Creighton University


Creighton University is a private, Jesuit university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The university enrolls 8,393 graduate and undergraduate students on a campus just outside Omaha's downtown business district.

History

The university was founded as Creighton College on September 2, 1878, through a gift from Mary Lucretia Creighton, who stipulated in her will that a school be established in memory of her husband, prominent Omaha businessman Edward Creighton. Edward's brother, John A. Creighton, is credited with fostering and sustaining the university's early growth and endowment. In 1958, the college split into a prep school and the present-day Creighton University.

Academics

The schools and colleges at Creighton are:
The College of Arts & Sciences is the largest school, containing about 28% of the university's enrolled students. Creighton's acceptance rate is 72.7%.
In 2018, the university announced a Phoenix Health Sciences Campus, to open in 2021.

Athletics

Creighton competes in NCAA Division I athletics as a member of the Big East. Nicknamed the Bluejays, Creighton fields 14 teams in eight sports. Bruce Rasmussen is the Director of Athletics.
Greg McDermott is the men's basketball program's head coach. Famous basketball alums include Paul Silas, Benoit Benjamin, Kyle Korver, and Greg's son Doug McDermott, while famous former Bluejay coaches include Eddie Sutton, Willis Reed, and Dana Altman.
The women's basketball team won the WNIT championship in 2004. They play all home games on campus at D. J. Sokol Arena.
The men's soccer team maintained 17 straight NCAA tournament appearances between 1992 and 2008. During that time, the Bluejays made three College Cup appearances, including one championship game appearance. They play all home games on campus at Morrison Stadium.
Creighton's baseball team has one appearance in the NCAA College World Series. Jim Hendry, the former general manager of the Chicago Cubs, was Creighton's head coach for its 1991 CWS appearance. The program's graduates include Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson.
The women's softball team has had two appearances in the Women's College World Series and has appeared in six of the past eight NCAA Tournaments. Tara Oltman, the best pitcher in MVC history, was a three-time league Pitcher of the Year and finished her career with conference records for wins, innings pitched, starts, appearances, strikeouts, and complete games. She remains the only student-athlete in Bluejay history to earn first-team all-conference honors in four consecutive seasons.

Demographics

, Creighton's enrollment was 8,435, of whom 4,163 were undergraduates. From Creighton's Class of 2020, 14% count themselves as first-generation college attendees in their families. 26% are students of color, and 56% of the class is female; 82% of the class have taken part in volunteer service.

Student clubs and organizations

The university has more than 200 student organizations:

Academic honor societies

The John P. Schlegel, S.J., Center for Service and Justice promotes weekly local community service projects, Fall and Spring Break service trips, student leadership development, and education about contemporary justice issues. The center helped develop the Cortina Community, a sophomore intentional-living community named for Jesuit priest Jon de Cortina.

Performing arts

Many organizations allow students to share their common interests. Examples include:
There are more than 68,470 living alumni of Creighton University in 93 countries. Nearly 30 percent live in Nebraska. The largest number of alumni outside the United States reside in Canada, Japan, and Malaysia.
Alumni include Marcia Anderson, the first African-American woman to attain the rank of major general in the United States Army Reserve; Michael P. Anderson, an astronaut killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; Donald Keough, once president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola; Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade and owner of the Chicago Cubs; Mark Walter, founder and chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, and part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Symone Sanders, Democratic strategist and spokesperson for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign; Mike Johanns, former Governor of Nebraska, former United States Senator, and former United States Secretary of Agriculture; Cathy Hughes, first African American woman to head a publicly traded corporation and currently second wealthiest African American woman; J. Clay Smith Jr., former interim head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and former dean of Howard University School of Law; and several professional athletes, including Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson and professional basketball players Kyle Korver, Anthony Tolliver, and Doug McDermott.