ROCK REPORT
Rockhurst Says Goodbye to Retirees At the end of each academic year, we say goodbye to hundreds of our graduating students, but it also means we have to say goodbye to many of the faculty and staff who have called Rockhurst home for decades. We thank the following for their service to the University.
(From left) Ellen Spake, Ph.D.; Acey Lampe, Ph.D.; Curtis Hancock, Ph.D.; Joseph Cirincione, Ph.D.; Sandy Waddell; Lynn Ross; and Rick Graham.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, PH.D. For the last two years of his phased retirement, Joseph Cirincione, Ph.D., has been working as office assistant to Mission and Ministry. This has allowed him to spend more time working toward his post-retirement goals of teaching Ignatian spiritual ability and leading the spiritual exercises and working with the Seton Center, Serra Club and the Ignatian Spirituality Center. Prior to this role, Cirincione was professor of English for many years. ELLEN SPAKE, PH.D. Ellen Spake, Ph.D., assistant to the president, Mission and Ministry, officially ended her 35-year tenure as a faculty and staff member for Rockhurst University June 1. For the past seven years, Spake has served as the chief mission officer for the University. This followed a long and successful career as a physical therapy professor, where she was instrumental in starting the physical therapy program at Rockhurst. While she plans to spend more time with her family, she says she wants to keep her fingers on the world of physical therapy in some capacity. She’s also considering becoming an associate member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet. ACEY LAMPE, PH.D. Sometime later this year, Acey Lampe, Ph.D., executive assistant professor of management, will set up a permanent residence on the West Coast, but she’ll still be connected to Rockhurst. Lampe, who has taught at the University since 2006,
is retiring, but will help the Helzberg School of Management pilot more online courses by teaching a managerial communications course remotely from somewhere in Portland, Oregon. Lampe and her husband, Peter Florzak, will be moving to Oregon to be closer to their only daughter, who has been living there for a few years. CURTIS HANCOCK, PH.D. Curtis Hancock, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, says that during the more than three decades he has been at Rockhurst, he and his colleagues have built a department that he is really proud of and one that will continue to get better and serve the needs of the students. For retirement, Hancock says he will continue to travel to Warsaw, Poland, to give lectures, and he will focus more on writing about what is happening in the current culture and in politics. He will also spend more time with his wife, Sandy Wadell, whom he met at Rockhurst. SANDY WADDELL Sandy Waddell, associate dean of students, director of new students, retention and access services, started her career working part of the time in the counseling center and the other part for career services. Decades later, she has come full circle to oversee those two departments. Waddell said she always enjoyed working with individual students to help them get whatever resources they need to have a successful education.
Retiring together with her husband, Curtis Hancock, Ph.D., was part of their plan to spend more time with each other but, for now, she still plans on taking her own vacation while Hancock goes to Poland to lecture. LYNN ROSS Leaving any job can be bittersweet, especially when it’s a job you’ve called home for 23 years. This will be the case for Lynn Ross, Helzberg School of Management faculty secretary, who has been the warm welcoming face of the school. Ross said she is eager to spend time with her four grandkids, two of whom live in Maryland. She said she is also eager to go back to doing the things she loves, which is to use her fine arts degree by expressing herself through quilting. Besides trips to Maryland to see family Ross is also eager for her upcoming trip to Ireland with her husband. RICK GRAHAM During his nearly 19 years at the Helzberg School of Management, Rick Graham has worn many hats, including director of the information technology leadership program, assistant dean for operations, associate dean for operations, and finally associate dean. That’s in addition to teaching. Graham said he is eager to start his post-Rockhurst life, which will include gardening at home, traveling to national parks, fly fishing, hiking and camping.
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