University receives $25 million gift for the establishment of the Arrupe Global Scholars and Partnerships Program

OMAHA, Neb. (Jan 18, 2021) – Creighton University, soon to become the largest Catholic health sciences educator in the United States, has received a transformational $25 million gift from an anonymous foundation to establish the Arrupe Global Scholars and Partnerships Program.

Named for the Rev. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, founder of the Jesuit Refugee Service, the program seeks to improve the health and well-being of the international poor and educate future servant-leader physicians. The gift will support 10 cohorts of 12 students from Creighton’s medical programs in both Omaha and Phoenix over 10 years beginning in the Fall of 2022.

Under the new program, Arrupe Global Scholars will earn a medical degree while working alongside international health care workers and Creighton faculty on multiyear projects aimed at addressing significant health challenges in locations around the world. Throughout their tenure, Arrupe Global Scholars will engage other intensive programmatic elements to shape their formation as women and men of service, their skills as medical doctors, and their understanding of global health concerns as aspiring leaders in the field.

In addition, the Arrupe Global Partnerships Program will pair Creighton faculty with in-country health care workers to address local clinical education needs and to design development programs to enhance the knowledge and skills of local providers through further training at Creighton’s Omaha and Phoenix campuses.

The gift reflects the commitment of the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, to expanding the University’s global impact—which began with the establishment of the Creighton Global Initiative in 2015—and further strengthens Creighton’s full array of educational programs in the health sciences. Fr. Hendrickson is a member of the global advisory board for Jesuit Worldwide Learning, an online educational delivery program for refugees around the world. He and Creighton Board of Trustees chairman Mike McCarthy worked with the anonymous foundation to design a program that will make an immediate and measurable impact on global health and can be sustained for years to come.

“I am grateful to Mike McCarthy, who was integral in securing this momentous gift, and to the anonymous foundation whose generosity will make a measurable impact on the global poor while allowing Creighton to better live out its mission,” Hendrickson said. “True to their namesake, Arrupe Global Scholars, and faculty in Arrupe Global Partnerships, will become the inspiring change agents the world needs.”

“I share the gratitude of Fr. Hendrickson and the entire Creighton community for this remarkable gift and am confident that it will be a catalyst for even more opportunities moving forward,” McCarthy said. “The program will provide bright students the foundation they need to become the successful global health leaders of the future.”

The inaugural cohort of Arrupe Global Scholars is projected to begin in fall 2022 following a two-week orientation at the Institute for Latin American Concern in the Dominican Republic, where Creighton has had a presence for nearly five decades.

The Creighton University School of Medicine will recruit students for both Omaha and Phoenix campuses based on academic achievement, past service to the poor, previous international experience, and interest in pursuing a career in global service.

“Creighton is known for producing physicians committed to the Jesuit value of caring for the whole patient—mind, body and spirit. Our graduates then go on to careers in which service for and with others is central to their practices,” said Michael Kavan, PhD, associate dean for student affairs at the Creighton University School of Medicine. “The Arrupe Global Scholars and Partnerships Program will build upon this foundation in forming future doctors who consciously and compassionately care for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.” 

Creighton’s new $100 million, 180,000-square-foot Health Sciences – Phoenix Campus is scheduled to open for classes in fall 2021 in midtown Phoenix. Within the next few years, Creighton expects to enroll more than 900 students at its Phoenix campus, which, combined with the University’s Omaha campus, would make Creighton University the largest Catholic health professions educator in the United States.