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Creighton’s Promise to Students

Hundreds of people gathered Sept. 5, 2008, at the dedication of “the new front door to Creighton University’s east campus”–the Mike and Josie Harper Center for Student Life and Learning. “This building symbolizes Creighton’s promise to students, both current and future, that we will provide an excellent academic education, combined with extraordinary opportunities for spiritual, physical and social growth,” said the Rev. John. P. Schlegel, S.J., Creighton University president.

The Harper Center’s notable features include a nearly 500-seat auditorium for special presentations, lectures, conferences and film screenings; a campus bookstore; high-tech, multi-tiered classrooms; an alumni grill; a fitness center; and a ballroom. More than 16 academic and student services offices also are located in the Harper Center. Omaha community groups will have access to the building’s classrooms, meeting rooms and ballroom. Moreover, the Harper Center’s construction, architecture and operations maximize resource efficiency and waste reduction and meet LEED criteria.

The center, made possible through an initial gift from an anonymous donor and augmented by the generosity of the Harper Family Foundation and other Creighton benefactors, is named for Charles M. “Mike” Harper and his late wife, Josie Harper. Additional benefactors include the Mutual of Omaha Foundation for the Mutual of Omaha Center for Health and Counseling; The Lied Foundation Trust and Trustee Christina M. Hixson for the Hixson-Lied Auditorium; William A. and Barbara M. Fitzgerald for the Fitzgerald Boardroom; and the Peter Kiewit Foundation for the land purchase.

Creighton Continues to Invest in Students, Campus

The Rev. John P. Schlegel, S.J., president of Creighton University, says the school’s academic mission and campus master plan are benefiting from a record-breaking fundraising campaign completed in early 2009. Schlegel said the “Willing to Lead” campaign was the largest fundraising initiative in the history of the university, raising more than $395 million–well beyond its goal of $350 million.

The campaign provides funding for hundreds of student scholarships, academic programs and service projects, and endowment support for faculty, Schlegel says, including 14 new endowed faculty chairs and five new professorships. It also allows Creighton to expand the campus by 40 acres and create a modern living and learning environment. The campus now spans 130 acres, and many buildings have been renovated or constructed to support academics and student life. Schlegel said, “A growing endowment, fueled by philanthropy, will enable us to make permanent our commitment to access and affordability, and to quality of programs and services.”

A Voice through His Lens

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the Rev. Don Doll, S.J., a journalism professor at Creighton University, speaks volumes through his work. The images Doll has captured of Native Americans, the world’s poor and his fellow Jesuits have been featured in National Geographic magazine and on ABC’s “Nightline.” He has been named Nebraska Artist of the Year in 2006, and won the prestigious Kodak Crystal Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism.

His photographs have been published in numerous books, including two of his own on Native Americans: “Crying for a Vision” and “Vision Quest: Men, Women and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation.” A related exhibit has traveled to 20 cities.

Doll was introduced to photography and to the Lakota people when he was assigned to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota as a young Jesuit. Telling their stories through his photographs has become the focal point of his life. “I think probably my greatest contribution has been helping Native American people become understood,” he said. “I hope I have been able to make some small contribution by telling the story of the poor and Native Americans–people who really have no voice.”

Whether Doll’s photographs depict tsunami victims in India and Sri Lanka, or the children of St. Augustine Indian School, or the charitable acts of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan, the images capture the hardships and the simple joys of his subjects with deep reverence and insight. “As a photographer, I see the world through the lens of who I am and the life I’ve lived,” he said. “Often I find myself praying that I can look upon and photograph people with something of the empathy and the understanding God has for them.”