Fr. Hendrickson shares successes at annual Town Hall

Though Creighton University is feeling the impact of rising inflation and a falling stock market, its financial position remains strong, its student enrollment is healthy and historic construction projects remain on schedule and on budget.

A major fundraising campaign is showing strength and gaining momentum while more than $46 million last year was dedicated to student scholarships, including $5.4 million reserved for Next Generation Diversity Scholars.

These details, among others, highlighted the annual Town Hall presentation delivered Aug. 30 by the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, president of Creighton University.  

Speaking at the Hixson-Lied Auditorium on campus, Fr. Hendrickson said that despite difficult economic times, a resilient Creighton continues to expand, not just on its Omaha campus but also in Phoenix, where this year its recently opened $100 million health sciences campus added a physical therapy program to a four-year medical school and existing programs in nursing, pharmacy and occupational therapy programs. Next year, the Phoenix campus will add a physician assistant program.  

Creighton’s Phoenix campus this year welcomed its second class of 100 first-year medical students, while the Omaha campus welcomed 130. When each of the four-year cohorts is filled in Omaha and Phoenix, Fr. Hendrickson said Creighton anticipates training about 1,000 medical students at a time, approximately 500 on each campus.

Fr. Hendrickson also announced new Mission Innovation Grants to support faculty, staff and student initiatives and programs that advance Creighton’s worldwide Jesuit, Catholic mission. Those programs will build on an already solid tradition of global service that this year saw Creighton mark 50 years of service in the Dominican Republic and launch the Arrupe Global Scholars Program, which, on the strength of a transformational gift, will allow the University to prepare medical students to serve the poorest of the poor around the globe.

The Town Hall concluded with Fr. Hendrickson presenting the University’s annual Kingfisher Award to Patrick Murray, PhD, professor of philosophy and the John C. Kenefick Faculty Chair in the Humanities.