Avila Now

KANSAS CITY — On Thursday, Sept. 8, Avila University and KC Scholars announced a new scholarship partnership that will benefit up to 800 low-to-modest income students in the Kansas City area. Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year through 2031-2032, Avila University and KC Scholars will award eight cohorts of up to 100 students per year...

It is with great sadness that Avila University Athletics announces today, August 24, 2022, that student-athlete Justin Barbee has passed away after a car accident in Belton, Missouri, on Tuesday night. He was 21 years old.  “Today, we mourn the loss of a talented young man, who competed in the classroom as well as on the football...

’51 Helen (Bessenbacher) Colwell of Kansas City, Missouri, passed away on May 24, 2022. Colwell earned her bachelor’s in sociology from the College of St. Teresa.  ’61 Anne (Wilkins) Billings of Dayton, Ohio, passed away on April 25, 2022. Billings earned her bachelor’s in education from the College of St. Teresa.  ’63 Suzanne (Becker) Chelesnik...

After nine years of teaching at Avila, Malcolm Gold, Ph.D., was awarded Professor of the Year. Gold teaches three courses in the BSBA Business Core (Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, and Statistical Analysis) and one MBA Core (Applied Microeconomics) class.   What does winning Professor of the Year mean to you? It is an honor...

Avila Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science Jordan Wagge, Ph.D., received a $267,741 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant from the Division of Undergraduate Education to fund, evaluate, and enhance the activities of the Collaborative Replications and Education Project (CREP). “CREP is a group I have worked with since 2014; I became executive director in 2019...

Avila Associate Professor Kris Proctor, Ph.D., along with two colleagues (Richard E. Niemeyer – United States Air Force Academy and Kyle Trieber – Co-Director of the Centre for Analytic Criminology), visited with Cambridge scholars and presented research in-person and via Zoom on a panel to an international group of professors and criminology research scholars across...

New to Kansas City and — as the incoming and 15th president of Avila University — I took note of worrisome news that state universities in Kansas may soon be slashing programs, including those in the humanities. Immediately I thought of Stephen Foster. In my first job interview as a business major fresh out of...

Avila University recently announced its Spring 2022 Dean’s List recipients, recognizing the academic excellence of the more than 310 undergraduate students who earned the distinction. The dean’s list comprises undergraduate students who meet requirements in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Professional Schools, and Science and Health. All full-time admitted undergraduate students are...

After teaching mathematics for over 20 years at the College of the Ozarks, Avila Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Professor of Mathematics, Craig Haile, Ph.D., moved to the Kansas City area when his wife accepted a new job. He completed his first academic year at Avila and was recently published as a contributing author in...

KANSAS CITY, MO, May 25, 2022 – Yesterday, Avila University signed a partnership with Academic Partnerships (AP), expanding access to the university’s online graduate and adult student undergraduate programs. Avila’s venerable MBA and Master of Arts in Management programs will launch with AP in January 2023, and the University’s 13 fully online undergraduate programs will...