New presidents take office at Rockhurst and Avila Universities

By Marty Denzer

Kansas City’s two Catholic universities, Rockhurst and Avila, welcomed new presidents July 1. Avila’s new president, Dr. James Burkee, and Rockhurst’s new president, Dr. Sandra Cassady, have many attributes in common.

• Both Burkee and Cassady grew up in Middle America.

• Both are the first in their family to graduate from college and obtain master’s and doctoral degrees.

• Both became the 15th president of their respective universities.

• Both served as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at their previous colleges. In that role, they both succeeded in increasing enrollment in health care programs, and they are interested in replicating those successes at their new universities.

Hanen and Dr. James Burkee

Photo by Megan Marley

AVILA UNIVERSITY WELCOMED DR. JAMES BURKEE JULY 1

Dr. James Burkee officially became the 15th President of Avila University July 1. He was selected from 40 applicants to succeed Ronald Slepitza, Ph.D., CSJA, when he retired.

Burkee was born and raised in West Allis, Wisconsin, a city named for a founder of Allis- Chalmers agricultural and industrial equipment manufacturer and now a Milwaukee suburb. He was the first in his family to attend college.

“We were a manufacturing family,” he recalled. “My father was a Vietnam vet who went to work right after coming home. Neither parent went to college. I grew up thinking I would follow in Dad’s footsteps, serve in the military, work in the same company and so on. But Dad died while I was a boy and Mom began encouraging me to go to college. She hounded me non-stop actually,” he added with a smile.

Considering her son to be a gifted writer and good in history, she urged him to major in business or history. He chose both.

“The trajectory of my life changed,” Burkee said. He earned a BA in History and a BA in Business Marketing from Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. He received a fellowship from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study American History, which he considers “one of the greatest gifts of my life.”

He received his Teacher Colloquy from Concordia College in New York, and his MA and later a Ph.D. from Northwestern.

While serving as a history professor at Concordia College, he also stimulated an enrollment growth of 1,000 students through securing domestic and international partnerships that generated more than $20 million in revenue for the college.

For 25 years, Burkee has worked in higher education, except for a two-year hiatus in 2011 to serve as a managing partner and Chief Operating Officer of his family’s business. In 2013, he returned to academia and, in 2019, joined Sisters of Charity-run Mount Saint Vincent College in the Bronx, New York. He served as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, where he reached into non-traditional areas of business and recruitment, adding off-campus, online and graduate programs that stimulated a rapid growth in student enrollments — from 1,700 students to 3,000 in one year.

He intends to replicate those successes at Avila. Dr. Burkee and his wife Hanen, who collaborates in his endeavors, are busy getting to know the Avila campus, its faculty and staff and reaching out to students, especially international, immigrant and first-generation students, in which Hanen, a Tunisian immigrant, is especially engaged. The couple said they plan to invite every registered freshman to their home for dinner this fall.

Aware of the “dramatic need for nurses,” they plan to work to interest more students in the university’s signature nursing programs.

Their plans revolve around “right relationships,” which Dr. Burkee deems a “big part” of Avila’s charism — service to the dear neighbor, inspired by its founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Service — philanthropic, educational and friendship-oriented — permeates Avila’s mission. That mission also relates to the international, immigrant and first-generation students who comprise 31 percent of the student body, a population representing a real composite of Kansas City. Building those relationships involves establishing partnerships with businesses, hospitals and especially local Catholic high schools.

Dr. Burkee already loves the university for several reasons: “Avila aspires to be what we are, a strong academic institution welcoming first-generation students. The Sisters of St. Joseph believe everyone is welcome at the table. It’s an expression of God’s will.” And he said the strength of the university will help it weather the demographic cliff brought on by the Great Recession of 2008, which resulted in fewer births in the U.S. and Western Europe. The “cliff” means fewer freshmen enrolling in college beginning in 2026. A similar gap will occur around 2038 due to the 2021 coronavirus pandemic, he said.

Many leisure hours are spent getting to know Kansas City. Currently, they are living in Overland Park, but while learning about local history, the shopping, restaurants and neighborhoods, they are also house hunting.

Dr. Burkee said three things strongly attracted him to Avila and Kansas City — the native Midwesterner loves “being back in fly-over country, the middle of the country, where people are friendlier, more patient and willing to help; Avila’s mission of serving first-generation students, offering them a chance to get a private education, an education that is ‘by Catholics but open to all, a part of the Avila identity that’s very appealing,’” and its mission of inclusion of a diverse population: men and women from different countries, backgrounds and dreams. Diversity matters at Avila, he added.

The Burkees agree that the best thing about Kansas City is its people. Dr. Burkee said, “They have validated everything we hoped for when we moved here.” Hanen interjected, “The warmth of our welcome has been wonderful!”

The couple looks forward to BBQ, the Royals and the Chiefs. Dr. Burkee said, “Kansas City has a vibe, an energy missing elsewhere. We’re glad to be here at Avila.”

Dr. Sandra Cassady

MEET ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT DR. SANDRA CASSADY

Sandra Cassady, Ph.D., took office as the 15th president of Rockhurst University on July 1, the first woman and first lay person chosen to serve as president since the Jesuit university’s founding in 1910.

She succeeds Jesuit Father Thomas B. Curran, who stepped down at the close of the 2021-22 academic year after 16 years as president. Cassady brings a strong background of experience in higher education and accreditation expertise to her new role.

A first-generation college student, she enrolled at the University of Iowa to study physical therapy, then a four-year bachelor’s degree program, and immersed herself in her studies. Then the university changed the program to a certificate in physical therapy, a stepping stone to a master’s in physical therapy. Cassady received her certificate in 1986, her MS in Physical Therapy in 1988 and, in 1992, her Doctorate in Exercise Science, the study of health benefits of exercise on the musculoskeletal system.

In 1994, after two years as a practicing physical therapist, she joined the faculty of St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, a Diocese of Davenport affiliate. Over the ensuing 28 years, Cassady served as professor, Dean of the College of Health and Human Services, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and, since 2003, as a member of the Higher Learning Commission Peer Review Corps dealing with accreditation and complex higher educational challenges, including mergers, acquisitions and change of control.

Under her leadership as Dean of the College of Health and Human Services, enrollment rapidly grew from 650 to 1,400 students.

She said she has always been attracted to the values and principles of Jesuit education, especially Magis, “the more.” St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, used Magis to describe how authentic Christianity fosters a deeper connection with Christ and more zeal in serving others. That was part of what attracted her to Rockhurst.

She plans to work on growing the health science footprint at Rockhurst, as she did at St. Ambrose, as well as growing those of the Business/Management and Arts and Sciences schools.

Cassady and her husband are getting settled in their new home in Kansas City and doing some exploring in their new city. She said she feels warmly welcomed at the university and in their neighborhood and looks forward to getting to know more people and more of Kansas City — including the barbecue.