Longtime Campus Minister Named Director of Service And Action

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

As part of the campus ministry department (and most recently its director), he has helped provide meaningful opportunities for students to explore their individual faith or spiritual experience through programming on campus, in the community, and beyond.

And he does so with a resolutely human approach - see Kriege on campus and it's likely he's catching up with a student, referring to them by name and asking them about what's happening in their life.

As of this month, Kriege will take on a new position with his department, director of service and action. He will oversee the University's service learning, service programs and solidarity immersion trips and will be housed in the Alvin Brooks Center for Faith-Justice on campus upon the completion of construction. Best of all, he'll still get to work with students.

"I'm excited to really lean into community engaged learning, specifically through coursework in partnership with faculty," he said. "Community-engaged learning unquestionably puts students in a better position after they graduate. And I hope that it works both ways - if the students are rising, our community should too."

Kriege said he will be working closely with Alicia Douglas, director of community relations, on developing new external partnerships to give students even more creative and meaningful opportunities to learn about and serve nearby communities. He mentioned the Universal Apostolic Values - priorities determined by the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, that guide all of their works, including their educational efforts - as providing a framework for this work. He also acknowledged that he's not starting from scratch, but rather building on existing efforts to connect students to their community, its challenges and its triumphs, as part of learning. That includes past service learning staff and the namesake of the building where he will have his office - Kansas City civil rights pioneer Alvin Brooks - whose work serves as a motivator.

"It's about not just the breadth but the depth of what we're doing," he said. "The Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences are, for me, very inspirational - journeying with the excluded, the youth and care for our common home. There are organizations who have been doing those things for decades here. So how can we be a part of that? How do we take the University's commitment to being 'in the city for good' and magnify it?"