Media Contact- Director of Communications, Rita Elliott 815-226-3374

Rockford, Ill. – Rockford University has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the eighth consecutive year by The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The University was recognized for the extraordinary and exemplary community service contributions of its students, faculty, and staff in meeting critical community and national needs.
Since 2006 the Honor Roll annually highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community problems and placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement by recognizing institutions that achieve meaningful, measureable outcomes in the communities they serve.
CNCS administers the award in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the American Council on Education, Campus Compact, and the Interfaith Youth Core. CNCS currently engages more than five million Americans in service through multiple national service initiatives. More information about the Honor Roll and CNCS can be found on their website at http://www.nationalservice.gov/special-initiatives/honor-roll.

Media Contact: Director of Communications Rita Elliott, 815-226-3374

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Rockford, Ill. – The Rockford University Residence Life department has successfully completed a second annual donation drive to Goodwill of Northern Illinois. Items collected in the 358 pound donation include clothing, shoes, small appliances, bikes, linens, decorative items and other dorm belongings.
Organized by residence hall director Mariah Harris, the drive encouraged students to donate items they no longer had a use for to Goodwill at the end of the spring semester. Mariah was presented with a plaque in May by Sam Schmitz, President of Goodwill of Northern Illinois, to commend the donation. The first annual donation drive, held in spring 2014, gathered over 1,500 pounds of goods to be donated.

Media Contact: Rita Elliott, 815-226-3374

Rockford, Ill., – Students interested in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Rockford University are invited to attend a visit day on Friday, June 5. Check-in for the day begins at 9:00 a.m. in Fisher Chapel, with an admissions presentation beginning at 9:15 a.m.

Highlights of the day include a chance to meet with the nursing faculty and current students enrolled in the program. Information will also be provided about the early decision program for high school students, and the transfer student requirements. A tour of the campus, including the nursing labs, will be included in the day.

For more information, or to reserve your spot, call 815-226-4050 or e-mail admissions@rockford.edu. Rockford University is located at 5050 E. State St., Rockford. Fisher Chapel is accessible.

Updated May 15, 2015
Contact: Rita Elliott, Director of Communications, 815.226.3374

Rockford University’s 161st Commencement Ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 17, at 2:00 p.m., at the Coronado Performing Arts Center in downtown Rockford. Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Management Studies, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Business Administration degrees will be awarded to approximately 385 students. The 2015 graduates are from 30 states and 9 countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, China, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Mexico and Ukraine. 279 will graduate with an undergraduate degree and 106 from our graduate programs.

‌Due unforeseen circumstances, the originally scheduled speaker Judy Smith, is unable to attend. The University is pleased to announce that noted journalist Laura Ling will provide the keynote address. In August 2009, the world watched as former president Bill Clinton landed back in the United States after securing Ling’s release, along with her colleague, Euna Lee, from captivity inside the most isolated country on earth: North Korea. Ling had been reporting on a story about the trafficking of North Korean women when she was violently apprehended by North Korean soldiers along the Chinese-North Korean border. Sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison, Ling endured months of captivity, which ended with a dramatic and unexpected turn of events.

Before her capture, Ling spent more than a decade shining a light on untold stories from around the world. She started her career in journalism as a producer at Channel One News and then joined Current TV as head of its journalism department. She also worked as a correspondent covering issues including slave labor in the Amazon, Mexico’s drug war, Internet censorship in China, and women’s rights in Turkey.

She is also the host of E! Investigates, a series of hour-long shows that tackle hard hitting stories.

Ling is co-author, with her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, of “Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight To Bring Her Home.”

Tickets are required for attendance. Due to space constraints, tickets are limited to degree candidates and their guests. Tickets will not be available at the door of the Coronado Theatre.

Friday, May 15, 2015
12 p.m.
5050 East State Street, Rockford

Public Opening Reception celebrating the
$5 million Burpee Student Center renovations

Rockford University first announced its plan to reclaim the Blanche Walker Burpee Center as a student-centered space on July 1, 2013, the date Rockford College transitioned to Rockford University. Built in 1963, the building was originally intended to function as the student center and hub of campus life and activities. Since the early 1980s, the building went through a series of reconfigurations in order to house various administrative departments, leaving very little space devoted to student- centered functions. Construction began in May of 2014

Now, 12 months later, the astonishing renovations to the 25,000 square foot space are complete. The center now provides state of the art amenities that identify this revitalized space as the heart of campus and the intersection of activity for students and visitors.
Please join President Robert L. Head, the Rockford University Board of Trustees and special guests as we welcome the community to the Burpee Student Center.

Contact: Director of Communications Rita Elliott, 815-226-3374

Contact- Art Gallery Director, Jennifer Langworthy 815-394-5203

‌Rockford, Ill. – Rockford University’s Senior Thesis Art Exhibit will open Friday, May 8 at the Rockford University Art Gallery located in the Clark Arts Center at 5050 East State Street, Rockford. An opening reception will be held in the gallery from 6-8 p.m.

“Confessions of a Mad Art Student” features the work of graduating seniors, Jeanette Lutrell and Stella Whitlow. Each student’s work represents a culmination of research and study to develop an individual voice and direction in the visual arts.

This exhibit is free and open to the public through May 17. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 3 to 6 p.m., Friday 12 to 3 p.m. and by appointment. For more information contact the Rockford University Box Office at 815-226-4100 or boxoffice@rockford.edu. Clark Arts Center is wheelchair accessible.

4‌/30/15 Update

Results are in from yesterday’s first Day of Giving at Rockford University. It was a wonderful day that ended with $11,311.75 being raised to support student scholarships!

Thank you to our alumni, friends, students, employees and generous donors for making our first Day of Giving Rock Solid!‌

Wednesday, April 29 marks Rockford University’s first ever Day of Giving! We are asking Regents and friends from across the globe to accept the challenge and help us change the lives of students through scholarship and the University’s Charter Fund.

Please accept our challenge to help make higher education even more accessible for students at Rockford University. Tuition covers about 84 percent of the total cost of education for each student, philanthropy covers the rest. During this day, we are wholly focused on raising money for student scholarships to ensure that students have every opportunity to succeed.

Whether you’re a proud Regent or a friend of RU, we encourage you to be a part of this day. Help us celebrate philanthropy and join us in being Rock Solid!

Please stay tuned to social media for exciting announcements, prizes and special guests!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rockforduniversity

Twitter: www.twitter.com/rockforduniv

Feel free to follow RU and share posts. To help us can see how our day is trending, please use the hashtags:

#RUNeedsU
#AcceptTheChallenge or
#ChallengeAccepted

Donations can begin anytime after midnight on Wednesday, when the link will be activated at:

www.rockford.edu/give/dayofgiving/
Thank you in advance for your support!

For immediate release: 4/21/2015
Contact: Director of Communications Rita Elliott, 815-226-3374

Rockford, Ill. – The annual Student Showcase will be held Wednesday, April 22, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in Burpee, 5050 E. State St., Rockford. A variety of academic achievements from the 2014-2015 school year will be on display including senior seminar projects, undergraduate research, poems, short stories, artwork and performances. Work from an assortment of majors and minors will be featured including biology, history, nursing, performing arts, English, and math.

The following students will be presenting:

For immediate release – 10/6/14
Contact: Director of Communications Rita Elliott, 815-226-3374

Rockford, Ill., –Approximately 200 students from high schools in the stateline area will visit Rockford University to attend the Annual Entrepreneurship Day, on Thursday, October 9, 2014 in the University’s Burpee Center, 5050 East State Street, Rockford.

Entrepreneurship Day events will include professors from the University’s Economics, Business and Accounting Department speaking about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, as well as subjects such as Market Analysis, Ethics, Business Planning and Strategy. Students will also work in teams to develop a business plan for a product or service of their choosing. Teams will develop their plans with discussion and activities facilitated by Rockford University professors and current MBA students.

There will be a panel of area entrepreneurs that will share their knowledge with the students and answer questions about their experience. Optional tours of the Rockford University campus are included in the day.