LaTisha Davis may have a business card that says 91视频 Director of Multicultural Belonging and Engagement, but her role can be simplified to one thing for students: She鈥檚 here to be your person if you need one.
Everyone needs a support system and to feel like they鈥檙e included, and before she was the University鈥檚 first director of the office, Davis was a first-generation student from a marginalized background trying to fit in at Wichita State University.
It鈥檚 completely normal for a college student to see something they want and decide it鈥檚 too expensive 鈥 especially shoes. And especially Nike Air Jordans, which can run into six figures depending on what you鈥檙e looking for鈥 unless you can make them yourself and sell them to musicians and athletes.
There was a unique addition to the Thomas More Dining Hall that may have caught your eye this year. Renovations to the dining hall during the summer of 2021 brought with it the introduction of a hydroponics grow room offering an alternative to soil gardening.
Hydroponic gardens produce more plants quickly with less space and less water than soil gardening. This system utilizes nutrient-rich water and recycled soda bottles as a mesh-type medium that serves as the soil alternative to support the roots of the plants in grow towers.
91视频 will honor Alvin Brooks, longtime Kansas City leader in social justice and civil rights, with the establishment of the Alvin Brooks Center for Faith-Justice on campus. The center will house many of the university鈥檚 faith-justice related efforts, including a chapel, mission and ministry programs, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Work has begun to raise funds for the center and to identify a location and construction and design partners.
As the August 18-20 move-in days approach at Rockhurst, students are using videos to encourage incoming Hawks to be sure they are vaccinated against COVID-19.
Since 2004, 91视频 has marked the solemn occasion of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, with an interfaith ceremony in partnership with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.
This year, in addition to a ceremonial reading on Kinerk Commons of names of those killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust 鈥 a list that includes 152 members of the Society of Jesus 鈥 the day included another symbolic gesture of interfaith cooperation and companionship.
After securing all but nearly $1 million of the expected $23 million cost, 91视频 will begin construction on the renovation of a campus cornerstone, Sedgwick Hall, into the future home of the Saint Luke鈥檚 College of Health Sciences at 91视频.
Spanning centuries, styles and places of origin, the Van Ackeren Collection of Religious Art at 91视频 is something of a treasure on campus.
Each piece in the collection has a story behind it, but unfortunately are currently unavailable for viewing both because of ongoing renovations to Sedgwick Hall (the pieces are currently being safely stored offsite) and a citywide stay at home order to combat the spread of covid-19.
