offers. The was killed by Jonestown gunmen. This is his story. magazine also will promote Creighton, I transferred to @Creighton beautiful Thursday, I’m so and its Jesuit, Catholic identity, to a broad public and serve as a vital because I am literally having the blessed to have amazing link between the University and its constituents. The magazine will be best senior year EVER. professors (past and present) 20 guided by the core values of Creighton: who truly care about my success 4 Creighton 16 The Big Question 42 Impact 52 Creighton the inalienable worth of each individual, respect for all of God’s creation, a special @PatrickLillis1: @creighton and wellbeing. Thank you Connections Two accomplished leaders — A student finds opportunities Conversations concern for the poor and the promotion of justice. @CreightonBiz Thanking @Creighton. one in sports and one in the to be a trailblazer in business The first vice provost for 10 By the Numbers military — share insights on as a Suzanne and Walter Scott institutional diversity and Copyright © 2018 by Creighton for being the most building a culture of success. Fellows Scholarship recipient. inclusion shines a light on Creighton University connected biz school in @CarridRADams: I am blessed seeking justice and equity 13 Jesuit Gardens creighton.edu America ... creating a wonderful to say I just wrapped my 11th 18 Dialogue 43 Alumni Notes at Creighton. World-renowned photographer A Creighton group grows closer environment for young people semester teaching @Creighton the Rev. Don Doll, SJ, reflects to the University’s roots by on the gift of 50 years of learning. Keep creating those and it just keeps getting better! following in the footsteps of missionaries of capitalism the Looking forward to the fall! priesthood. St. Ignatius of Loyola. Jesuit way.

2 Creighton SUMMER 2018 3 Creighton Connections UNIVERSITY NEWS But Fr. FitzGerald’s life would take a different turn. His senior year at Cornell, he became disillusioned after some graduate students were not credited on a research paper for their work. “But back then, that was consid- ered OK,” Fr. FitzGerald says. “That NURSING IN PHOENIX really bothered me a great deal. It really New Jersey. California. threw me. Oregon. Washington. “Both of my parents went to Colorado. Arizona. efore he was investigating a He later earned two PhDs, in molec- Those are some of the Fordham University. We heard about novel treatment for breast can- ular biology and in bioethics, from states represented by Jesuits growing up all the time. One Health Care, Science and Ethics cer, by combining Western med- Georgetown University, and joined the the 21 members of the night, I realized, ‘Wait a minute, Jesuits inaugural accelerated BY RICK DAVIS, BA’88 B icine with ancient South Korean herbal faculty there. nursing class at can do science. And I’ll bet they don’t remedies, or consulting the Vatican on For 17 years, he served as the Dr. David Creighton’s health do that.’” complex issues related to bioethics, the P. Lauler Chair in Catholic Health Care sciences campus in His sister, a graduate of Marquette Phoenix. The program An internationally renowned lecturer, researcher and educator in Rev. Kevin FitzGerald, SJ, PhD, PhD, was Ethics at Georgetown and an associate began in January. University, put him in touch with the bioethics and medical genomics — and one-time Bluejay — is the pioneering in a different, less scientific professor in the Department of Oncology Rev. John Naus, SJ, who was a philosophy field. He was the starting goalkeeper at the university’s medical center. professor at Marquette at that time. new John A. Creighton Professor for the inaugural Creighton men’s soc- He is excited to be back at Creighton “He suggested that I spend that cer team. as the John A. Creighton Professor and first summer after college teaching at Fr. FitzGerald, renowned for his work an associate professor in the School a program at Marquette High School,” in bioethics and medical genomics, of Medicine, Department of Medical Fr. FitzGerald says. “I taught inner- joined Creighton on Aug. 1 as the new Education. city, eighth-grade students math and John A. Creighton University Professor “I enjoyed my time here a great science. — a distinguished endowed faculty deal, and I’ve always been interested “I lived at the Jesuit community chair previously held by the late Robert in Creighton,” says Fr. FitzGerald, who at Marquette High. That sort of made Heaney, BS’47, MD’51, a world-renowned served on the University’s Board of everything concrete.” researcher in the field of bone biology Trustees from 1997 to 2005. Fr. FitzGerald entered the Jesuits and vitamin D. With expanding health care in 1977 at the novitiate in St. Paul, In 1979, after earning a bache- partnerships in Phoenix, Creighton is Minnesota. Classmates included former lor’s degree in biology from Cornell becoming the largest Catholic health Creighton president the Rev. Timothy University and entering the Society of professions educator in the country, Lannon, SJ, BS’73, and the Rev. James Jesus, Fr. FitzGerald came to Creighton and Fr. FitzGerald will serve as a vital Clifton, SJ, associate dean for mission in for humanities studies as part of his resource to integrate ethics across this the School of Medicine. Fr. FitzGerald Jesuit formation. spectrum. was ordained a priest in 1988. That same year, men’s soccer became The second of seven children born A TREE-MENDOUS HONOR He says he is often asked how he an officially sanctioned sport at the to Joseph and Mary FitzGerald, Fr. For the 10th straight squares his roles as a priest and a University. FitzGerald says he’s always been a “sci- year, Creighton has scientist. received recognition Having played soccer in high school, ence geek.” In junior high, he told his as a Tree Campus “There is only one reality,” Fr. the then 24-year-old Jesuit laced up his teachers he wanted to be a nuclear phys- USA by the Arbor Day FitzGerald explains. “So why would I cleats, tried out and made the roster. icist. In high school, his interest turned Foundation. The campus only use one particular perspective to is home to more than “It was a lot of fun,” FitzGerald says to the exciting, new field of genetics. 1,000 trees and 100 investigate that reality, to understand of being part of that first team. He “They were just starting to work on different species. that reality? Why not use as many as recorded six shutouts and had a 1.54 this idea of genetic engineering,” Fr. possible? The greater variety of per- goals-against average as the Bluejays FitzGerald says. spectives you can use, the richer your finished the season 12-5-1. His freshman year at Cornell, in 1973, understanding. To me, it’s always been But a life of science and the Jesuits the first experiment on recombinant- a natural way to look at it.” called. DNA cloning was performed. The year Fr. FitzGerald has traveled the world He left after that year to pursue grad- after he graduated, in 1978, the first “test- and been featured in the media, speak- uate studies in philosophy and human tube baby” was born through in vitro ing on human genetic engineering, clon- genetics at Saint Louis University. fertilization. ing, stem cell research, personalized DAVE WEAVER DAVE

4 Creighton SUMMER 2018 5 CREIGHTON CONNECTIONS University News Celebrating 140 medicine and ethical issues in biomed- Korean herbal treatment known as Butler officials had contacted Years of Creighton ical research and medical genomics. JEKHT, made from the herbs of 12 dif- ‘You Can See the Creighton about hosting such a camp. He shares his expertise on two Vatican ferent plants, seems to enhance the Joy in Their Eyes’ Merfeld described the event as a councils — the Pontifical Academy effectiveness of tamoxifen and reduce “win-win-win.” “We’re going to have a blast. Today University for Life and the Pontifical Council for its side effects. “Obviously, the kids are going to have is all about you,” Steve Merfeld, assis- Culture. “It’s very exciting,” Fr. FitzGerald a great time interacting. The doctoral tant men’s basketball coach, told a reighton will host three esteemed speakers this fall as part One of Fr. FitzGerald’s current says. “It’s an amazing project.” students are getting an experience they group of eager youngsters gathered in research projects — being conducted in Rapid scientific advancements might not have on an everyday basis. of the 140 Presidential Lecture Series that kicked off with front of a basketball hoop inside the partnership with the South Korean gov- are unleashing not only exciting new And then certainly, for our players, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in April. Championship Center on campus. ernment and Daegu Catholic University opportunities, but complex questions, they have an opportunity to realize how Former Secretaries of State Dr. Madeleine Albright and Summer sports camps are common, Medical Center — involves integrating as we manipulate the human genome, blessed they are and to work with these but this one was special. Gen. Colin Powell will be on campus Oct. 30 to discuss Western medicine with traditional about what it means to be human and kids, who are just so happy to be here,” At Creighton’s first Abilities national and global issues. Suzanne Malveaux, HON’12, an Korean medicine. what, ultimately, is best for society. Merfeld said. Basketball Camp, 34 children with spe- award-winning journalist with CNN, will serve as moderator. “We’re looking at how to integrate “I’ve gotten pulled into global health, The student-athletes connected cial needs were paired with Creighton C cutting-edge treatments for breast can- comprehensive and integrative medi- with the youngsters — whether it was Dr. Albright was named U.S. Ambassador to the UN in 1993 before physical therapy students and partic- cer with some traditional Korean herbal cine, all these ways in which these Bluejays basketball encouraging a camper in a wheelchair becoming the first female Secretary of State in 1997. As Secretary of ipated in drills and games with mem- medicines that could significantly technologies are supposed to ‘benefit’ player Kaleb Joseph to toss a basketball into a Powerade jug State, she reinforced America’s alliances, advocated for democracy and participates in drills bers of the men’s basketball team. The improve our Western treatments,” Fr. us somehow,” Fr. FitzGerald says. “Well, with a child who or lifting a child with Down syndrome 2½-hour event was modeled after a sim- human rights and promoted American trade and business, labor and FitzGerald explains. let’s make sure that happens. attended Creighton’s to the rim so she could experience the first Abilities ilar program started by a professor at environmental standards abroad. He and his colleagues have found “Everybody always says it’s going to Basketball Camp. thrill of a dunk. Butler University. Gen. Colin Powell served as National Security Advisor under President in rat models that combining the benefit us. My question always is, ‘Who Joseph’s teammate, Marcus Zegarowski, a freshman Jordan Scurry, is in “We’re here to help the children par- Ronald Reagan and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for both President breast-cancer drug tamoxifen with a is the us?’” the background. guard from Hamilton, Massachusetts, ticipate to their maximum abilities,” said the event was special for him — as a George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton before becoming Secretary of said Lisa Black, DPT’06, associate pro- close family friend has Down syndrome, State under President George W. Bush. As Secretary of State, he led major fessor and director of clinical education and his family has actively supported for Creighton’s physical therapy depart- efforts to address and solve regional and civil conflicts. Special Olympics. ment. “This is so much fun.” Dominican-American poet, novelist and essayist Julia Alvarez will speak “It’s awesome to play basketball with “Do you think you can score on at Creighton Sept. 13 in cooperation with Creighton’s Institute for Latin these kids, and share some good times me?” cajoled a smiling Mitch Ballock as with them,” he said. “You can see the joy American Concern. She is the author of How the García Girls Lost Their one camper dribbled toward the hoop. in their eyes.” Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies. After the youngster scored, Ballock, Susan Spohm of Omaha watched as Register beginning Aug. 22 and learn more at creighton.edu/140-lecture. a sophomore guard from Eudora, her 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, inter- Kansas, gave a fist pump and yelled, acted with the players. Sarah was born “Hey, nice shot!” with holoprosencephaly, a disorder in Creighton alumna Vicky Trost which the brain fails to divide properly McHugh, DPT’98, recruited many of into the right and left hemispheres. the participating families through her “It’s a wonderful feeling that you get, local pediatric physical therapy practice. that people do care,” Spohm said. “And Other families were recruited through she loves people. She’s a people person.” the Creighton Pediatric Clinic and com- Spohm sheepishly admitted her fam- munity physical therapists. ily has not followed Creighton basketball Fourth-year physical therapy student closely. But she added with a smile: “We Tara Dorenkamp said she had no trouble will now.” getting students to help. “I sent out the email, and I got responses flooding my inbox,” Dorenkamp said. “Lots of inter- ‘An Inspired Combination’ est; everyone was so excited.”

Dorenkamp added: “My passion is The Creighton men’s basketball From left, Dr. Madeleine working with kids. I hope to be a pedi- team will play in the newly named CHI Albright, Gen. Colin Powell and Julia Alvarez. atric physical therapist some day, so this Health Center Omaha arena beginning event broadened my horizons and gave this fall. At a June press conference, me more experience working with kids it was announced that CHI Health — of various needs.” Creighton’s primary clinical partner DAVE WEAVER DAVE

6 Creighton SUMMER 2018 DR. MADELEINE ALBRIGHT PHOTO BY TIMOTHY GREENFIELD-SANDERS 7 CREIGHTON CONNECTIONS University News WAIT...WHAT? Creighton is among only 42

Creighton science, technology and mathematics Zoo Academy, a partnership between universities in the country individuals and the community. Her President the Rev. Daniel S. at Creighton, this summer, through the Omaha Public Schools and Omaha’s recognized for undergraduate hope is to return to Omaha with strat- Hendrickson, Haddix STEM Corridor Program. Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. opportunities for research, egies to enhance the role of urban farm- SJ, was on hand to react to the “This initiative is important because “Science and technology are mov- according to U.S. News & World ing and investigate the ways food brings announcement it will nurture the individual interest of ing everything forward,” Push says. people together. that Omaha’s Report. Here’s a snapshot of one downtown arena each student, expose them to current “Exploring what’s unknown is so Locally, Senda-Cook has worked and convention research practices in different disci- important. That’s why STEM is import- student’s research project. with Big Muddy Urban Farm, an center will be known as CHI plines and encourage them to pursue ant — to keep moving forward.” Omaha-based nonprofit aimed at Health Center their STEM interests in college and “I think it’s important to study expanding access to sustainable agri- Omaha beginning this fall. The arena beyond,” says Kayode Oshin, PhD, assis- STEM because it allows us to know culture. She also has engaged the is home to the tant professor of chemistry and director why things are the way they are,” says Refugee Empowerment Center, trying Creighton men’s basketball team. of the program. Xzavier Herbert, a junior at Central. to understand how resettling families The program is made possible Herbert worked alongside Nathan use community gardens to produce by the recent $10 million gift from Pennington, PhD, assistant professor their own food and contribute to their George Haddix, PhD, MA’66, and his of mathematics. communities. wife, Susan, to the College of Arts and Herbert hopes the program will help For his Fulbright award, Carney, an Sciences. Following an application him in his career aspirations of becom- associate professor of theology, will process, selected juniors from Omaha ing a theoretical mathematician. study seven Church leaders — includ-

DAVE WEAVER DAVE North, Central and South high schools “I’m looking forward to learning ing Benedicto Kiwanuka, Uganda’s first were invited to campus and paired with more about what I’m going to be study- prime minister — and explore how their a Creighton faculty member in their field ing,” Herbert says. TITLE OF RESEARCH lives and work have responded to the — had acquired the naming rights to the of interest. At the end of the program, Hernandez spent the summer in political realities in Uganda. downtown arena and convention center. Haddix STEM Corridor the students submitted a final report Strauss-Soukup’s lab looking at mes- “Daggers to daisies: With the beginning of the academic “Our faith-based partnership with Program Welcomes 13 on their research findings and gave a senger RNA. Understanding cultural year, Carney will spend most of his time CHI Health has truly been an inspired Omaha High School Students poster presentation. “I’m looking forward to the experi- in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, conduct- combination, and the future of health “I’m really interested in biology, so I ence in a lab,” says Hernandez, who has contexts of power and ing oral interviews and combing over care in this region absolutely is stron- BY EMILY RUST wanted to see if working with professors her sights set on becoming a biomedi- gender within American local archives to create what will be one ger because of our joint efforts,” said On the first day of the Haddix STEM and doing research would be something cal engineer. “There’s always something of the first monographs on postcolonial Creighton President the Rev. Daniel S. Corridor Program, Omaha South High I’d be interested in doing as a career,” new you can learn.” society through the Catholic history in Uganda. Hendrickson, SJ. School junior Maria Hernandez watched says Gabrielle Push, a junior from North. Participating in the Haddix STEM Combined with a year’s sabbatical “We view this as a long-term invest- as Julie Strauss-Soukup, PhD, BSChm’93, Push worked with Carol Fassbinder- Corridor Program is the first step on needle of a tattoo gun” through Creighton’s Haddix Faculty ment,” said Cliff Robertson, MD, CHI professor of biochemistry, drew a DNA Orth, PhD, associate professor of biol- that path. Incubator Awards, Carney will also Health chief executive officer. “There helix. Hernandez’s eyes lit up: Science ogy, to research colony collapse disorder STUDENT RESEARCHER teach at Uganda Martyrs University Anna Schroer; senior, double-majoring in history will be an entire generation of young has always been her favorite subject. (CCD) to explain why honeybees are leav- (UMU), a Catholic university with and health administration and policy; Leawood, people who will grow up associating CHI Hernandez is one of 13 Omaha ing their home hives and never return- campuses in Nkozi and Kampala. He Fulbright Professors to Kansas Health with community, entertainment high school students who spent ing. It’s a perfect project for Push who, Study in Japan, Uganda hopes the experience will help forge and physical activity.” eight weeks immersed in the fields of during the school year, studies with the FACULTY MENTOR longer-term partnerships between Urban farming and Catholic lead- Heather Fryer, PhD, Fr. Henry W. Casper, SJ, UMU and Creighton. ers in Uganda will be the research Professor of History focus for Fulbright awards received by Don’t wait for tomorrow. Creighton professors Jay Carney, PhD, WHAT IT MEANS A Dean’s Summer Creighton Part of Arizona and Samantha Senda-Cook, PhD. Undergraduate Research Scholarship is Alliance to Oversee Senda-Cook, an associate professor allowing Schroer to explore the mid-20th Graduate Medical Education in the Department of Communication century American cultural context of power THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE Studies, will study food and community and gender through the lens of tattooing. She is An alliance between some of the analyzing traditional American tattooing during engagement at the Asia Rural Institute most respected names in health care World War II, which portrayed patriotism and IS ALREADY HERE. ARE YOU IN? (ARI) in Japan in the spring and early military brotherhood, and explores how this in Arizona will become one of the largest summer of 2019. phenomenon is seen as contributing to the providers of graduate medical education Choose from more than 40 She will spend several months along- generational divide between those with “honor” in the state. graduate degrees and certificates. side ARI participants from around the tattoos and those with “vanity” tattoos. She is The Creighton University-Arizona world, learning about the intersec- studying the influence of the 1960s women’s Health Education Alliance will now gradschool.creighton.edu/healthcare tions of agriculture and advocacy and liberation movement, and how women changed oversee the Graduate Medical Education the central role of food in fueling both the perception and artistry of tattooing, and, (GME) programs for two of the ultimately, the influence tattoos have in American gender expression.

8 Creighton SUMMER 2018 9 2018 COMMENCEMENT

BY THE NUMBERS state’s largest health care institutions Abroms, who has a bachelor’s degree in Before joining the Red Sox in January — Maricopa Integrated Health System psychology from Hobart and William 2018, Abroms spent eight years teach- and Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital Smith Colleges and a master’s degree in ing resilience and mental skills training and Medical Center, as well as the pro- sports psychology from Ithaca College. to soldiers in the U.S. Army, assisting in gram for District Medical Group. “And I like that Creighton provides their mission readiness. 1,800+ online learning because, with my job, I DAN ABROMS “I jumped at the opportunity to help Graduates can’t be physically in Omaha.” Dan Abroms, our servicemen and servicewomen,” he Baseball on the Mind Abroms, one of four mental skills a student in says. “I have a great deal of gratitude coaches with the Red Sox, frequently Creighton’s EdD toward our military. They risk their lives in Interdisciplinary BY BENJAMIN GLEISSER visits two of the franchise’s A-level and Leadership program, for our greater good, and I was grateful While Dan Abroms, a mental skills the short-season A affiliate minor league is a mental skills to teach them how to focus on the men- two coordinator in the Boston Red Sox teams, where he teaches players mental coach with the tal aspects of their missions.” Honorary Degrees Boston Red Sox. organization, helps young sluggers, skills that include motivation, concen- hurlers and infielders earn a spot on tration and confidence. His charges are Boston’s roster, he’s also earning his athletes drafted out of high school and ‘A Picture of Humanity’ EdD in Interdisciplinary Leadership college, as well as international players. through Creighton University’s online “Sometimes, they’ll pull me aside Rendered an outcast in his native study program. after a game and just want to talk about Nepal — unemployed and unemploy- Mae C. Jemison, MD Abroms plans to have his degree in what’s on their minds,” he says, adding able, homeless, alone — Ashok Shrestha Physician, scientist, 2020, just about the same time the minor is getting a new lease on life through humanitarian and astronaut that there is no longer a stigma among a Creighton professor’s portrait and Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters leaguers he’s working with begin break- professional athletes about seeking his Commencement speaker ing into the major leagues. help. “Basically, I teach them to focus on crowd-funding efforts. Even though he landed his dream the present moment, and not let internal Art professor Rachel Mindrup first job, the choice to continue his educa- and external noise get in the way. And learned of Shrestha two years ago tion was easy. when they start seeing improvements through a Facebook post that included “I want to expand my knowledge in their game, they become more open his photo. base and grow as a professional,” says to the process.” Wearing a beautifully patterned knit cap and a snug, green-and-gold check- Clarence L. Werner ered scarf, Shrestha’s face was shrouded Founder and executive chairman of by a massive tumor, leaving only one eye Werner Enterprises visible over a distended nose and cheek. Honorary Doctor of Business Administration The tumor was the effect of neu- rofibromatosis (NF), a genetic dis- ease of the nervous system. Moved by Shrestha’s story, Mindrup painted a one portrait from the photo for her exhibi- Robert F. Kennedy Memorial tion “Portrait of a Disorder: The Faces surgeons reconstructed one of his Creighton art Australia, returning to campus for the professor Rachel Award for Teaching of Neurofibromatosis.” ears and opened a second nostril. Mindrup painted spring semester. Achievement The painting was included in the Funds are currently being raised for the above portrait Among the inaugural cohort is Mark Reedy, PhD of Ashok Shrestha. exhibit’s opening at Creighton in the fall a second surgery at gofundme.com/ The painting Lauren Ramaekers of Omaha. One of College of Arts and Sciences of 2016, along with Shrestha’s story. It ashok-shresthas-surgeries. was part of her nine siblings — and the third Ramaekers exhibition “Portrait immediately garnered attention. People of a Disorder: to attend Creighton, after her grandfa- coming to see the show asked how they The Faces of ther and father — she says she “just Neurofibromatosis.” Spirit of might help. Global Scholars Program about cried when I heard I got selected.” Creighton An online donation page, replete Takes Flight “When I applied,” she says, “I Awards JOIN OUR NETWORK What will with Shrestha’s story and Mindrup’s thought, ‘Oh my goodness, it would painting, was established and promoted Creighton’s new Global Scholars change my life if I could do this.’” Tyler3 Clement, BSBA’17, MBA’18 OF THRIVING ALUMNI. your story be? on social media. It attracted donations Program officially set sail (figuratively The budding biology major aspires Heider College of Business worldwide, including a generous out- speaking) in July. to be a pediatric nurse. Global Scholars Samantha Kappenman, DDS’18 School of Dentistry Choose from more than 40 pouring by the Creighton community. Out of nearly 200 applicants, 23 felt like a fit because of her interest in Samantha Stoupa, BSChm’18 graduate degrees and certificates. Thanks to this support, Shrestha incoming freshmen were chosen for travel and service, she says. College of Arts and Sciences had surgery in March to remove the program. They will spend the fall The program is flush with both — business.creighton.edu/graduate-programs 85 percent of the tumor. Plastic semester at the University of Sydney, and then some. Designed to provide

10 Creighton SUMMER 2018 11 JESUIT GARDENS

a rich academic, social and service expe- likely to avail themselves of available rience through which participants build drugs. But in isolation, an environment networks with other students, faculty inducing high-sensation-seeking in a ‘A Gift’ and alumni from around the world, rat, the animals readily take more drugs Creighton Global Scholars will com- and more quickly show addictive-like plete four study abroad trips, to four behaviors. The Rev. Don Doll, SJ, different countries, over the course of “Boredom and the need for disinhi-

DAVE WEAVER DAVE never really thought their undergraduate career. bition is one of the biggest feelings that Candidates completed both an make someone susceptible to addic- he’d be a priest. application and an interview. The 23 tion,” he said. “We’ve seen the similar “I wasn’t one of those kids who, every day students selected represent 12 states, CREIGHTON consistent effects in our rat models. Give from the age of 7, had the dream of being a priest,” says Fr. Doll, the Charles and Mary from California to North Carolina and Creighton magazine asked eight them an alternative reinforcer when a Wisconsin to Texas. drug is available, and they’re less likely Heider Endowed Jesuit Faculty Chair and inter- graduates participating in the Ramaekers says she is more than to self-administer the drug.” nationally renowned photographer, who cele- ready for the adventure to begin. University’s May commencement brated the 50th anniversary of his ordination in Although, admittedly, Sydney is a long ceremonies for their advice to June. “I wanted to be a Jesuit, but the priesthood way from home to spend your first incoming freshmen. Here’s what ‘Stop the Bleed’ Focus was so distant, some 15 years in the future.” semester of college. they had to say: of Creighton Trauma Fr. Doll, who has spent 49 of those 50 WEAVER DAVE What is she most excited about? Symposium years at Creighton and on assignments for “Seeing how well I can stand on my “Get out of your comfort zone. Go on a such publications as National Geographic and own two feet,” she says. 1 Service & Justice Trip, or find a service When the first alert pagesounded the A Day in the Life book series, recalls as a opportunity in the community.” at Hartford (Connecticut) Hospital the whirlwind the period of discernment in which says. “The next morning, I went down to Fr. and asked myself, ‘What am I going to do as Shannon Mulcahey, BSN’18 morning of Dec. 14, 2012, nobody in the he came to the Society of Jesus and began his Fahey and told him what I was thinking. He a Jesuit?’” he says. “And a voice came to me trauma ward thought much of it. priestly formation. said, ‘Sounds like you’re ready,’ and two weeks and said, ‘Stay with the photography. Stay Boredom, Thrill-Seeking May “You never get your undergrad years again. “They were putting us on standby, Approaching his graduation from Marquette later, I’m in the novitiate. Dad was able to get with the teaching. And if it takes 10 years, it Influence Drug Addictions Remember to have fun!” 2 as there had been a school shooting in University High School in Milwaukee, Fr. Doll the deposit back from Notre Dame.” takes 10 years.’ That’s a voice I’ve listened to Shreya Patel, MD’18 Creighton psychological science Sandy Hook,” said Lenworth Jacobs, was set to go to the University of Notre Dame Fr. Doll’s early years in Jesuit formation a lot in my life and the voice we pray about in professor Dustin Stairs, PhD, and his “Always have your door open (in MD, director of the Trauma Institute and study chemical engineering and join Notre were punctuated by trips to the Rosebud Indian discernment, asking ourselves, ‘Is this really team of undergraduate researchers are 3 the residence halls). It’s a way to at Hartford Hospital. “We didn’t pay Dame’s Air Force ROTC program in hopes of also Reservation in South Dakota, where he learned the Holy Spirit nudging me to do these things?’ making inroads into the neuroscience meet people and build community.” much attention initially. We thought becoming a pilot, when he was invited to a send- he had a gift for teaching and walking alongside And it usually is.” of addiction and the power of social Tanner Friedenbach, BSBA’18 it was just one shot into the roof. Very off for a friend preparing to join the Jesuits. the Native Americans living there. He also Fr. Doll stuck with the photography and settings to help overcome a drug habit. quickly, it became very clear that that “On the drive home, I got to thinking about “Be comfortable with change. This is picked up a camera for the first time. has stuck with teaching, having some of his “Most people try drugs,” said Stairs, was not the case.” the time when we grow and find out it and that night, I couldn’t sleep,” Fr. Doll “I took a walk on the prairie one evening most celebrated moments in the classroom and who has researched and written exten- 4 Within minutes, Jacobs and the who we are, and change is an experience behind the lens with the Native Americans at sively on the biological underpinnings on its own.” trauma staff learned the nightmarish Rosebud. His career has taken him around the of the abuse of such drugs as cocaine, Gabriel Jara-Mora, BA’18 truth. Twenty children and six staff world, where he has photographed and been methamphetamine and nicotine. members at Sandy Hook Elementary alongside refugees and marginalized people “We’ve been looking at the question of “Don’t procrastinate. It can be very School lay dead or dying after a shooter in Asia, Africa, Australia and beyond. stressful!” what is it about those people that go on 5 rampaged through the building. “It’s a gift,” Fr. Doll says of his priesthood. “It Kashana Granville, MS’18 to addiction. Some of it’s genetic, some Jacobs shared this story June 15, continues to amaze me just what a blessing I’ve of it’s personality, some of it’s social.” “Use your resources. A lot of people want as the keynote speaker at Creighton’s been given. As a photographer, being a priest Stairs said research has shown the 6 to help out. If you have a bad grade, go Trauma Symposium. has afforded me an opportunity to pray with thrill-seeking or high sensation-seeking to tutoring or talk to your professor. They In the aftermath of Sandy Hook, and for the people I’m taking photographs of, personality type — the skydivers, want to see you succeed.” Jacobs and several other physicians to be able to glimpse the love, compassion and the bungee-jumpers — to be more Sagar Poudel, BS’18 and first responders met with President appreciation that God has seen in them. To be a susceptible to addiction and there Barack Obama and eventually devel- Jesuit and a priest has been a global entry card “Balance work and play. Don’t get burned does seem to be a biological correlative oped the Stop the Bleed campaign — a out your freshman year, but start strong.” to the world and to the lives of the people we among such personalities. 7 national effort that aims to arm every- — BY ADAM KLINKER Ben Williams, BS’18 serve.” Stairs has found that rats raised in day citizens with the skills and equip- enriched environments with plenty of “Go to as many events as possible. You ment needed to save lives at large-scale The Rev. Don Doll, SJ, novel objects — and in social situations only have four years, and it’s a great way events at which bleeding is a very pre- traveled to the Kakuma 8 refugee camp in Kenya with two or more other rats — were less to meet other people.” ventable cause of death. in July to photograph Allison Dobberpuhl, BS’17 graduates of the Jesuit (December graduate) Worldwide Learning

REV. DANIEL HENDRICKSON, SJ HENDRICKSON, DANIEL REV. program.

12 Creighton SUMMER 2018 13 CREIGHTON CONNECTIONS University News

Creighton Welcomes New Board Members, Inside the Honors Trustees Emeriti

During its spring meeting, the New School Creighton University Board of Trustees elected six new Board members and of Dentistry recognized three trustees emeriti.

The new trustees are: > Sharon Harper, BA’69, president, CEO Building and chairman of The Plaza Companies in Phoenix. Active-learning Classroom to > Wende Kotouc, executive co-chair of American National Bank in Omaha. Greet — and Engage – Students > Darrell Lee, MD’81, president of Hawaii Gastroenterology Specialists and Starting this Fall co-founder and board member of Pacific Endoscopy Center. RDG PLANNING AND DESIGN > Janis Orlowski, MD, chief health care magine an academic learning environment in which small pods of stu- officer at the Association of American dents are plugged in — technologically tethered, if you will — to their Medical Colleges in Washington, D.C. instructor, to their tablemates and to other classmates spread across a large, thoroughly wired, state-of-the-art space. And connected even Brian Halsey of RDG Planning & “You don’t have the option not to ONLINE and other benefactors, includes one > Robert Reed Jr., president and CEO of beyond, across cyberspace, to classmates sitting many miles away. Design’s Omaha office serves as the lead be involved in a class in this space,” SNEAK-PEEK VIDEO active-learning classroom to start. Two Physicians Mutual Insurance Company Get an inside look Imagine an intricately designed environment outfitted with large video architect for the new school, overseeing LeFeber says. “We’re taking what feels additional classrooms will be equipped in Omaha. I at the new School of screens, table-mounted monitors, smart cameras and ambient microphones all architectural, engineering and audio/ natural to them — a connection to their Dentistry building with the framework to convert to the > Ann Schumacher, president and CEO of — and equipped with the requisite networking and accompanying software visual aspects of the facility. mobile devices — and making that a part with Dean Mark Latta, technology as needed. CHI Health Immanuel in Omaha. DMD, at creighton.edu/ — to project the face and voice of the professor delivering instruction, or a Halsey characterizes the active- of the classroom experience. By doing creightonmagazine “This is going to help bring Creighton Creighton’s trustees emeriti, departing student presenting or posing a question. learning classroom, simply, as a way of that, you’re really ensuring students stay University dental education to a very members who are recognized for their Imagine a classroom in which content can be pushed digitally to students teaching and learning more effectively. engaged.” highly competitive, national level,” outstanding contributions to the Board, are: via their laptops or tablets, in a nanosecond. Where facial recognition and “It’s an entirely new way of commu- The classroom is designed to accom- Halsey says. “We’re really just giving tracking technology built into classroom cameras allows instructors wide nicating with students,” Halsey says, modate up to 120 students onsite. And the building and structure a way to

> Mary E. Walton Conti, BS’66, MD’70, freedom of movement, while staying in full view on students’ screens. “rather than sitting in a lecture hall, the technology can widen that number catch up to the high level of innovative a radiation oncologist and entrepreneur It all evokes a sense of futurism. Science fiction, even. listening and taking notes.” considerably, providing the ability to instruction already happening at the from St. Louis, served on the Board But it’s a future that very nearly has arrived at Creighton — with the Instructors — once they get accus- seamlessly connect distance-learners, school, and it will help with recruiting since 1998. September grand opening of the new School of Dentistry building and, tomed to the gadgetry — “tend to really essentially anywhere in the world, to the both faculty and students.” > Ronald Gartlan, BSBA’69, president and concurrently, the christening of what has been dubbed the “active-learning like it,” he says. active-learning experience. “The active-learning classroom is a CEO of Godfather’s Pizza in Omaha, classroom,” one of the cutting-edge marvels that will greet dentistry stu- Creighton’s Laura Barritt, PhD, says Halsey says the new classroom also key part of what represents the leading served on the Board since 1995. dents this fall. the design of the room will help facili- expands Creighton’s tele-dental capabil- edge of dental instruction in our new This two-story, technologically loaded learning space in the facility now tate small-group discussions and collab- ities, enabling easy, consultative reach facility,” says School of Dentistry Dean > John (Jack) Koraleski, retired executive Mark Latta, DMD. “It’s the direction chairman of the board of directors for undergoing its final preparations on the south side of Omaha’s Cuming Street, oration among students. Barritt teaches to dentists practicing, for example, in teaching is going, and it helps ensure Union Pacific orporationC in Omaha, on the northern edge of Creighton’s campus, is undoubtedly a lecture hall a histology course, and she is hoping the rural Nebraska. Creighton is keeping up with — or stay- served on the Board since 2014. for the 21st century. active-learning space will enable her Similarly, the virtual reach of the The active-learning classroom “blends architecture, technology and ped- to make the laboratory portion of the classroom gives students the option to ing ahead of — our peer institutions, > Deborah Macdonald, BA’72, JD’80, retired agogy,” says Matthew LeFeber of the Sextant Group, the lead technology con- course digital and use virtual micros- dial in remotely to class “and still have ensuring our students are best prepared president of Kinder Morgan Natural Gas sultant on the project and a specialist in higher education technology design. copy, rather than light microscopes and an engaging experience,” LeFeber says. for the future.” — BY GLENN ANTONUCCI Pipeline Group, served on the Board The aim? To transform the traditional lecture environment to an inter- glass slides. The new dental school building, since 2007. active — and extraordinarily engaging — learning space that stimulates col- And how are students expected to made possible through the support laboration, LeFeber explains. like the new classroom? of alumni, community foundations

14 Creighton SUMMER 2018 15 THE BIG QUESTION

Everybody wants to be successful, right? Many in the Creighton community, in addition to being successful themselves, are in the business of fostering success in others. Creighton magazine interviewed two standouts in their respective fields to learn their motivations and insights.

Kirsten Bernthal Booth, head volleyball coach, finished her 15th season 317-160, and led Creighton to its fourth straight BIG EAST JOHN KONSTANTARAS regular-season and tournament titles, as well as a seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament, making her one of only four head coaches in Bluejay history to lead seven NCAA Tournament they know if they don’t think they’ll like that Zinni says people can work to develop teams. In 2016, she was VolleyballMag.com environment, this isn’t the place for them.” their self-confidence, sense of curiosity, self- National Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Coach Congruently, Zinni says he looks for five awareness, humility and ability to communi- of the Year and AVCA East Region Coach of primary qualities in his recruits: integrity, cate. And he highly prizes the continual act the Year. For the third time in four years, her honesty, competency, moral values and of learning. “When you stop learning, or have recruiting class has been named one of the commitment. He adds that it’s important to no interest anymore in learning, you start nation’s top 25 classes by PrepVolleyball.com. remember, “Everybody intellectually dying. The brain, similar to a Gen. Anthony Zinni, MS’15, retired you are privileged to muscle, needs to be continually worked out U.S. Marine Corps general, served all over lead is a story. Take and developed.” the world and has received a vast array of the time and interest Is it always obvious when one has reached military and civilian awards, including the to learn that story.” success? Zinni says merely achieving the mis- Purple Heart. Since retiring from active duty, Are there qualities sion is not enough. “It should be accomplished he has participated in presidential and State people can develop in in a moral and just manner, that brings a sense Department diplomatic missions. He is a themselves to be more of pride and accomplishment to your team, and published author and holds three master’s successful? contributes to the greater good.” degrees, including an MS in Negotiation and “You have to work “We don’t talk much about winning — we Conflict Resolution from Creighton, and is hard even when you talk about the process,” Booth says. “What steps pursuing his doctorate in interdisciplinary don’t want to,” Booth says. “We are fortunate do we need to take to be our best? If we take leadership, also at Creighton. to have a culture on the volleyball team where the right steps to be great, good things likely Booth and Zinni obviously have led quite this is the expectation, but we know we can will happen. And if they don’t, we can at least different types of teams. But in putting together never take good culture for granted and must look back with pride on the journey we took.” How do you winning units, they have similar approaches in work daily to cultivate it.” And what about failure? “Failure teaches the qualities they look for. At a basic level, success is simply being a us what does not work,” Zinni believes, but, he “They have to be gifted athletes to be on good person, Booth believes. “I know it sounds added, “More is to be learned from observing build a culture our radar,” says Booth. “However, if we know a trite, but live by the golden rule, treating success and understanding why it succeeded.” player has a bad attitude or low character, that others as you would like to be treated — and “Failure is part of everything we do in life,” of success? is a deal breaker, regardless of talent. that means people below, equal and above says Booth. “Those who understand this and BY CINDY MURPHY MCMAHON, BA’74 “We talk about playing for others and you in the pecking order. That can take you a use it as a driver to be better are the ones to selflessness during the recruiting process, so long way.” get ahead.”

17 DIALOGUE

This summer, a group of 33 Creighton trustees, trustees emeriti, senior leaders and friends of the University flew to Europe on a pilgrimage following in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. Spanning from his birthplace in Loyola to Here, more than 450 years after Ignatius died, There were several differences between our the rooms where he led his new order and ultimately we were celebrating Mass in the very room pilgrimage and Ignatius’, of course. Where we died, the pilgrimage provided a spiritual and reflective In the where Ignatius prayed, managed his growing had the luxury of transcontinental flights and journey through which the travelers became order in its early days, penned some 7,000 letters a bus to shuttle us from site to site, Ignatius intimately familiar with Creighton’s Jesuit roots. 2 Footsteps of to people around the world, and ultimately died. had walked the world from one chapter of his Lining the walls around our celebrant, life to the next. Without the benefit of flight or 1 Creighton President the Rev. Daniel S. car travel or even a symmetrical gait — one of St. Ignatius Hendrickson, SJ, were members of Creighton’s Ignatius’ legs was shorter than the other after Board of Trustees, a handful of Creighton he was badly injured as a soldier before his leadership, including Provost Tom Murray, conversion — Ignatius had, remarkably, covered BY JOHN DARWIN, BA’13 PhD, and other friends of the University, many thousands of miles over the course of his life in 3 5 ucked away next to a busy of whom have advised Creighton’s Board or search of his place in the world. side street in Rome is an served as members in the past. What everyone Where Ignatius’ spiritual pilgrimage had unassuming building, in this room had in common is that they had taken years, ours took just a week. He spent 4 Chiesa del Gesù, which, chosen to be there — to offer up their own time 11 months in the cave at Manresa writing the aside from the Jesuit IHS and resources in the interest of learning and Spiritual Exercises — we spent just an hour symbol above the door, growing closer to Creighton’s Catholic and celebrating Mass there. Ignatius walked shows few outward signs Jesuit roots. hundreds of miles in simple leather shoes with of the important history Our group didn’t go everywhere Ignatius little protection from the elements, while we contained within its walls. went throughout his life. He had, for example, covered only a few miles a day, all with the TAlthough ground wasn’t broken on the studied in Paris at the Sorbonne, and made comfort and convenience of modern footwear. Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, both of which And yet, despite all these differences, there’s no Jesuits, until 1568, that didn’t stop St. Ignatius we had to cut out of our itinerary due to time doubt that all of Creighton’s travelers gained of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, from setting constraints. Still, we saw many key sites. over the trip a similar sort of spiritual renewal up shop at a site next door. Ignatius had dreams On Monday, three days before visiting the and grace. of a mother church for his new order, but the room where he died, we visited the manor at At our final Mass at a chapel in St. Peter’s B I L B A O Jesuits wouldn’t have the money to start the the Loyola Shrine, where Ignatius was born and Basilica at the Vatican, Fr. Hendrickson in his 1 While Ignatius likely project until more than a decade after he died. grew up, before seeing a nearby chapel where homily called travelers to reflect and share a never visited Bilbao, Connected to the Gesù, accessible by a he prayed regularly, and a hospital where he single word that summarized our trip through this industrial city — separate door and a maze of plain white ministered to the sick. Throughout our journey, key sites from Ignatius’ life. Insightful, spiritual, home of a Guggenheim hallways, are a handful of modern offices and, we also visited sites such as the Benedictine impactful: Whatever the word shared, it was museum — provided a convenient importantly, several rooms where Ignatius Abbey of Montserrat, home of the Black clear that all of us were leaving the trip with a starting point for the MONTSERRAT spent the last decade or so of his life. It was Madonna before which Ignatius laid down his renewed perspective on life, and especially with pilgrimage. It’s home there, in the rooms of St. Ignatius, that I and 29 sword; the cave at Manresa, where he wrote the a renewed perspective on how best to serve 3 Here, just outside to Deusto Univeristy, Spiritual Exercises; and Our Lady of Pilar, a stop Creighton and live out the mission of Ignatius Barcelona, travelers others spent our first afternoon in Rome, having a Spanish Jesuit LOYOLA saw Our Lady of R O M E already visited a number of other important on Ignatius’ own pilgrimage. and the Jesuits. University similar in Montserrat — also 5 sites in Spain on our pilgrimage, a trip following size to Creighton, 2 St. Ignatius’ journey BARCELONA The final stop in our known as the Black travelers’ journey, as the footsteps of Ignatius and the early Jesuits. and the Casco Viejo, began in Loyola — as In his autobiography, Madonna — in front 4 where the Very Rev. did the journey of In Barcelona, well as in the life of St. The most important of the rooms of St. St. Ignatius refers to of which Ignatius Pedro Arrupe, SJ, 28th Creighton’s pilgrims. pilgrims visited the Ignatius, was Rome. Ignatius is striking in its simplicity. The not himself as “The Pilgrim.” laid down his sword On display at the rooms of superior general of the Born Iñigo López de stunning Sagrada Here, travelers visited quite perfectly rectangular room has a simple and vowed to live St. Ignatius are several of Society of Jesus, was Loyola in 1491, it was Família. Although sites like St. Paul The Pilgrim’s possessions, as a humble pilgrim. brick floor and is encased by off-white walls. born. here in Loyola that construction on the Outside the Walls, including an original copy Travelers also visited Large wooden beams support the ceiling, and of the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius was born, church began well where St. Ignatius nearby Manresa, after Ignatius’ death, the room is sparsely decorated with a painted several of his tunics and, baptized, grew up and took his vows after pictured here, a pair of home to the Cave of crucifix, a tapestry and a couple of paintings eventually converted he visited Barcelona the Jesuit order was simple leather shoes he St. Ignatius, where the wore throughout his after being wounded in several times and approved; the Church of Ignatius at various key moments of his life. saint spent 11 months travels. battle. Here, pilgrims was known to attend of St. Ignatius; and the Although this wasn’t the last day of our writing the Spiritual visited the Castle at Mass at Santa Maria rooms of St. Ignatius, pilgrimage — that would come with Mass in Exercises. the Loyola Shrine, del Mar, sometimes where Ignatius lived St. Peter’s and a meeting with the Very Rev. begging on its steps and eventually died. where Ignatius was Arturo Sosa, SJ, superior general of the Society born and raised. and at other locations around the city. of Jesus, a few days later — there was a certain poignancy to our visit to the rooms of Ignatius.

18 Creighton SUMMER 2018 19 ‘HE WANTED TO GO THERE. Forty years ago this November, more than 900 members of a cult led by American Jim Jones died in a mass murder-suicide of historic proportions at a South American jungle compound. It became known as the “Jonestown massacre.” HE WANTED TO SEE. Creighton alumnus and congressman Leo Ryan had been investigating the group, when he was fatally shot by Jonestown gunmen — precipitating Jones’ orders for his followers to drink poison-laced punch. HE WANTED TO HELP.’ This is Ryan’s story.

BY Adam Klinker

This photo of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, D-Calif., was taken in November 1978 in Georgetown, Guyana, by San Francisco Examiner photographer Greg Robinson before they flew to Jonestown, Guyana, on an investigative mission. Both 20 Creighton SUMMER 2018 PHOTO BY GREG ROBINSON/SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER VIA AP were gunned down and killed at Port Kaituma, Guyana. 21 By the fall of 1978, a steady stream of constitu- cultivated a reputation as a forward-thinking Omaha World-Herald founder Gilbert Hitchcock run at the State Assembly. It was a landslide. ents and neighbors were coming through the proponent of social justice. But the reputation during a portion of Hitchcock’s two terms as Ryan became the first Democrat to win a state doors and jamming up the phone lines of the didn’t matter to Ryan. He was going to go to a Nebraska U.S. senator. The elder Ryan also election in San Mateo County in more than a offices of California congressman Leo Ryan. Guyana to see for himself. taught Latin and Greek at Creighton after generation. Something was not right around the Bay With two degrees from Creighton University service in France during World War I. “ I think he was always proud of his Nebraska “That really kicked it off,” Erin says. “He was Area district Ryan represented. It started with and a career in public service that ran from During the Great Depression, the family a classic example of a person who always looked the Peoples Temple, a utopian, putatively reli- dusty schoolrooms in rural Nebraska to the moved frequently throughout the Midwest and out for the underserved. His signature line was gious movement and its charismatic leader, Jim ravaged streets of Watts in Los Angeles to the Eastern Seaboard, as his parents worked for roots, and he talked about his Creighton being a voice for the voiceless, and that’s what Jones, and it was spreading to the jungles of the ice floes off the Canadian coast, Ryan was a papers and government agencies in Chicago, he committed himself to do.” South American nation of Guyana, where Jones person of conviction and action. New York and Washington. When Ryan was 11, education as being foundational in his life.” From the outset, Ryan demonstrated he had been, for several years, compelling follow- When Ryan was killed by members of the his father died in Boston and his mother packed was a politician who could and would think PATRICIA RYAN ers of his movement to establish a socialist par- Peoples Temple cult, just outside Jonestown on him off to a series of boarding schools while she for himself. He was an early advocate for edu- adise far from the prying eyes of his adherents’ Nov. 18, 1978, he was, in the estimation of those served with the New Deal’s emergent Social cation reform and school vouchers, sometimes suspicious families and the U.S. government. who knew him, doing what he did best: discern- Security Administration and traveled abroad. to the aggravation of his fellow Democrats. He Ryan listened intently, compassionately, to ing truth, promoting justice, helping people. He “His childhood was rough,” says Erin played the part of skeptic in most floor debates stories from concerned loved ones who told was, in effect, living out the Creighton credo to Ryan, the youngest of Leo Ryan’s five children. and remained wary of certain state agencies tales of sons and daughters, husbands and the last full measure of devotion. “We never really had a chance to have those enrolled in the U.S. Navy’s V-12 officers’ train- His interest in politics was burgeoning, but and offices. wives, fathers and mothers, spirited away in conversations, but I think his childhood was ing program. He was assigned to submarine he was first and foremost an educator and, in “He was always very dubious about what the middle of the night. Some had not been eo Joseph Ryan Jr. was born in Lincoln, what made him so determined in his later duty and spent the final days of World WarII his daughters’ estimation, a Renaissance man. he was told,” says U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, who heard from in years. Nebraska, in 1925, the son of Leo Joseph life. I think it helped form him first as a great patrolling the Pacific. Honorably discharged “He loved music, drama, literature, art, gov- worked for Ryan’s Assembly re-election cam- Hearing the stories, Ryan convened meetings L Ryan Sr. and Autumn Mead Ryan. Both educator and later as a legislator.” in 1946, Ryan returned to Nebraska and, with ernment, politics, history,” Patricia Ryan says. paign in 1966, and now holds her own seat in with his fellow congressmen and the media. He of his parents were newspaper reporters, In 1943, Ryan graduated from Campion Jesuit the help of the G.I. Bill, enrolled at Creighton “He read incessantly. Some friends and I took Congress, representing a portion of Ryan’s old organized a fact-finding trip to Jonestown, the and his father had also served as an aide to High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and University, where he earned a Bachelor of a vacation to Gettysburg once and I remember district. community taking shape in Guyana around Arts degree in 1949 and a master’s degree he just couldn’t wait to get us out there and set “He had a healthy distrust for the bureau- Jones’ vision for a remote, agrarian paradise two years later, both in education. During his the scene. He narrated the whole battle for us. cracy. But that’s because he was a learned — a place Jones called “a model of socialism.” time at Creighton, Ryan taught and coached That was Dad.” man. He was a teacher and he was always in But now, in November 1978, some of the at Waterloo High School just west of Omaha. “He was a doer,” Erin Ryan says. “He had a that mode. He had to see for himself before he original organizers of the trip were backing out. After earning his graduate degree, gripe once with something the parks depart- could decide on it, before he could tell his con- For despite much of his anti-American rhetoric the 26-year-old Ryan took a position as ment was doing and, the next thing we know, stituents what was happening.” and the cultish overtones of his movement, superintendent of schools in the southeastern he’s on the parks commission. He identified Speier, who would become Ryan’s legisla- Jones was nevertheless an identifiable figure Nebraska community of Davenport, but he things he could do, places he could help. And tive aide when he was elected to Congress and in local, state, even national political circles. found the post confining and, in 1953, he then he went out and did.” would accompany him on the trip to Jonestown, He’d had meetings with Vice President Walter packed up his family and headed west to the From his parks commission appointment where she herself was wounded, says Ryan Mondale and first lady Rosalyn Carter. He’d Bay Area, where he got a job teaching English in 1955, Ryan springboarded into a city council would often point to his Creighton education welcomed California Gov. Jerry Brown to dinner. and civics at Capuchino High School in San seat a year later. He then ran for a seat in the as a motivator for his legislative style. He organized enough members of the Peoples Bruno, California. California State Assembly in 1958, but in the “He was very proud of being a Creighton Temple to help get George Moscone elected “I think he was always proud of his Nebraska heavily Republican stronghold that was the Bay alum,” she says. “It was a place that encouraged mayor of San Francisco. roots, and he talked about his Creighton edu- Area of the 1950s, he was narrowly defeated. investigation, that encouraged investigation on While Ryan remained insistent on making cation as being foundational in his life,” says In 1960, the nation elected a young, well- behalf of helping people and making the world the trip, many pointed to the fact that members Patricia Ryan, the last of Ryan’s children born spoken, Irish-American, Catholic Navy veteran a better place.” of the Peoples Temple had left for Jonestown in Nebraska, who now lives in California. “But to the presidency, and Leo Ryan had a new In the summer of 1965, Los Angeles was of their own volition. Others said Jones was a it also led him to wanting to see that his chil- political role model and a vision for where he’d convulsed by riots stemming from racial tension misunderstood pioneer in civil rights. He had dren had a diversity of experiences and had the like to take his own career in public service. between police and African-American residents benefits of seeing a world beyond Nebraska, and “Dad’s idol was John F. Kennedy,” Erin says. of the Watts neighborhood. For a week, Watts that’s what led him out here and, ultimately, into “He saw himself in JFK. He saw a different road burned and more than 30 people were killed. politics, especially politics as he practiced them.” forward in politics. That charisma that Kennedy In the aftermath, Ryan spent two weeks as In California, Ryan quickly earned notice exuded, Dad had that.” a substitute teacher in a high school in the While serving on the as a committed and compassionate educator, In January of 1961, Ryan accompanied the neighborhood, investigating the conditions South San Francisco City Council in the mid-1950s, dedicated to his students and to seeing justice Capuchino High School marching band to leading up to the riot. Leo Ryan, left, met his in the community. Within his first two years Washington, D.C., where it played in Kennedy’s The decision earned Ryan admiration idol, Sen. John F. Kennedy, right, who would become in the Bay Area, he was elected president of a inauguration parade. When he returned to in some circles, scorn in others. At least one Ryan’s political role local Democrat club and earned an appoint- South San Francisco, he assumed the mayor- challenger in Ryan’s 1966 re-election campaign model. ment to the South San Francisco Recreation alty, which was rotated among the city coun- said Ryan’s effort was a publicity stunt. Ryan Commission. cil, and in 1962, he decided he’d take another was unfazed by praise or criticism.

22 Creighton SUMMER 2018 PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN FAMILY 23 Leo Ryan is shown behind bars in a Folsom State Prison cell in February 1970, where he spent a week living as an inmate to learn needs for reform. life. That was hard on our family and I always Ryan was shot and killed at the airstrip with Both Erin and Patricia Ryan have become sensed that he felt that pain of being pulled in four others in the delegation. Speier was shot leaders in policymaking and the public inter- two directions.” five times and, with other wounded, waited est in their own right, spurred on by the mem- With Speier, a few members of the media nearly a full day for help. ory of their father. Erin, who earned a law and some concerned relatives of Jonestown Hearing this news, Jones commanded degree, works as a consultant for the California “He wanted your side of the story,” Erin residents, Ryan left Washington the morning of his followers to drink poison. As 909 people State Senate’s insurance committee. Patricia says. “It was unusual, even in that day, to have Nov. 14, 1978. The Ryan delegation was initially followed those orders, it became the single has spent 30 years in behavioral and mental a representative who was willing to take all denied access to Jonestown but, three days later, largest loss of civilian American life until the health advocacy, including 12 years as execu- sides of an argument into consideration and to Jones was informed that the congressman was Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. tive director of the County Behavioral Health actively seek people who disagreed with him, coming to the settlement, one way or another. “It was fundamental to his job,” says Directors Association of California. She also but that was what he took to be part of the job.” On Nov. 17, Ryan flew in to a small airstrip Speier. “He was dedicated to taking care of his served as volunteer president of the board of When Ryan became chair of an Assembly hacked out of the jungle and made his way to constituents and he was not at all reluctant to the Cult Awareness Network. committee aimed at prison reform, things got the community, which had become home to put himself on the line for that. He wanted to “Forty years later, it’s still difficult for even more unusual. about 1,000 people. go there. He wanted to see. He wanted to help.” us, but I can say that I’m proud he was my Patricia and Erin Ryan recall their mother Things initially seemed to go well. At the In 1983, Ryan was posthumously awarded dad,” Erin says. “I’m proud he did what he waking them and their three siblings early one same time, several people passed notes to the the Congressional Gold Medal in a bill signed did and that he is being remembered as morning in 1970, putting them in nice clothes Ryan delegation, saying they wished to leave by President Ronald Reagan. In 2017, he was someone who led a life dedicated to the and setting out in the family car for Folsom Jonestown, and the congressman promised he’d honored, along with former U.S. Rep. Gabby public good.” State Prison. Their father had been away for see anyone wanting to return home could go. Giffords of Arizona, survivor of a 2011 assassina- “He was a social justice warrior,” Patricia a couple of days but, as a state legislator, the Ryan and Speier, with two other members of tion attempt, with the naming of the Gabrielle says. “And I’ve always believed his Creighton, family had grown used to his long absences. the delegation, stayed the night in Jonestown. Giffords-Leo J. Ryan Democratic Cloakroom at Jesuit education gave him the foundation

Now, he was spending seven days in the prison ASSOCIATED PRESS Early the next morning, on Nov. 18, after helping the House of Representatives. for all of his work in public life.” to research conditions for inmates. Just as in load those Peoples Temple members wanting to his teaching in Watts, Ryan had decided to leave onto a truck, Ryan said he’d likely deliver see conditions firsthand and had asked to be a mostly positive report on Jonestown. arrested, charged and sentenced to Folsom, The congressman was one of the last to leave “ It was fundamental to his job. He was where he received the standard-issue haircut, for him and it had a profound impact on his life letter, Erin says, the lawyer recites a litany on the Jonestown, staying behind to talk with anyone was strip-searched and had his mugshot taken. from that point on.” supposed persecution of Jones by the American who wanted to make a statement or who “Like Jonestown, it was another situation Ryan was elected to Congress in 1972 and government and advises Ryan against making needed his help. By the late afternoon, however, dedicated to taking care of his constituents where people tried to dissuade him and told took to Washington the same inquisitive spirit the trip to Guyana. the situation, along with Jones’ stability, had him that he was absolutely not going to do it,” he’d honed in Sacramento. From the beginning, “Dad’s response was exactly what you’d deteriorated. Convinced Ryan, who was now and he was not at all reluctant to put Erin says. “But they weren’t going to dissuade Ryan proved a formidable presence in the expect,” Erin says. “Everyone else who had leaving for the airstrip, was at the vanguard him from going to prison any more than they House. In his first term, he stood toe to toe signed up to go on this trip begged off. But Dad of a government conspiracy to violently shut himself on the line for that.” could stop him from going to Jonestown. with the CIA while insisting on Congressional was coming. He told Mark Lane, ‘I just want to down his jungle experiment, Jones ordered a “I was in sixth grade and I had to go visit oversight on the agency’s operations. He talk. I want to hear your side of the story.’ But in group of cult members to kill the congressman CONGRESSWOMAN JACKIE SPEIER my dad in prison. The interesting thing about also went to Newfoundland on a fact-finding the paranoid, drugged-out world of Jim Jones’ and all those attempting to leave. it, though, was that Dad developed really close mission about the seal hunt and became an early mind, this was a threat. If Jim Jones had known relationships with the men he met there.” legislative proponent of environmentalism and what my father was about, had seen how he’d When Ryan left the prison after a seven- an embryonic organization called Greenpeace. gone on similar missions, I think it might’ve day stay, inmates on death row gave him a gift: “He was only in Congress six years,” Speier been different.” The airplane that carried California a chessboard made of cigarette papers and says. “Look what he did in those six years. What The night before he left for Jonestown, as congressman Leo Ryan toothpaste. The board had been a cherished might he have done with more time? Can you the lone elected official who would go and meet sits on a runway on Nov. 18, 1978, in Port Kaituma, item among the inmates, who played the game even imagine? We live in a better world because with Jones and the members of the Peoples Guyana, after Ryan by shouting out their moves between cells. of things Leo Ryan did. I wonder what more Temple, Ryan had dinner with Erin, who was was shot and killed by members of Jim Jones’ Ryan was quoted in news reports likening the there could have been.” living in Washington and attending Georgetown Peoples Temple cult. prison system to a zoo, saying: “Most people University. don’t realize that when a man goes behind those hortly before speaking to Creighton “He was tired and he was recovering from granite walls, he’s still a human being.” magazine for this story, Erin Ryan a cold,” Erin remembers. “It was just after the “It was his way of showing us what public S received two briefcases from the FBI election in 1978 and he always had a cold after service sometimes looks like,” Patricia says, that had been in storage since her father was every election. I didn’t really know anything “that you go to such lengths to get the real, killed in Guyana. much about why he was going or how dangerous unvarnished story. Right after he came out, he One of the briefcases contained pieces of it was. I was just happy to have my dad over was so emotionally affected by the experience, correspondence between her father and one for dinner. It’s something that didn’t happen he didn’t talk for several days. It was traumatic of Jim Jones’ attorneys, Mark Lane. In Lane’s a lot. He was a busy man; he was larger than

24 Creighton SUMMER 2018 DAVID HUME KENNERLY/GETTY IMAGES 25 ‘Forever Grateful’ BY AMANDA BRANDT, BA’14 Former students fondly remember Creighton’s longest-serving president

arbara Vitzthum Melbourne, BA’85, sat would be helping her and others for generations four years at Creighton is to think for yourself, on the steps outside the then-named to come. then we have done our job.” Administration Building, crying. In her “It all kind of clicked together after Fr. “He’s the reason I chose Creighton,” says hand was a letter, outlining a difficult Morrison explained it to me,” Melbourne says Ogren, who today works as a paralegal in financial reality. Despite working two today, more than 30 years later. Golden, Colorado. jobs and having her parents chip in as Stories of Fr. Morrison’s kindness, particu- Melbourne calls her encounter with Fr. Bmuch as they were able, she saw no way she larly toward students, were shared widely on Morrison on the steps of the administration could continue to afford tuition. social media following the news of his death on building “truly life-changing.” At that moment, the Rev. Michael Morrison, May 24 at the age of 81. Thanks to his kindness, she was able to stay SJ, the 22nd president of Creighton University, Fr. Morrison was Creighton’s longest-serving at Creighton, and graduated with a philosophy walked outside for a smoke break and president, holding the position for 19 years, from degree. After attending law school, she worked approached the downhearted student. 1981 to 2000. At the time of his retirement in in Creighton’s Development Office, and traveled “This doesn’t look good,” Melbourne remem- 2000, it is estimated he had signed nearly 45 with Fr. Morrison to alumni events around the bers Fr. Morrison telling her. percent of all diplomas issued by Creighton. country. Today, Melbourne is the vice chancellor He sat down next to the sophomore and rec- A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Fr. of institutional advancement at Palmer College ognized her as a student Phonathon worker. Morrison was a member of the Society of Jesus of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Fr. Morrison asked her what was wrong, and for 62 years, and a priest for nearly 50 years. After Melbourne and her parents, Ed, BS’58, and what she was studying. Melbourne shared her receiving a PhD in history, Fr. Morrison taught Patricia (Peterson) Vitzthum — grateful for their struggles with paying tuition, and told him she at Marquette University in Milwaukee before own college experiences and the scholarship was studying philosophy with the ultimate goal coming to Creighton in 1977, where he taught assistance Melbourne received — created a of becoming a lawyer. history and served as academic vice president. planned gift that will ultimately endow a schol- “Why don’t you come back in an hour?” Fr. As president, Fr. Morrison was known for sit- arship fund in her parents’ memory and allow Morrison told her, as he prepared to head back ting outside St. John’s Church and chatting with others to experience a Creighton education. inside. “I’m probably going to want another students as they passed by along the campus “I think back to (Fr. Mike),” Melbourne says. smoke. I’ll meet you right here.” mall. He would listen, give advice, offer encour- “He really inspired me to keep doing this. I Wondering what else the president could agement and simply be present, meeting stu- remain forever grateful for his kindness, car- possibly have to say to her, Melbourne found dents where they were. ing and wisdom.” her way back to the steps an hour later. Under his direction, Creighton added 10 In reflecting on his role as president, Fr. Fr. Morrison soon joined her, holding a dif- new buildings to campus, including the V.J. Morrison once wrote: “How do I measure suc- ferent letter. “I found this scholarship on my and Angela Skutt Student Center, the Beirne cess? It can be done in terms of money raised, desk and it’s for pre-law students,” he told her. Research Tower and the Lied Education Center buildings built, budgets balanced, but they are “I think the Ahmanson family would be really, for the Arts; established the nation’s first doc- superficial indicators. The real indicators are really happy to know you want to stay here.” toral program in physical therapy and clinical what happens to students — the education they He went on to tell Melbourne that she doctoral program in occupational therapy; and receive, the experiences they have. … Each indi- was part of the Creighton family, and always grew the endowment from less than $16 million vidual student whose life has been influenced would be. to more than $210 million. by Jesuit education is a success, for the student Melbourne, stunned at her sudden reversal of While Fr. Morrison received numerous and for us.” fortune, said “Fr. Mike” went on to explain how awards and accolades, most important to him the scholarship was funded by the Ahmanson was the success of each student. Charmaine family and their foundation. He also explained Sassano Ogren, BSRT’84, remembers Fr. Memorial Mass: A special liturgy of gratitude why her role as a Phonathon fundraiser for Morrison visiting her high school in Wheat for the life of Fr. Morrison will be celebrated Creighton mattered to the University and its Ridge, Colorado, while she was a student there, during Reunion Weekend, with a 5 p.m. Mass students, and how this endowed scholarship and telling her, “If the only thing you learn in at St. John’s Church on Sept. 15.

MEMORIAL GIFTS For more information on making a gift in memory of Fr. Morrison, please visit creighton.edu/Morrison.

26 Creighton SUMMER 2018 ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM CRUFT 27 Investing in plenty of time for contemplative strolls with Deacon Tim McNeill, Omaha Archdiocese might not be Catholic today if not for his wife two lakes, trails and a Stations of the Cross chancellor. “There is painstaking care to wrap of 55 years, Marlene, and for Creighton. walk that spans roughly 2,500 feet (the length all the grounds in beauty, and that makes your Of the former, he says, “it’s a little easier to Jesus is said to have walked in Jerusalem). The heart and mind ascend to God.” be Catholic when you have somebody helping 14-station masterpiece features 60 7-foot-tall The Rev. Andy Alexander, SJ, director of you as you’re going through those growing-up figures designed by sculptors from across Creighton’s Collaborative Ministry Office, changes.” the country and a 140-foot pedestrian bridge cited the project’s first-rate quality, right down As for Creighton, he says the University through the trees. to the hand-carved art on the chap- helped him “get down to the very bare “It’s been a huge job,” says el’s kneelers. essentials of what really encompassed the Ricketts, pointing out that it “This will certainly be one of the Catholic religion. I had several Jesuits who involved 45 subcontractors. The nicest retreat centers I’m aware of,” took a personal interest in me and gave me son of a carpenter, Ricketts received Fr. Alexander says. the time to talk about these issues and really weekly construction updates from He also calls the Stations of the organized my thought process relative to what BY ANTHONY FLOTT project manager Kurt Halvorson, Cross “a powerful blessing for the my religion was, which made me appreciate including video taken by drones. people of this area” and praises my Catholicism all the more. Had that not faith Ricketts used two principles Ricketts’ long-term vision. happened, I probably would have dropped the to guide the project. First was to “I heard him talking to a group subject and gradually wandered away from arty Eichinger’s hands “I expected insight, but what I actually for each retreatant, a retreat center building, create a quiet environment “really of people about the trees that they religion, probably altogether. Maybe I’d just go are a gift from God. received moved me and I found a new courtyard and chapel. Guests park in an under- needed for contemplation and meditation.” were planting. He said, just as an offhand to Mass on Easter and Christmas.” For decades, the relationship with God,” Eichinger wrote in a ground garage, then take a shuttle to the main Second, he “wanted these facilities to last for comment, ‘It’s going to be really beautiful in Retreats, he says, have been essential to celebrated Portland, thank-you letter to Ricketts. “I decided to take campus. Different architects designed each of hundreds of years” and with a timeless design. about 200 years.’” avoiding any drift away from his faith. He cites Oregon, sculptor has Communion for the first time in 50 years. It the lodges and the retreat house. The chapel “I think we have achieved both,” Ricketts two retreat experiences — one good, one bad — taken lifeless lumps of saved me.” was designed by Leo A Daly — the 100-year-old, says. “The degree of satisfaction I have and the PASSION PROJECT with helping him see their value. clay and shaped them into exquisite works of internationally recognized Omaha firm that joy I have in seeing it really come to fruition What’s driving Ricketts — according to Forbes, The first, while he was in high school in Mart, giving form to “the eternal human pursuit was founded by 1911 Creighton graduate Leo from the dream I had 20 years ago is really the 388th richest person in the United States Nebraska City, didn’t go so well. “It was terrible,” GOD GLORIFIED of meaning, happiness and growth.” It’s not the first thank-you letter Ricketts has A. Daly Sr. The firm also designed St. Margaret quite exciting and satisfying to me.” last year with a fortune worth an estimated he says. “I told myself I’ll never go again. The But at the same time, Eichinger’s faith life received from a retreatant — and it most cer- Mary Church, which Ricketts attends when in Those who have seen Cloisters on the Platte $2 billion — to spend millions of dollars just to priest was overbearing and dictatorial and had morphed into something without form. tainly will not be the last. The magnificent Omaha (he lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming). gush with praise. get people to attend a retreat? demanding. Things as a young man I revolted Something nebulous. Cloisters on the Platte opened in July, offering The grounds — some of which once was “The first impression when you get on the A lifelong Catholic, Ricketts maintained his against. I said to myself, ‘A retreat is not Faith, “didn’t seem to fit into my contem- St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises for home to a ski resort — will offer retreatants grounds is that God is being glorified,” says faith while building Ameritrade, but says he something good.’” porary worldview,” said the artist, who aban- up to 80 retreatants on 47 retreat weekends doned his Lutheran heritage at 16 years old. each year. “The Church was causing more problems than I It’s a deeply personal project that has the felt it was solving in our culture. I never let go of self-made billionaire helping others invest in God or a moral structure inspired by the Bible; their relationship with God to amass spiritual I just didn’t see a way to embrace religion that riches. didn’t exclude too many other souls.” The 1968 Creighton graduate (BA, econom- But then Joe Ricketts stepped into his life. ics) and co-founder of TD Ameritrade con- With an invitation. structed the multi-million dollar secluded Ricketts had commissioned Eichinger to retreat center amid 936 acres of rolling hills sculpt two Stations of the Cross for his Cloisters hugging the Platte River between Omaha and on the Platte retreat center. The artist threw Lincoln. Construction lasted three years and himself into a deeper understanding of how Ricketts footed the entire bill (the cost has not retreatants would experience the Stations. He been disclosed). He only asks retreatants for a read the Bible. He studied the history of Jesus’ goodwill donation. time. He explored relevant artwork. Cloisters on the Platte becomes the 28th But ... “I still didn’t get the retreat.” Jesuit retreat center in the United States, but So he went on one himself — and something the first built since the 1940s. It features guest new in his life began to take shape. lodges with private bedrooms and bathrooms

A view of the Cloisters on the Platte from above shows the chapel on the left and the retreat center on the right. A Statue of the Risen Christ, sculpted by Lynn Kircher of Jaroso, Colorado, is located in the chapel courtyard.

28 Creighton SUMMER 2018 29 That changed in 1987 when, at the urging of Creighton’s the Rev. Don Doll, SJ, he attended a retreat at Demontreville in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. “I went with a great deal of apprehension,” he says. “I found out it was just what I needed.” He has attended at least 14 retreats at Demontreville since — and has been thinking of how to get others to do the same. Fr. Alexander, who has known Ricketts for more than 20 years, recalls giving a retreat for Ricketts and his Ameritrade leadership team long ago at Creighton’s retreat house in Griswold, Iowa. Ricketts is so passionate about Cloisters on the Platte that he made personal pitches about it before and after Masses at parishes throughout Omaha and to groups like the Serra Club and That Man Is You. That helped get a core of retreatants who began making Ignatian retreats at the St. Benedict Center in Schuyler, Nebraska, and at Creighton’s center in Griswold. An Eye for Detail Ricketts also provides voice-overs for Sculptors and artists Cloisters on the Platte videos and, most recently, from across the country can be heard on radio commercials hawking designed and produced Cloisters on the Platte Bread (the first of 10 to statues and other 15 Cloisters-branded products whose sales will artistic pieces displayed support the Cloisters on the Platte Foundation). throughout the Cloisters on the Platte property. “Ignatius, from the very beginning, gave the Pictured above, a Verdin Spiritual Exercises to people whom he expected Bell craftsman cleans to share them with other people, whom he excess casting materials expected to have their lives transformed and from the chapel bell. for them to make a difference in the world,” Pictured at right is Fr. Alexander says. “This retreat house is an station No. 2 of the Stations of the Cross, example of somebody who was touched by “Jesus Takes Up His the Spiritual Exercises and decided to make a Jesuits the Revs. Tom Shanahan, SJ, and Richard Fr. Alexander agrees. When trying to and have a conversion experience and have this Cross,” sculpted by the difference. And it’s going to be a difference that Hauser, SJ, (who died in April 2018) for a video schedule an eight-day retreat for himself life-changing encounter with Jesus, they’re George Lundeen Studio will carry on for generations. the Cloisters created about St. Ignatius and his this summer, he found most places already going to go back to their neighborhood or in Loveland, Colorado. “In many ways, it continues the mission of Spiritual Exercises. were booked. He also points to the success of workplace, to their parishes and they’re going Littleton Alston, Creighton University in a way that Ignatius Other Creighton priests will be among those Creighton’s Online Ministries website and its to share that experience. And the experience associate professor of sculpture at Creighton, would have loved. Not that we Jesuits did it, but who direct the 47 retreat weekends each year. daily reflections. Last year, he says, it had 70 is going to be rooted in their persons. They’re created a 10-foot statue that it was one of our alums who did it to share “We have had a wonderful response from Jesuit million hits from 200 countries. “That tells me going to go back and share about the person of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the experience of what this Ignatian mission retreat directors that are in North America,” people are hungry and that they appreciate they just met who changed their life, and that’s located just inside the was about.” Ricketts says. “That was a big point of anxiety this spirituality, which is particularly helpful evangelization. entrance of the Cloisters, when we first started. We didn’t know how because Ignatius was about helping people find “Wait until we see what happens in welcoming visitors and successful we may or may not be. We’ve been intimacy with God in their everyday life. He 200 years.” reminding them that they CREIGHTON IMPACT will be embarking on an Creighton, though, was not without influence on very successful.” In addition, retired and semi- called it ‘becoming contemplatives in action,’ But change already is evident. Just ask Ignatian retreat. the project. The Rev. Jim Clifton, SJ, a Creighton retired diocesan priests will help with Masses, and I think that kind of spirituality is really retreatants who have written their thanks to Jesuit and a close friend of Ricketts, was among hear confessions and provide individual appropriate for our very, very busy lives today.” Ricketts — like artist Eichinger. those who early on encouraged Ricketts to build spiritual direction. “I originally considered this exercise to Cloisters. And Ricketts says Fr. Alexander was The need to have extra priests on hand FORMING LIVES be research in order to understand what a the project’s go-to source “whenever I have a testifies to the popularity of retreats. Ricketts Asked what gift by someone in the Omaha serious retreatant would feel when they walked question with regard to some spiritual aspect anticipates a full house every retreat weekend Archdiocese compares to Ricketts’ Cloisters through the Stations,” Eichinger says. “I did and how to handle that.” and says Cloisters soon will have a waiting list. on the Platte, McNeil says, “Nothing.” not expect to have a personal enlightenment Fr. Alexander, who is on the project’s board “There’s a great degree of interest in this type of “Because all this is rooted and grounded into my understanding of God and my place of directors, also was joined by fellow Creighton spiritual exercises in the marketplace,” he says. in prayer,” McNeil says. “Those people who go in creation.”

30 Creighton SUMMER 2018 PHOTOGRAPHY BY OMAHA WORLD -HERALD AND COURTESY OF CLOISTERS ON THE PLATTE 31 Spelling it Out The University opened on Sept. 2, 1878, with five Jesuits, two laypeople, one college and a student body numbering moments 120. Today, the University has nine colleges and schools and educates more than 8,600 students. More than 70,000 milestones alumni are currently living, working and serving across the world. At right: This momentum well-manicured shrubbery BY Cindy Murphy McMahon, BA’74 welcomed students, faculty and visitors to campus in 1889.

Over its 140 years, countless innovations and successes have been achieved by Creighton’s students, faculty and alumni. On these pages we pay tribute to historical milestones, moments in time and little-known facts that have brought Creighton University to where it is today. THE SCHOOL THAT I LOVE BEST And, as we celebrate the past that propels us into the “The School that I Love Best” Oh, good old hills of Omaha, was penned in 1920 by student On thy high summits rise future, we set our sights on Creighton 150. The proudest dwelling of the West Stephen Spitznagle, BA’24, To meet the stranger’s eyes. who later become editor of But of all the hills of Omaha, the Creightonian. One’s higher than the rest, A BRIEF HISTORY And on its grass-grown summit is Edward and Mary Lucretia Creighton, along with Edward’s brother John, Photo of the main campus building, The school that I love best. now Creighton Hall, 1910 settled in Omaha in the mid-1850s. John married Mary Lucretia’s sister Sarah Emily Wareham in 1868 and the four are considered the founders of O Creighton! Dear old Creighton! Creighton University. Edward’s work with the transcontinental telegraph and It fills us with delight, freighting, ranching, railroading and banking became a major force in the To know that you’ll be watching city’s economic development. The two brothers were widely known for their Through each long day and night. business enterprises, and the two couples were also widely regarded for their philanthropy. She views the close Missouri’s shore And guards the city’s marts, Edward died in 1874 and his widow included $100,000 in her will to Where soon her youthful sons will go establish Creighton College in memory of her husband. Mary Lucretia died To play their various parts. in 1876 and her executors, who included her brother-in-law John, purchased And as with loving tenderness 6.2 acres of land at the northwest corner of what is currently 24th and She gazes from her height, California streets. They began to build a school and transferred the land, The work of each is watched with care, building and additional securities to Bishop James O’Connor of Omaha. Through each long day and night. The bishop then asked the Jesuits to operate the school, which opened on Sept. 2, 1878. Clockwise from top left: Edward, John, Mary Lucretia and Sarah Emily Creighton.

32 Creighton SUMMER 2018 DRAWING A CROWD The first official men’s basketball game, a 30-17 win over Peru State in 1917, was played in front of 200 fans in the newly constructed University Gym (now the Vinardi Center). Today, the men’s team averages 17,000 fans per home game at the CenturyLink Center Omaha (soon to be CHI Health Center Omaha) FOOTBALL — the fifth highest attendance in the country. REAL AND IMAGINED Once upon a time, there was a Creighton football team, and that team played its last game Nov. 21, 1942, a 33-19 TITLES AND MORE loss to Tulsa University. The season ended before a final Creighton’s eight women’s and six game could be played, due to World War II, and Creighton men’s teams have won 58 regular- never again picked up the pigskin. season conference titles and 51 league However, that was not the end of Spiritual Cornerstone tournament titles, and competed in Creighton football, as a mythical team in On June 26, 1887, the cornerstone was laid for St. John’s Church, and 4,000 86 NCAA tournaments. Creighton the 1980s gained national attention. The student-athletes also have excelled in charade began in 1983 when journalism spectators gathered. The bishop mistakenly dedicated the church to the wrong the classroom. Since the NCAA began student and Creightonian writer Bob St. John — St. John-Before-the-Latin-Gate instead of St. John the Baptist, the the Academic Progress Report in McDonald, BA’84, decided to entertain the patron saint of John Creighton. It wasn’t until 1977 that St. John’s, the spiritual 2004, each of Creighton’s teams has campus with the exploits of the imaginary been honored at least once. team, which always won and went on to center of Creighton University, got its steeple. WEAVER DAVE a national title. The campus newspaper series caught the attention of local and national media outlets, culminating in a visit by CBS News in 1983 to film a game hastily pulled together by McDonald. Creighton President the Rev. Michael G. SURPRISE PARTY Morrison, SJ, who was also the coach, ran Did you know a presidential candidate launched her THE for a touchdown and McDonald said later, national campaign at Creighton? On May 17, 1940, “Of course no one was going to tackle comedian Gracie Allen, accompanied by her equally BLUEJAYS, Fr. Morrison.” famous husband, George Burns, announced her run for the U.S. presidency before thousands of cheering Creighton AND BILLY, Creighton vs. West Virginia, 1938 fans. During an earlier speech at the Washington Press Club, she had said she would accept her party’s OVER TIME nomination — she was representing the Surprise Party At the start, Creighton teams — at a convention in had no official name. They Omaha May 15-18, were the “White and Blue” or, following a whistle-stop because of Creighton’s location train tour that began in atop a bluff, the “Hilltoppers.” First Dormies Hollywood. At Creighton, In late 1923, at the request of the Creighton students got their first opportunity she told the crowd that University’s Athletics Board and to live on campus in 1906 when St. John’s she would nominate no Alumni Association, the Omaha vice president, since she Bee newspaper held a naming Hall was built at 25th and California streets. would tolerate no vice in contest and, after reviewing 200 entries, the Athletics Board picked “Bluejays” It consisted of 66 single rooms and five her administration, and because the bird matched the school colors. double rooms. Today, Creighton has nine she urged all Americans Joe Murphy, BSC’31, a Creighton journalism professor and head of public relations, to be proud of the in 1941 decided the mascot looked too much like a blue jay in a bird guide. He residence halls, including Davis Square and national debt because wanted something feistier and commissioned an artist. Murphy’s son, retired Col. Opus Hall, which feature apartment-style it was the biggest in the John Murphy, BS’58, later recalled his father saying he “wanted Billy to look as if he living for upper-class students. world. President Franklin had just eaten something sour.” Roosevelt was safely Murphy’s design remained largely intact for 72 years with only minor revisions. CBS PHOTO ARCHIVE CBS PHOTO Agnew Hall, 1958 re-elected. In 2013, with the move to the BIG EAST Conference, a new athletics brand and modernized Billy was unveiled.

34 Creighton SUMMER 2018 35 NAME THAT COLLEGE EDUCATION IN THE A UNIVERSITY “FOUNDRESS” In 2013, the Heider FIRST DEGREE In 1961, a transformational memorial gift from The Momentum College of Business The School of Pharmacy Mable L. Criss, honoring her late husband, Dr. C.C. became the first named and Health Professions Criss, MD’12, took health sciences education and school at the University likes to be first. It offered research programs at Creighton to a national level. Continues — recognizing the ethical the nation’s first entry- To honor the contribution, the Jesuits named Criss business leadership of level clinical doctorates a “foundress” of the University. The Creighton story is rife with the Heider family and in physical therapy innovators, pioneers, great thinkers – the generosity of Charles (1992) and occupational “Charlie” Heider, BSC’49, therapy (1999); the first MASTERING SPIRITUALITY those who dared to make a difference in HON’10, and his wife, online-based Doctor of In 1975, Creighton offered its first courses in the this world. As we look to the next decade Mary, HON’10. Pharmacy degree (2001); Master of Arts in Christian Spirituality program, and the first online-based which is the longest continual such program and the University’s 150th anniversary, Doctor of Occupational open to laity and clergy at a Catholic university that creative, can-do spirit prevails. Therapy program (2008). in the U.S. Momentum, optimism and an abiding commitment to excellence — rooted in our Jesuit, Catholic mission — light our path. The future is now — moments and milestones are in the making. EVOLVING HEALTH CARE EDUCATION Creighton is at the forefront of interprofessional, Sandbags collaborative health care and is expanding its impact on health through its academic medical centers and clinical to the Rescue partnerships. In 2018, the College of Nursing joined the School of Medicine in providing education and care at When the Missouri River Creighton’s Phoenix campus. flooded its banks in 1952, Creighton students rushed A CAMPUS FOR THE FUTURE to the rescue. Even though The new School of Dentistry building is the latest of they were on Easter break, many campus improvements and innovations that have seen the University expand significantly. Creighton when the superintendent of also is committed to caring for the environment and buildings and grounds issued strengthening and developing partnerships with our North a radio appeal, hundreds of and South Omaha neighbors. students joined the sandbag brigades. GOING GLOBAL The Global Engagement Office is the hub of global education and service programs, with partnerships and programs throughout the world. The first Creighton students traveled to the Dominican Republic in 1972. Today, promising new efforts include the Creighton Global Initiative and Global Scholars Program. AT THE FOREFRONT EXPERTS ON CUBA DIVERSITY GOALS Creighton Jesuit the Rev. John Markoe, SJ, The School of Law secured a grant in Creighton’s Jesuit mission is lived out in offices, dedicated his life to fighting racial injustice 2005 from the United States Agency classrooms, clinics, chapels, residence halls and more. and, up until his death in 1967, advised for International Development Most recently, Creighton furthered that mission by (USAID) to study the resolution of friends, colleagues and students to “never hiring its first vice provost for Institutional Diversity and property claims of Cubans whose give an inch” in the struggle against Inclusion, Christopher Whitt, PhD. (Read more about him assets were nationalized after the racism. He helped galvanize the De Porres on Page 52.) 1959 revolution. Creighton law Club of Omaha, which, four years before professors and political science the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, professors teamed up, and their REIMAGINING THE LIBERAL ARTS launched a similar campaign against the resulting 280-page book in 2007 Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway was well-received, including at Creighton was founded on the bedrock of the liberal arts. Company. conferences and in testimony before The Kingfisher Institute for Liberal Arts and Professions Congress; their work was consulted will be a place of synergy for faculty and researchers, again in 2014 when the U.S. and with a goal of discovering ways in which liberal arts Cuba took steps to normalize and professional education can mutually reinforce and relations. strengthen each other.

36 Creighton SUMMER 2018 37 aryam Gbadamosi- That’s what Gbadamosi-Akindele did. Her conducting patient rounds with my attending Akindele, MD’12, has family was Muslim, but she had never deeply physicians.” found a home in Omaha explored her faith. She visited an Islamic prayer Gbadamosi-Akindele’s one-year tenure — and a special place in room in Kiewit Hall — and began praying. as chief resident piqued her interest in the her heart for Creighton “As I was reflecting — on this Jesuit, Catholic academic side of medicine and teaching. So University. campus — my faith as a Muslim was getting when a job opened up at the VA Medical Center The 33-year-old assistant professor in the stronger, because it was a sensitive period in my that included a Creighton teaching assignment, MSchool of Medicine and medical staff member life where I needed faith, or divine intervention,” she jumped at it. at the VA Medical Center in Omaha has traveled Gbadamosi-Akindele says. “I had this passion for teaching,” she says. a wending road, marked by perseverance, deter- She attended a nondenominational retreat “Plus I felt comfortable here. People knew mination and a deepening faith. through Creighton, and learned more about me here.” In the early 1990s, at about the age of 8, the University’s Jesuit traditions and values. In short, it had become home. Gbadamosi-Akindele emigrated with her family “It was perfect timing because it was merg- from Nigeria. They eventually settled in New ing with my development — developing a closer BEING A ROLE MODEL Jersey. Her dad became a successful internal relationship with my Creator,” Gbadamosi- REFLECTING ON HER JOURNEY, Gbadamosi- medicine physician, and her mom was a nurse. Akindele says. “My favorite Jesuit motto is Akindele takes a deep breath and smiles: “Here Gbadamosi-Akindele was almost expected ‘women and men for and with others.’ I’m I am, a post-baccalaureate medical student to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Her parents learning that this is what God wants us to do who is now a Creighton University School of told Maryam and her sister, Rakiat, that they — to serve others.” Medicine assistant professor.” Struggling to get into were to pursue “high-achieving careers, such Gbadamosi-Akindele successfully com- Now the mother of three (she had twins, a as law, engineering or medicine.” pleted the post-baccalaureate program, and boy and a girl, on Aug. 11, 2016), Gbadamosi- medical school, this “I was going to be the doctor,” Maryam says. was accepted into the Creighton School of Akindele is sharing the lessons she’s learned She attended the University of Maryland, Medicine in 2008. She got married her first year with others. To her medical residents and former emigrant earning a bachelor’s degree in biology in 2006. in medical school, and she and her husband, students, she poses a simple — but profound finds success – and Her sights were firmly set on medical school, Monsour, welcomed their first child, Rahmah — question: Why are you here? but her grades and score on the Medical College (which means “mercy” in Arabic), her second “If you don’t know why you’re here, you’re a deeper faith – at Admission Test (MCAT) did not measure up. year of medical school — two months before a lost,” Gbadamosi-Akindele says. “My ‘why’ is She was crushed. major exam. because I am a woman for and with others, and Creighton University. Gbadamosi-Akindele began looking for “I prayed, ‘God, don’t let me fail this exam,’” I am providing a service to my students and post-baccalaureate programs online that she says. She passed that test, and others, on my patients. Those are the people I serve. And BY Rick Davis, BA’88 could help her prepare for another attempt at her way to earning a medical degree in 2012. all for what? For the greater good and for the the admissions process, and stumbled across glory of my Creator. Creighton’s program. A PROFOUND MOMENT “As long as I’m serving others for the greater “I had never heard of Omaha, Nebraska,” WHEN IT CAME TIME TO CHOOSING a residency, good, that’s what drives me. And I think I she says with a laugh, but Creighton’s intensive Gbadamosi-Akindele felt comfortable staying learned that here at Creighton. That is a core program appealed to her. in Omaha. “I felt at home here,” she says. She Jesuit value.” At the time, students who maintained a entered the internal medicine residency at She also believes it’s important to be a role certain grade-point average and scored above Creighton, and during her third year was named model for the wider community — particularly a certain mark on the MCAT automatically were chief resident. as a black, Muslim, immigrant woman. accepted into Creighton’s medical school. “I “It was really one of the most profound Gbadamosi-Akindele recalls a general health said, ‘Sign me up!’” Gbadamosi-Akindele recalls. moments in my career,” Gbadamosi-Akindele talk she gave to a group of refugees in Lincoln, She was accepted to the program, and came says. “I really took on that leadership role Nebraska, as a medical student. to Omaha in 2007. personally. It was like, ‘Lift off!’ It gave me a “It was a sense of fulfillment to give back, “It was amazing,” she says now. “This is sense of purpose; I found my voice. to serve,” she says. “To them, I represented where the life change began.” “Before, I was like, ‘I’m going to be a doctor.’ something, ‘I’m an immigrant; this could be my Feeling Now I was like, ‘I’m really enjoying being a daughter.’ I represented the American dream. TURNING TO FAITH doctor. I’m loving this.’” “That was such an important event for me. AT CREIGHTON, GBADAMOSI-AKINDELE found a She completed her residency in 2015, and at The success is not just for me now. It represents community that would not only help strengthen the final banquet was named Chief Resident of what could come after.” her pre-med skills and training, but would the Year. She remembers taking her then 4-year- It’s a lesson she looks to share with her support her as she began a deeper faith journey. old daughter by the hand to go up with her to young children. Her message: “The program really challenged me, and I receive the award. “Find a career that’s fulfilling. Make sure felt like this was my last chance,” Gbadamosi- “This is as much hers as it is mine,” it’s meaningful to you. Make sure you are Akindele says. “When you’re faced with a Gbadamosi-Akindele says with a laugh. “On passionate about it. And be good at it; try to at Home challenge or adversity, often people turn to occasion, she would come to the hospital be the best at it. To me, that will launch you their faith.” with me and sit at the nursing station as I was into success.”

38 Creighton SUMMER 2018 WEAVER DAVE 39 REFLECTIONS Pushing the Limits Jen Edney, BA’05, is one of the most renowned water adventure photographers in the business. Her work has appeared in National Geographic magazine, which recently named her as one of “Nine Female Photographers Who Push The Limits.” She was one of 10 onboard reporters for the 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race. Edney, center, made this photo on the first leg of the trip from Alicante, Spain, to Lisbon, Portugal, last fall. The race ended in June in The Hague, Netherlands. For more information about the Volvo Ocean Race and its route around the world, visit volvooceanrace.com.

40 Creighton SUMMER 2018 41 ALUMNI NOTES

Send Us Your News Penned your long-awaited novel? Traveled around the world? Received that awesome promotion? Earned a prestigious honor? If so, we want to hear about it. Share your memories and milestones by emailing us at [email protected].

Dr. Robert L. Augustine, Organization, which serves small Bonnie M.J. Schriner, BA, Citation from the Creighton 54 BSChm, Livingston, New business entrepreneurs, and his 69 Denver, was the recipient University School of Pharmacy Jersey, professor emeritus of development of an undergraduate of the Lifetime Achievement and Health Professions for making chemistry and executive director and graduate marketing education Award presented by the Catholic a lasting contribution to his of the Center for Applied Catalysis program. Lawyers Guild of Colorado for profession, his community and at Seton Hall University in South outstanding lifetime contribution his alma mater. Barr has served at Sr. Grace Swift, BS’56, MA, Orange, New Jersey, recently had to religion, profession and country. Creighton as associate professor of Maple Mount, Kentucky, a new award named after him by 60 After graduating from Creighton, pharmacy practice, assistant dean is celebrating her 70th year of the Organic Reactions Catalysis Schriner earned her law degree in for alumni relations and associate religious life. Sr. Swift was an Society. The Robert Augustine 1973. She continues to practice law chaplain. elementary and high school KATHERINE MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY KATHERINE Early Achievement Award will be and is involved with canine search teacher in Kansas and Oklahoma Daniel E. Monnat, JD, IMPACT given every two years to a scientist and rescue and social justice from 1949 to 1965. She served Wichita, Kansas, of Monnat or engineer under 40 years issues. 76 as a history professor at Loyola & Spurrier, Chartered, was ranked old who has made significant University in New Orleans from John J. Kirby, DDS, by Chambers USA as one of contributions to the use of 1966 to 1998. She was elected to Hillsborough, California, Kansas’ top litigators in white- catalysis in organic reactions and 71 the Ursuline Council (1998-2002), was part of the seventh annual collar crime and government demonstrates great leadership ‘I’m Excited to be a Trailblazer’ and now cares for grapevines and medical mission to the Philippines investigations. Dr. Robert P. Ritter, potential in the field. As executive blackberries at the Motherhouse in February 2018. The mission was ARTS, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, director of the Center for Applied One year down at Creighton leaders in her hometown of Colorado Springs, challenge and problem-solving as a commu- in Maple Mount. organized by Mending Faces, a received the Outstanding Dental Catalysis, Augustine supervises Colorado, she knew business was her best nity,” Taylor says. nonprofit organization founded to Service Award from the Marquette and sophomore ALEX TAYLOR has collaborative research with Donald L. Cleveland, BA, repair cleft lips and palates in the University School of Dentistry in choice. She’s getting started by interning at the industry on issues involving the Boynton Beach, Florida, already made a splash in the 61 developing world. April 2018. He shared the award “My far-reaching goal is to run a company United Bank of Switzerland’s Colorado Springs use of catalysts in the synthesis of is leading an effort in Florida to Heider College of Business. The with his brothers and fellow someday,” Taylor says, with the intention of office in its wealth management department pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals ban assault rifles. Cleveland is Rev. William J. Fitzgerald, Marquette dental alumni Dr. finance and accounting major and biomass derivatives. In chairman of the Stop The Killing MA, Scottsdale, Arizona, becoming “a thoughtful, responsible and ethical this summer. 73 Charles Ritter and Dr. Thomas the 20 years since the center Committee, a group of concerned received the Pope Francis Award is a business research fellow, a leader in my community.” Outside the classroom, Taylor is a member Ritter. Florida citizens who have made from the Kino Border Initiative select group within the college It was that intention that garnered her the of the club soccer team, Alpha Kappa Psi, a was founded, it has partnered with nearly 40 national and the choice to speak up about gun (KBI). The award recognized his David L. Helling, BA, Lenexa, Suzanne and Walter Scott Fellows Scholarship, professional business fraternity, and Alpha that focuses on the improvement international companies and has control-related issues faced in the longtime support of KBI and as 77 Kansas, Kansas City Star of self and society. given to students who look to improve and lead Phi sorority. She is also minoring in Spanish, surpassed $7 million in contracts. U.S. almost daily. The committee is a member of the St. Vincent de editorial writer, earned a national their communities. “a good break for me from business.” petitioning the state of Florida to Paul Voice of the Poor Committee, editorial leadership award for Dr. Donald P. Kohns, BS, East “For me, it was a really great steppingstone “For me, knowing that I received that “I’m just excited to be a trailblazer for amend the state constitution and and coincided with his 60th his work involving Kansas City’s Grand Forks, Minnesota, 55 ban ownership of military-style anniversary of ordination. KBI handling of a contract for a new to where I wanted to go in the future,” Taylor scholarship, I have the responsibility to use it females in the business world,” Taylor says. earned the Professor Emeritus weapons by private individuals. is a binational organization that airport terminal. The American says, “with the relationships that I get to build to the best of my ability,” Taylor says. “Science and technology is definitely a busi- Award from the University of works in the area of migration and Society of News Editors will and the great opportunities as well.” Taylor looks at innovative leaders in society ness area that’s going to keep growing. I find North Dakota in Grand Forks for John G. Manesis, MD, is located in Nogales, Arizona, and present the 2018 Burl Osborne his service as the president of Fargo, North Dakota, has Originally, Taylor thought she would be today as inspiration to make that difference. it fascinating, the creativity, innovation and 62 Nogalas, Sonora, Mexico. Award for Editorial Leadership to the North Dakota Small Business published the book With Steadied an engineer, having always loved science “I want to do something that’s very innova- problem-solving that science and technology Helling in September. Administration SCORE (Senior Hands, a collection of his medical Dr. C. Curtis Barr, BSPha, Fort and math. But after talking to local business tive and creative. And to focus on exploration, brings out in people.” — BY EMILY RUST Corps of Retired Executives) and poems, and is available on 74 Calhoun, Nebraska, received Stephen W. Kay, JD, North ACE (Active Corps of Executives) Amazon. the Distinguished Alumni Service 78 Platte, Nebraska, was

42 Creighton SUMMER 2018 43 ALUMNI PROFILE Memorial Mass A Promise A special liturgy of gratitude for the life Fulfilled of the Rev. Michael G. Morrison, SJ, In 2001, DEANTHONY BOWDEN, will be celebrated BS’18, sat with his mother in during Reunion the office of then-head men’s Weekend basketball coach Dana Altman as Saturday, Sept. 15 his mother made a promise. 5 p.m. “She told Dana, ‘My son will graduate from St. John’s Church Creighton,’” Bowden says. Seventeen years later, Bowden has fulfilled his mother’s wish, graduating from Creighton’s College of Professional Studies in May. elected as a member of the board after 21 years of teaching at the Bowden was transferring from Jacksonville of directors of the Nebraska State University of Michigan School of College, a junior college in Texas, when he and his Left: Bowden meets with men’s Bar Foundation. Dentistry. basketball coach Greg McDermott during mother met with Altman. During his two seasons at commencement weekend in May when he David B. Fischer, JD, Alvo, Michael W. Meister, BA’83, Creighton (2001-2002, 2002-2003), Bowden played received his degree. Right: Bowden played for two seasons at Creighton, from 2001-2003. 80 Nebraska, sold Frontier 86 JD, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, alongside current NBA star Kyle Korver, BA’03, went Harley-Davidson in Lincoln, is the managing attorney of the to the NCAA Tournament twice, was named to the Nebraska, in March 2018 and Scottsbluff Legal Aid of Nebraska Missouri Valley Conference All-Defensive Team his “I usually had my best games against several training camps and played in the NBA basketball, Bowden made a call to Creighton’s retired as president and general office. counsel. Fischer established senior year, and played against a Northern Iowa Northern Iowa, against McDermott,” Bowden summer league for five years. His basketball College of Professional Studies and enrolled Brian T. Grogan, BS, St. Frontier Harley-Davidson in team that was coached by current Creighton coach says. “He was going to do whatever he had to do career then took him overseas — to east Asia online. Paul, Minnesota, was 1987 and was the recipient of 13 87 Greg McDermott. to take Kyle (Korver) out of the game. By taking and Canada — and to minor league teams in the Bowden already owned businesses and had elected to a three-year term as a Bar and Shield Awards given by Kyle out of the game, it freed up some of the U.S. After 14 years of professional basketball, a career as a high school basketball coach, so he member of the board of directors Harley-Davidson Motor Company of the law firm Moss & Barnett, other players.” Bowden was hired by a team in Canada as its didn’t necessarily need his degree, but, he says, for superior performance during A Professional Association, in His first season at Creighton, the Bluejays assistant general manager. But he realized he “I had to go back and get it for myself.” He also his 31 years of ownership and Minneapolis. Grogan serves as the advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 wanted something more. wanted to be a role model for the young athletes operation. firm’s president, chairs the firm’s seed and would face No. 5 seed Florida in the “I wanted to challenge myself and give he was now coaching. DeAnthony Bowden with Monica “Monnie” Markel communications and technology his nephew James and mother, first round of the Midwest Regional in Chicago. back to the community,” Bowden says. “Put “It made them respect me more knowing Golden, Colorado, Linda, after a Creighton game. 81 Biety, BA, practice areas, and is a member A native of Hammond, Indiana, it felt like a myself in a situation where I could benefit the that I stand by the motto that if you start was part of the seventh annual of the firm’s regulated industries, Linda was the reason Bowden wanted to finish his degree. home game to Bowden. Before the game started, younger kids.” something, you must finish,” Bowden says. medical mission to the Philippines business law, and mergers, in February 2018. The mission acquisitions and corporate finance Bowden and his teammates visited the statue He decided to return to Oklahoma, where In May, he walked across the stage at the was organized by Mending teams. of Michael Jordan outside the United Center for he had played professionally, to be a basketball CenturyLink Center Omaha and received Faces, a nonprofit organization a bit of inspiration. coach and athletic director at Lawton Christian his Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Katherine I. Funk, BSBA, founded to repair cleft lips and Bethesda, Maryland, Creighton rallied with a 10-2 run in the final School. business management and entrepreneurship palates in the developing world. 89 was part of the seventh annual two minutes to tie the game at the end of regu- “The good thing about coaching on a high with a minor in marketing. His family cheered Biety was part of the group that medical mission to the Philippines lation. The game was tied again after the first school level is you’re a mentor and kids look him on in the audience. founded Mending Faces. Gerard T. in February 2018. The mission overtime. A large Illinois crowd, coming to see up to you,” Bowden says. “It’s easier for kids He and his family toured the Championship Ortner Jr., DDS, Rancho Murieta, was organized by Mending California, participated with the the Illini in the next game, had joined Creighton to listen to me because of the success I had.” Center and met up with coach McDermott and Faces, a nonprofit organization Agape International Missions, an fans in cheering for the underdog Bluejays. While he was overseas playing profession- Patty Galas, longtime administrative assistant founded to repair cleft lips and organization aimed at reducing Then, with less than a second left in the second ally, Bowden received a call from teammate for the men’s basketball program. palates in the developing world. the rampant sex trafficking in overtime, Bowden’s teammate, Terrell Taylor, Larry House, BS’11, a fellow junior college trans- In Galas’ hands was the 2002-2003 men’s Rosemary Villanueva-Delaney, Cambodia. Ortner provided pro BA, San Antonio, is a district knocked down a three-pointer for a dramatic fer. House had returned to finish his degree. basketball media directory. She handed it to bono oral surgery to more than English as a Second Language Creighton win. “He said, ‘You need to finish. You need to get DeAnthony Jr., Bowden’s 10-year-old son, who 100 patients from March 12-15, (ESL) implementation specialist “Everyone in the arena was rooting for us,” this degree.’” Bowden told House that he didn’t loved seeing his father on the cover. 2018. at the San Antonio Independent Bowden says. “The place was so loud.” It would have the time then to dedicate to school. “He “I’m glad to be an alumnus,” Bowden Mary Ellen McLean, DDS, School District and is working be one of the last games Bowden’s mother said, ‘When you find time, I really want you to says. “Who wouldn’t want to be a Bluejay?” Onsted, Michigan, recently at various secondary schools. 85 attended before she died of cancer in 2006. go get (your degree).’ I said, ‘You know what, — BY EMILY RUST retired as clinical associate Dr. Michelle M. “Mimi” Wong, BS, professor emerita of dentistry Englewood, Colorado, was part With his NCAA eligibility up, Bowden went I’m going to do that.’” into the 2003 NBA draft. He went through So, once he retired from professional

44 Creighton SUMMER 2018 45 ALUMNI PROFILE of the seventh annual medical Amy Rezac Schnacker, BSOT, recently joined the Center on Dr. J. Michael Schneider, mission to the Philippines in 00 Amherst, Nebraska, was Budget and Policy Priorities, 16 MS, Encinitas, California, February 2018. The mission was accepted into and completed the a Washington think tank, as a retired from his neurosurgery But it’s what he’s accomplished since retiring organized by Mending Faces, a TBRI (Trust-Based Relational senior policy analyst and expert practice after nearly 30 years on state fiscal policy. He will lead and began full-time practice as a from coaching in 2015 that Komori thinks will nonprofit organization founded to Intervention) Practitioner repair cleft lips and palates in the Program in March 2018. TBRI is a nationwide initiative on racial consultant at Provider Resolutions Character First be his legacy. developing world. Wong is part of an attachment-based, trauma- equity and fiscal policy. in Encinitas. Schneider earned “That was just a springboard for everything the group that founded Mending informed intervention that is his medical degree and residency Nick J. Montague, JD, Omaha, I’m doing right now,” Komori says of his streak of in Southern California, and Former Bluejay tennis standout and 2014 Creighton Faces. designed to meet the complex has joined the Goosman Law titles, part of a national-record 25 straight state needs of vulnerable children who 13 his master’s degree in conflict Dr. Julie L. Brush, BS, Hilo, Firm in Omaha. Athletics Hall of Fame inductee RUSTY KOMORI, BA’91, championships won by the Punahou boys tennis have experienced abuse, neglect engagement and dispute Hawaii, has accepted the team at the time of his retirement. 95 and/or trauma. Marshall K. Schroeder, BA, resolution from Creighton. coached the boys varsity tennis teams at Punahou position of medical director at Denver, is a doctoral student Komori turned his coaching philosophy and 14 Courtney M. Batterson, BSEvS, Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat and Brian C. Bowman, JD, Omaha, in clinical psychology at the School in Honolulu to an unprecedented 22 Milpitas, California, was attitudes about success into a recently released Aloha Wellness Center in Hilo. 01 was promoted to the rank University of Denver. In August 17 promoted from her temporary book, Beyond the Lines. Writing the book was Dr. Brenda Nieslanik Kelly, BSChm, of colonel and assigned to the 2017, Schroeder was conferred consecutive Hawaii state championships. contract work at NASA’s Ames more than a two-year process for Komori, who North Mankato, Minnesota, position of state staff judge as an American Psychological was named provost and dean Research Center in San Jose, still holds the top spot on Creighton’s career advocate in the Iowa Air National Association-Minority Fellowship of the college at Gustavus Guard and assigned to Joint Force California, to a full-time assistant singles wins list, with 81. Program (APA-MFP) fellow. Adolphus College in St. Peter, Headquarters, Iowa National research scientist. The book came from Komori’s desire to help The APA-MFP awards minority Minnesota. Kelly will serve as Guard, in Johnston, Iowa. students for their work in the field a wider audience achieve their goals. the chief academic officer for the Dr. Ryan A. Altman, BSChm, of clinical psychology for their Komori was named head coach at Punahou institution. Reginald T. Morris, WEDDINGS Lawrence, Kansas, associate commitment to social justice by BA’87, MS, Kansas City, Missouri, 03 Jennifer R. Wooderson, in 1994, at the age of 24. Before leading his first professor of medicinal chemistry serving indigent/disadvantaged is the head boys basketball coach BS, and Brian Truta, Nov. practice, he came up with a general framework in the School of Pharmacy at the communities. Since attending the 05 at Grandview High School in 11, 2017, living in Overland Park, to structure his coaching style. The philosophy University of Kansas in Lawrence, University of Denver, Schroeder Grandview, Missouri. Morris Kansas. of “the Four Ps,” as he calls it — people, purpose, was the recipient of the 2018 Rho has worked with the LGBT led his team to the 2018 Class Chi Society Excellence in Teaching community, Native Hawaiians, Stephanie T. Righeimer, BA, process and performance — has stuck with him 4, Missouri Boys High School Award. Native Americans and other and John C. Krumsee, BSBA, through the years, both on and off the court. Championship. He received the 08 communities of low socioeconomic May 26, 2018, living in Chicago. “My first priority was to develop champion following awards this year: 2018 Gabriel E. Lapito, MBA, status. Schroeder also received athletes of character first, and great tennis USA Today’s Missouri High School 05 BSBA, Billings, Montana, the Second Annual Joseph Hovat Dr. Karen Heisler and Edward players second,” says Komori, who earned Basketball Coach of the Year; 2018 was named to the Forbes’ Best-in- Award presented by the APA-MFP. 12 M. Saito, PharmD, April 21, Outstanding Coach of the Year – State Wealth Advisors list for 2018. 2018, living in Hillsboro, Oregon. multiple coach of the year honors, including The award acknowledges students Kansas City Metro Area Referees several at the national level. “I feel like success Andrew C. Clark, BSBA, for their current work with Allegra L. Jacoby, JD, and and Officials; 2018 Kansas City Wichita, Kansas, recently minority populations. Schroeder Adam Koffler, Feb. 23, 2018, and winning are dependent on the values, Metro Coach of the Year/2018 07 14 purchased the Llywelyn’s Pub was selected as a recipient of living in Winter Garden, Florida. principles and discipline of the leader, and those Lombardi Coach of the Year; 2018 franchise of Kansas City, which the award for his work with his qualities he or she instills in the team.” Missouri Boys District 12 Coach Michelle S. Pequet, BSN’07, includes two stores: one in Native Hawaiian population as of the Year; and 2018 Kansas MD, and Michael R. Stetz, In the years since first formulating his Overland Park, Kansas, and one in well as continuing work with 15 City Suburban Conference Blue BSChm’07, MD’11, June 20, 2015, coaching philosophy, Komori has found it to Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Joshuah the Northern Arapaho tribe of Coach of the Year. Morris was the living in New Berlin, Wisconsin. be applicable to individuals in any number of C. Marshall, BA, Washington, D.C., Wyoming. Creighton men’s basketball team roles — from parents to teachers to CEOs. captain in 1985-1986 under coach “Everyone’s been involved on a team at some Tony Barone. point in time, whether it’s sports, debate club, Dr. Kevin T. Edward, BSPha, business,” Komori says. 96 Gilbert, Arizona, graduated In addition to the book, Komori has from the University of Colorado Leadership springs from within. developed a television show, also titled Beyond in May 2018 with a Doctor of The Lines, for ThinkTechHawaii.com. He also Pharmacy. He also received a works as a guest speaker and leadership Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine DO YOU HAVE consultant, in addition to continuing to teach in 2014 from Southwest College of tennis lessons. It’s a life that Komori says makes Naturopathic Medicine and Health WHAT IT TAKES? Sciences. Richard J. Hilger, BS’92, him excited to greet each day. MD, St. Paul, Minnesota, received “Every day I wake up and think, ‘What am the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Choose from more than 40 I going to do to today to help people, to inspire (SHM) national Award for Clinical graduate degrees and certificates. and motivate them to reach their maximum Excellence for Physicians in April potential?’” — BY AMANDA BRANDT, BA’14 2018. This honor was awarded out gradschool.creighton.edu/leadership of 16,000 SHM members and more than 60,000 practicing hospitalists Rusty Komori, BA’91, right, with nationwide. Hilger has been a longtime tennis student Ashley Ishimura. a senior in the Heider hospitalist with HealthPartners College of Business from Mililani, Regions Hospital in St. Paul for 16 Hawaii. Ishimura is a member years. of the Creighton women’s tennis team and played No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles in 2017-2018.

46 Creighton SUMMER 2018 47 BIRTHS Chase Johnson and Jamie Deloris Sullivan Drahota, Donald G. Galles, BS, Casper, MS, MD, Davenport, Iowa, May 09 H. Johnson, PharmD, York, 45 SJN, Omaha, March 10, 49 Wyoming, Feb. 7, 2018. 13, 2018. John P. Donahue Sr., BS, Jeffrey Baker and Rebecca Nebraska, a son, Reed James, Feb. 2018. Marianne Tourek Koller, ARTS, Julia M. Maly, BS, Omaha, June 7, Omaha, March 16, 2018. L. Wallace 98 Stepanek Baker, BS, Des 13, 2018. Aaron Schwieterman and Rochester, New York, April 26, 2018. Dr. Elias A. “Al” Nachman, BS, Hopkins, BS’48, JD, Omaha, May 16, Moines, Iowa, a son, Benjamin Danielle Ternes Schwieterman, DDS, 2018. Springfield, Missouri, Feb. 16, 2018. 2018. Robert J. Kelly, ARTS, Salem, Andrew, Jan. 27, 2018. Bozeman, Montana, a daughter, Robert D. Roby, BS, Burlingame, Oregon, June 3, 2018. Richard Marjorie Maly Lubeley, BA, Aubrey Claire, Jan. 21, 2018. California, May 13, 2018. L. Owens, MD, Lee’s Summit, Paul W. Wallace and McLean, Virginia, May 19, Emily 46 Missouri, Feb. 5, 2018. 04 Smith Wallace, PharmD, Paul J. Bures, BSBA’05, MBA, 2018. John A. “Jack” Dickinson, Tacoma, Washington, a daughter, and Kristy M. Bures, BSBA’06, BS, Omaha, April 28, 2018. Rita M. Brady, ARTS, Omaha, 11 William G. Baldwin, MD, 50 Lilia Carys, Feb. 20, 2018. La Vista, Nebraska, twins, Cecilia Francis J. Greise Sr., ARTS, Omaha, May 20, 2018. Daniel E. Wenatchee, Washington, 52 Marie and Serena Grace, May 14, 47 Feb. 9, 2018. Robert C. Greteman, McCarthy, ARTS, Omaha, May 8, John F. Glynn II and Shelley Feb. 15, 2018. Lois Roth Kemmy, 2018. BS, Carroll, Iowa, March 12, 2018. 2018. Owens Glynn, BSN, Phoenix, ARTS, Boerne, Texas, Feb. 7, 2018. 05 Jean Carmichael Kisicki, SJN, a son, Conor Patrick, March 26, Daniel S. Roccaforte, MD, Omaha, Donald S. Cairncross, BSPha, Omaha, Feb. 20, 2018. John R. 2018. Marcin Zuraw and Meghan May 15, 2018. Omaha, Feb. 17, 2018. Joseph DEATHS Neary, BS, Omaha, May 14, 2018. 53 Cook Zuraw, BA, Dallas, a daughter, R. Gasnick, BS, Omaha, Feb. 18, Clayton Byam, BA, Omaha, Robert W. Hoellwarth, MD, Kamila Marion, Feb. 11, 2018. Sr. M. Margareta Bertrand, 2018. Donald E. Green, MD, Las March 1, 2018. Vallejo, California, April 43 48 SSND, MSEdu, Mankato, Vegas, Feb. 7, 2018. Robert W. Brian L. Tiegs and Markeita 5, 2018. Rose Morton Redmond, 51 Bernice Decker Geis, SCN, Minnesota, Jan. 29, 2018. Dr. Robert Wallace, MD, Phoenix, March 9, Simon Tiegs, DPT, Lake BA, Denver, Feb. 2, 2018. Norma 06 Dallas, Feb. 21, 2018. W. Belknap, BS’49, MS, Omaha, 2018. Crystal, Minnesota, a daughter, 44 Pettinger Teeters, SJN, Owatonna, March 6, 2018. John J. Bishop Jr., Ryleigh Ann, March 30, 2018. Minnesota, Feb. 24, 2018. Toru Endo, DDS, Honolulu, 54 Jan. 12, 2018. Flavio F. Panigazzi, BSPha, Napa, California, Jan. 12, 2018. Patrick J. Walsh, BS, Odenton, Maryland, March 13, 2018. LIFETOUCH Elmer J. Duethman, DDS, Coal Valley, Illinois, April 17, 55 ALUMNI PROFILE 2018. Willis C. Gray, DDS, Bellevue, Nebraska, Feb. 9, 2018. Peggy McCarthy Haun, SJN, Portland, Oregon, March 16, 2018. Douglas E. Miller Sr., BSPha, Bellevue, ‘Beautiful Plans’ Nebraska, March 10, 2018. Joseph M. Rooney, BS’51, MD, Olathe, Recent graduate is named Nebraska Mother of the Year BLUEJAYS Kansas, Feb. 28, 2018.

Dr. Richard P. Clemens, NEENA NIZAR, EDD’18, recently “I grew up at a time when there was little Omaha, April 15, fly together 56 ARTS, was named the 2018 awareness of disability and no accommoda- 2018. Keith C. Thomas, DDS, Gilbert, tions. After every surgery, my father carried me Arizona, May 13, 2018. Nebraska Mother of the Year Thanks to your support, an ordinary day became extraordinary. up two flights of stairs to get to class,” Nizar Lewis C. Duncan, MD, Oak by the Nebraska Mothers said on her Facebook page after graduation. “I Hills, California, May 3, 2017. 57 share this for anyone who doubts. For anyone Marilyn Rynes Giannattasio, SCN, Association, a chapter of who feels it can’t be done, that the obstacles Milwaukee, April 22, 2018. Robert American Mothers, Inc. $ L. Kane, BSBA, Orange, California, are too big, and that somehow it won’t work. May 18, 2018. Charles W. Sanders, Nizar, 38, received her Doctor Know that the Lord is even bigger and he has 67 $731,147 $30 2,345 BS, Troutville, Virginia, Nov. 22, of Education degree in beautiful plans for you.” Programs Total raised Median gift People received a pair 2016. interdisciplinary leadership The Mother of the Year Award, established nationally in 1935, “was made to provide an supported of Creighton Socks Phyllis Clare Hayes, ARTS, i n M ay. 58 Wheatland, Wyoming, inspiration to the nation who would represent Feb. 3, 2018. Bernice J. Laska, BS, In 2017, she founded the Jansen’s Foundation, a mother’s unconditional love, inner strength Columbus, Nebraska, March 22, which is dedicated to raising awareness and and courage,” according to the organization’s 2018. Donnal E. Leahy, MSEdu, funding for Jansen’s metaphyseal chondro- website. As the Nebraska recipient, Nizar Omaha, Feb. 23, 2018. Richard 2,747 Total Donors dysplasia, a rare skeletal disease that afflicts attended the American Mothers National 1,418 alumni | 448 current students | 254 current faculty/staff P. McCullough, MD, Bellevue, Washington, May 4, 2018. Hon. her and her two sons. Nizar also was named Convention in Washington, D.C., in the spring. Robert C. Vondrasek, JD, Omaha, the rare disease ambassador for Nebraska and During the ceremony, the Jansen’s Foundation Feb. 22, 2018. was involved in the nationwide observance of was awarded a $1,000 grant, and Nizar said Dorothy Lawler Barton, Rare Disease Day in February by the National she found the entire experience inspiring. 59 ARTS, Boise, Idaho, April Organization for Rare Diseases. — BY CINDY MURPHY MCMAHON, BA’74 14, 2018. Stay tuned for information about Giving Day 2019 at R. Lee Meuret, BSBA, Neena Nizar, EdD’18, is surrounded by her proud creighton.edu/givingday family upon her graduation in May with a doctorate in 60 Colorado Springs, Colorado, leadership education: her husband, Adam Timm, and her two sons, Jahan, 7, left, and Arshaan, 9.

48 Creighton SUMMER 2018 49 ALUMNI PROFILE May 17, 2018. Fred J. “Fritz” Stillger, BSChm, Sapello, New Mexico, March 18, 2018.

Dennis J. Bray, BS, Des Helping Amputees in Haiti 61 Moines, Iowa, May 2, 2018. Patricia Tobin Kern, BUSADM, TRUE COLORS Seeing a critical need for prosthetics in Omaha, June 1, 2018. Hispaniola in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti John R. Webb, DDS, Denver, NEVER FADE. 62 May 3, 2018. earthquake, JOHN TESSIER, MD’80, an orthopedic No matter when you attended Creighton, James E. McElenney, MS’61, some things hold true: the friends we made, surgeon from St. Louis, worked to develop 63 DDS, Sun Lakes, Arizona, the moments we cherish, and the ways we May 26, 2018. J. Robert Saffell, learned to go forth and set the world on fi re. a state-of-the-art prosthetics lab with the BA’60, JD, Versailles, Kentucky, Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) Feb. 13, 2018. Gerald T. Schneider, As we come back to campus for Reunion BS, Omaha, May 14, 2018. Weekend September 13–16, we’re reminded in the Dominican Republic. of those things that unite us. Dr. J. Clay Smith Jr., BA, At an orphanage, on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, that became a makeshift 64 Washington, D.C., Feb. 15, operating room, members of the Creighton community got involved to help the earthquake victims. 2018. Honor your time at Creighton with a reunion “It became clear to me at that point that there was a major need on the island for prosthetics gift that helps support student scholarships, Dr. Nancy L. Fogarty, BS’53, faculty development initiatives, and the services,” Tessier says. 65 MA, Omaha, May 22, programs happening in all nine schools In May, the ILAC Prosthetics Lab received a Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities Grant, 2018. Ludwig E. Lippert Jr., MA, and colleges. Alexandria, Virginia, April 11, 2018. allowing the team to continue working with those in need. More than 180 prosthetics and braces THE PERFECT MOMENT TO SHOW YOUR TRUE are fitted each year for people with cerebral palsy, fractures, stroke victims and amputees. John D. O’Brien, BA’63, JD, Las Vegas, March 30, 2018. CREIGHTON COLORS AND PAY IT FORWARD. “There’s a lot of poverty, a lot of indigents,” Tessier says of the island. “If you’re a ‘have not’ in Haiti or the DR, it’s a terrible place to be an amputee.” — BY EMILY RUST B. Finnbarr Brady, BA, 66 San Francisco, May 22, 2018. Mark E. DeSantis, MS, alumni.creighton.edu/reuniongift Moscow, Idaho, Sept. 12, 2017. Ranvier Villegas, a prosthetist at ILAC in the Dominican Jean Adams Leiboff, BA, Bellevue, Republic, evaluates a patient’s Nebraska, April 26, 2018. Patrick gait using the parallel bars. H. McDonnell, JD, Omaha, June 3, 2018. Thomas F. Green, BSPha’64, John M. Kerwin, BA’51, JD, BA, Bellevue, Nebraska, March Dr. W. Craig Daniel, BS, 74 MD, Independence, Missouri, 85 Omaha, June 1, 2018. Joseph 2018. IN REMEMBRANCE Lake Mary, Florida, June 6, April 21, 2018. J. Straub III, JD, Algona, Iowa, Dec. 67 Joelane E. Lindberg, MCSM, 2018. Mary Doll Imm, BA, Overland 30, 2017. We remember Creighton David R. Gerraughty, BA, Sturgis, South Dakota, April Park, Kansas, Feb. 26, 2018. Vicki 95 University faculty and Jesuits Narragansett, Rhode Island, Most Rev. Anthony M. 17, 2018. Dramshek Wewers, BSN, Edmond, 76 who have recently passed. * April 23, 2018. Daniel S. Rowen, BA, Milone, HON, Great Falls, Oklahoma, June 2018. 87 Jennie M. Dugan-Hinrichs, Omaha, May 12, 2018. Montana, May 17, 2018. James “Vic” Lupo, PhD, JD, Omaha, April 25, 2018. James R. Moergeli Jr., DDS, 97 associate professor of Salvatore A. Ciciulla, Mercedes Luque-Rosales, Gig Harbor, Washington, Mark G. McGuire, BA’94, MS, psychology, College of Arts 68 BSPha’54, MS, Omaha, May JD, Chicago, April 15, Feb. 12, 2018. James A. Patterson, 77 88 Omaha, Feb. 20, 2018. and Sciences; March 27, 2018 17, 2018. Lawrence J. McDermott, 2018. William J. Sweeney, MD, 99 BS, Clarksville, Tennessee, May MBA, Omaha, Feb. 9, 2018. James Crownsville, Maryland, May 18, Sr. Camilla Verret, MA, Marjorie “Marge” Hartnett, 2, 2018. Ronald J. Walters, BSPha, former assistant D. Valentine Jr., DDS, Spokane, 2018. Jefferson City, Missouri, May EdD, Storm Lake, Iowa, Dec. 14, 2017. 03 Washington, March 22, 2018. 29, 2018. professor of education, Sean E. Farley, JD, College of Arts and Sciences; Thomas E. “Gene” Lydon, William E. Waltner, MD, Ellensburg, Bakersfield, California, Rev. Michael G. Morrison, SJ, BSPha’65, MS, Sioux City, Washington, Feb. 8, 2018. 89 June 2, 2018 70 April 17, 2018. HON, Milwaukee, May 24, Iowa, Oct. 22, 2017. 04 Lawrence E. Hart Jr., ARTS, 2018. Hunter B. Sadle, JD, Fletcher, * Faculty and Jesuits who are Kevin M. Peck, DDS, Creighton alumni are listed in Daniel D. Humenick, BA, Atchison, Kansas, Feb. 18, North Carolina, May 13, 2018. 78 Scottsdale, Arizona, April the Alumni Deaths section of the Omaha, April 4, 2018. 2018. 90 71 6, 2017. Sonja J. Brooks, BA, Denver, magazine. Betty J. Cohen, MSGuid, Ronald K. Rapp, BSBA, May 19, 2018. David R. Jason M. Judge, BSBA, 06 Colorado Springs, Colorado, Tampa, Florida, Jan. 17, 2018. Polus, BSBA, Grosse Pointe Farms, 72 79 Omaha, March 31, 2018. April 26, 2018. Alan J. Desmarteau, 91 Michigan, Nov. 3, 2016. James M. Haney, JD, Omaha, Bonnie L. Korkow, MS, Pierre, South BSPha, Arvada, Colorado, April 24, April 10, 2018. M. David Dakota, April 8, 2018. Quillie H. “Bud” Polk, MA, 2018. Rev. Melvin L. Rempe, MSGuid, 80 Steier, BSBA’76, JD, Omaha, May Omaha, April 30, 2018. Jacksonville, Florida, March 27, David L. Poutre, MS, 07 28, 2018. Sr. N. Jean Valdes, SAC, 2018. Michael J. Sharkey, BSBA, Bellevue, Nebraska, May 26, Nicole M. O’Tool, PharmD, Des MChrSp, Laurel, Maryland, April 92 Columbus, Ohio, May 14, 2017. 2018. Moines, Iowa, May 17, 2018. 27, 2018. 10 James L. Baudler, BSBA, Sr. Eva Ernandis, OP, MA, Rexford R. Rodenborn, Michael J. Fitzgerald, BA, Omaha, April 22, 2018. Malverne, New York, Jan. 6, PharmD, Omaha, June 6, 2018. 73 Milwaukee, March 6, 2018. 94 16 Stephen J. Dahir, BSBA, Omaha, 81 2018. Traci Strachota Williamson, April 12, 2018.

50 Creighton SUMMER 2018 51 CREIGHTON CONVERSATIONS Final Word

on campus, there are a few people from a few different backgrounds. And, well, they’re here, so they’re included. No, it’s so much deeper than that. We need to make this a better world for all of us. We need to do it together and really Creighton University’s inaugural respect the fact that not everybody has the TEDxCreightonU featured personal same experience in the world. stories and professional expertise What are some of your initiatives? under the event’s theme of “Lead.” My first few months here have been a listening tour … to get perspectives on what people feel Watch videos of the talks at: is working when it comes to diversity and inclusion, what is missing and where there TEDxCreightonU.com needs to be change. I’ve found a lot of amazing work being done at Creighton University. But we need to organize it to bring people in line with a unified vision.

What’s the current state of diversity and TEDxCreightonU 2018 faculty, student and alumni presenters: inclusion at Creighton? I think there’s a lot of good will, a lot of good

DAVE WEAVER DAVE intention. A lot of people are willing to collab- orate. And that’s the only way we are going to Mounika Addula continue to make progress. Diversity and inclu- Josh Dotzler Victoria Sardella Unified in Diversity, From Charity to Change The 3-Point Punch sion is a collaborative effort. I look at myself We Lead as more of a coordinator, a coach, where I’m ‘We Need to Make This setting a standard and direction. I’ve had a very warm welcome and that really encour- ages me that we’ll be successful in taking the a Better World for All of Us’ Heather Fryer, PhD good things we have going now and strength- Amy Badura-Brack, PhD Grace Tierney Focusing Attention Our Guides to the Future Lead, Love, Nachos It’s kind of ironic that Christopher Whitt, PhD, Eleven years ago, he joined the faculty at ening them. Are Off the Beaten Past Creighton’s first vice provost for Institutional Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. In Diversity and Inclusion, works at a Jesuit uni- his first year as a professor, he co-founded an What have you learned over the years working versity. Growing up in Baltimore, he attended Africana studies program, which looked at the in this area? Mount St. Joseph High School, which is affili- entire Africa diaspora rather than being lim- I think decades ago, people were more satisfied Leah Georges, PhD, MLS Brian Boerner Navigating the Duncan Werling ated with the Xaverian Brothers. When it came ited to a particular place. He also extended his with simply having the numbers, even if people Tackling Unease Multigenerational Facing Reality to athletics, the nearby Jesuit school was their influence into the larger Quad Cities commu- felt like they were visitors. I’ve heard it so many With Hard Questions Workplace: Shoulder biggest rival. nity, with his podcast “Margins: Conversations times from students of underrepresented Pads Not Required His first experience with Jesuit education with Change Agents.” Hosted on the local NPR groups. They get to graduation and say, “I made was at Marquette University in Milwaukee, station, “Margins” brought community and it. I’m getting out. I’m moving on.” That’s not where he completed a one-year diversity dis- national leaders together to discuss issues. how people should feel. We want people to feel Todd Darnold, PhD Cory Wilson sertation fellowship. “I really saw that you have Whitt is in talks with Omaha NPR station KIOS like this has been an amazing experience, and Dawaune Hayes The Minimalist Make NOISE Now The Best of Us a lot of potential at a centrally located Jesuit to develop a similar podcast. ask, “How can I continue to be connected in Manager Mindset Will Rebel institution in an urban area,” Whitt says. Whitt joined Creighton in February and now some shape or form?” After earning a bachelor’s degree from lives in Omaha with his wife, Quiana, a teacher Salisbury University in Maryland, Whitt at Omaha North High School, and their 1-year- How can alumni help? received his master’s and doctoral degrees old son, Christopher Jr. Creighton magazine Alumni can help by inquiring about and being Joy Doll, OTD, OTR/L Cultivating Collaboration Samuel Lado Theatre for Social Justice in political science from the University of caught up with Whitt this summer. supportive of diversity and inclusion. They can in Health Care: Make an Influence Engaging in Sacred Gossip Maryland, College Park. “From a young age, I help connect people from underrepresented The Journey of an With What You Have Amy Lane, Ben Adams and Oliver Alonzo was interested in politics. I was looking for a What do we mean by diversity and inclusion? groups with Creighton — in terms of both our Accidental Expert? way to become educated and skilled in seeking I like to look at it through the lens of justice and student body and our workforce. We need to justice, seeking avenues of equity for people,” solidarity. When we talk about diversity, we’re look to eliminate barriers. We will be stronger Whitt says. not simply talking about the idea that if we walk by opening doors.

52 Creighton SUMMER 2018 WE WELCOME GRADUATES OF ALL YEARS TO COME HOME TO CREIGHTON creighton.edu/reunionweekend

September 13–16, 2018 May 30–June 2, 2019 Classes of 1968, 1978, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2008 Classes of 1969, 1979, 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2009