The Family University
Three Families Support
Creighton, Xavier,
and John Carroll
across Generations
By Michael Austin
DICKHUTE’S FATHER GREW UP IN SMALL-TOWN IOWA DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WAS ONLY ABLE TO ATTEND CREIGHTON DUE TO A SCHOLARSHIP. ROOM AND BOARD WERE COVERED BY AN OMAHA MORTUARY, WHERE HE LIVED IN EXCHANGE FOR DRIVING AROUND TOWN TO PICK UP THE DECEASED.
This past July, moments after Paul Hulseman walked his oldest daughter down the aisle at her wedding, he turned to the groom.
“I said, ‘Matt, I have three wishes for you,’” Hulseman says. “‘The first is that any tears be tears of joy. The second is that since laughter is a gift from God, may you be blessed abundantly with laughter. The third is that if you ever have any children, they attend John Carroll.’”
It’s tradition for the Hulseman family. To date, 18 immediate and extended family members call John Carroll University their alma mater, including Hulseman (’82), his wife Patrice McCauley Hulseman (’80), and five of their 13 kids—a sixth is a JCU freshman. There’s also McCauley Hulseman’s father, John McCauley (’50), a native New Yorker who took advantage of the GI Bill with the encouragement of a Jesuit priest who was a family friend.
Paul Hulseman—who recently accepted a job as special assistant to the president at John Carroll—and his wife Patrice, have made several treks from their Chicago-area home to Cleveland. Though six of the Hulseman children chose different Jesuit universities, it’s possible the early visits had something to do with the others’ choice to attend JCU.
The Hulsemans hold the lead at JCU, but they have competition at two other Jesuit schools in the Midwest.
Tom Partridge, one of 20 Xavier alumni in his family, says, “I think it’s fair to say that upon my father’s return to Xavier, it became my immediate family’s university— even though it had already been in the family.” Partridge’s daughter is scheduled to graduate in 2023.
The Partridges’ story began with Tom Partridge’s maternal grandfather, who grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from Xavier in 1929. Partridge’s parents later met at a Xavier basketball game. His mother, Joy Partridge (née Glueck), was an undergrad at Cincinnati’s Edgecliff College (before it merged with Xavier in 1980; Xavier went coed in 1970) and went on to earn a master’s from Xavier in 1988. His father, the late Milton A. Partridge, also graduated from Xavier and then taught in Cincinnati public schools and at Marquette University before returning to Xavier, where he taught from 1966 to 1991.
Additionally, there have been sisters, a brother, nieces, uncles, cousins—including Jo Ann Osterkamp-Henderson (’84), the first Xavier women’s basketball player to have her jersey retired—and, of course, Partridge’s daughter, who represents the family’s fourth generation of Xavier students.
“She felt very at home on that campus,” Partridge says. “To have another Partridge walk the grounds where I once walked, my siblings walked, and my father once worked, made a big difference.”
Nancy Lawler Dickhute also returned to her alma mater to teach. She graduated from Creighton University—one of 23 family members to do so—in 1974, returning to earn her law degree (’84) and eventually teach in the law school, where she is currently a professor emerita.
The Lawlers’ connection began with their father, Matthew P. Lawler Jr., who began undergraduate studies in 1942 and graduated from the medical school five years later. Nine of his children graduated from Creighton, many with multiple degrees, and in 1982, six of them were enrolled at once. Five of their spouses and eight of their children also graduated from Creighton, as recently as 2021.
“I think my dad’s experience positively influenced each of his children’s decision to attend,” says Dickhute, who grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. “When we went to Omaha as children, Dad would always want to visit the campus to see what had changed.”
Michael Austin is a freelance writer based in Chicago, a national James Beard Award finalist for magazine feature writing, and a former nationally syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
Dickhute’s father grew up in small-town Iowa during the Great Depression and was only able to attend Creighton due to a scholarship. Room and board were covered by an Omaha mortuary, where he lived in exchange for driving around town to pick up the deceased.
The Creighton experience was drastically different for Nancy Lawler Dickhute, who met her husband Mark Dickhute (BA ’80, JD ’83) while in law school. The size of the school and the personal attention she received from her professors suited her. But the family connection helped, too.
“The fact that I had brothers and sisters on campus was a plus,” she says. “I never felt like a ‘number.’ Even in larger classes, my professors knew me.”
When a university is so much a part of the fabric of a family, the literal fabric is everywhere. Dickhute has three Creighton T-shirts, a jersey, a winter vest, and a couple scarves. Partridge sheepishly admits to owning eight Xavier pullovers, seven baseball caps, five polo shirts, two T-shirts, three wall hangings, and three flags. One of his brothers-in-law has a giant “X” painted on a basement wall, and another owns a piece of the original scoreboard from the Cintas Center, home of Xavier basketball and volleyball.
Recently, Paul Hulseman hosted a Chicago send-off party for incoming JCU freshmen. As a thank you, the admissions office sent a logo-emblazoned blanket with a note that read, “We think you have everything else!”
Addressing
the Need:
Jesuit Education to Take Deeper
Root in Cincinnati
By Quentin Maguire
“The Midwest Jesuits are pleased to join with CISE in this vital undertaking,” said V. Rev. Karl Kiser, SJ, provincial of the Midwest Jesuits. “Like CISE, the Jesuits have extensive experience working in resilient communities impacted by historical disinvestment as well as deep roots and a commitment to educational excellence in Cincinnati.”
From left: Deacon Royce Winters, Mabe Rodriguez, and V. Rev. Karl Kiser, SJ
The Midwest Jesuits and Catholic Inner-City Schools Education (CISE) have announced the creation of a Catholic middle school in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to serve boys in third through eighth grade. Located on-site at the Church of the Resurrection, this new school will serve families in the heart of Bond Hill and other nearby neighborhoods in the African American community.
Eligible students from families of modest economic means will qualify for enrollment. Once established, the school is expected to expand the pool of boys who qualify for admission to area Catholic high schools. Through a rigorous academic program and robust faith formation, graduates of this new school will be prepared to thrive at all of the excellent Catholic high schools in Cincinnati. While the name was not finalized by press time, supporters are hopeful it will closely reflect the Jesuit traditions in the area. The opening is scheduled for August 2023.
“The Midwest Jesuits are pleased to join with CISE in this vital undertaking,” said V. Rev. Karl Kiser, SJ, provincial of the Midwest Jesuits. “Like CISE, the Jesuits have extensive experience working in resilient communities impacted by historical disinvestment as well as deep roots and a commitment to educational excellence in Cincinnati.”
The school will join the 10 CISE schools currently serving more than 2,300 students in pre-K through eighth grade in Cincinnati. The Jesuits have eight other schools serving approximately 1,000 pre-K through eighth grade students throughout the Midwest.
African American boys continue to be a focus of growth, as they are in CISE’s other schools serving families of limited means. Data suggests that an all-boys configuration enables a curriculum with instructional approaches tailored to gender learning differences and highlights fraternity formation, service, and responsible growth into adulthood.
“CISE thrives in our care for students from poverty throughout Cincinnati, and we need to redouble our efforts to ensure the success of African American boys who, despite great promise, drop out of our schools at a higher rate than the overall peer group,” said Mabe Rodriguez, executive director of CISE. “We need another solution in our CISE network of schools. The Jesuits have a proven model.” Rodriguez also noted, “We know if we can get our CISE graduates into and through our Catholic high schools, the trajectory of success skyrockets. African American graduates of our Catholic high schools break the cycle of poverty for their families and become excellent fathers, husbands, and leaders in our Cincinnati community. The Catholic community of Cincinnati needs to come together to address this need. We are betting on this as the answer.”
Quentin Maguire is director of communications for the Midwest Jesuits. He has worked with the Jesuits for over 12 years.
Deacon Royce Winters, director of African American evangelization for the archdiocese and pastoral administrator at the Church of the Resurrection further explained, “We need this school. We are losing our boys. We are losing the incredible gifts they can offer our community, city, and Church. Our Catholic school system is missing too many of them. This unique school will make a tremendous difference.”
The inception of the school came from a generous donor seeking to make a transformational gift to provide opportunities, particularly for boys. CISE was able to identify the Bond Hill neighborhood as an ideal locale, and the project commenced. Next steps include settling on the name, hiring the first president, and raising funds to prepare the school for the students.
Success STEMs from a Jesuit Education
The Ken Melrose Technology Lab Enriches the Curriculum At Cristo Rey Jesuit High School-Twin Cities
By David Hart
When you think of the Society of Jesus, the first four-letter acronym that comes to mind is likely AMDG, which stands for ad majorem dei gloriam, “for the greater glory of God.” The phrase, attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola, has been known as a cornerstone of the Society of Jesus for centuries.
Sophomore Gezelle Gonzalez Moldonado is assisted by Steve Bergman of the technical support team.
Photo: David Hrbacek
This year, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School- Twin Cities is incorporating another four-letter acronym that complements their Jesuit mission: STEM. The Ken Melrose Technology Lab, which opened October 2021, includes every type of state-of-the-art technology imaginable. The $1.7 million addition features 3D printers, an embroidery machine, CNC routers, drones, robots, large format printers, a vinyl cutter, video equipment, and a “Whisper Room,” a sound booth for recording and editing audio clips.
The planning for a technology lab for the school began in May 2020, inspired by the work that the students have been doing at their Corporate Work Study Program placements in recent years. “When we first opened in 2007, students in our Corporate Work Study Program moved paper,” recalls the school’s current president, Jeb Myers, who was hired as assistant principal during the school’s first year of operation, by the school’s founding principal Kris Melloy. “They filed, scanned, and moved paper. Now, they move electrons; they’re running databases and 3D printers. We wanted to start them even earlier by embedding those skills into our curriculum.”
Myers sees the space expanding the way that all courses—not just math and science—are taught. Rather than a traditional assignment in which students would write a paper on the civil rights movement for history class, the technology lab gives students the opportunity to present their knowledge in creative, innovative ways. Some might record the stories they have heard from their grandparents in the Whisper Room sound booth; others can use the large-format printer to construct a pictograph that tells the story.
“When you look at our space, you’ll see band saws and chop saws next to laser systems that etch glass, paper, and metal, and you kind of wonder how that fits in with a Jesuit education,” says Myers. “Cura personalis, care for the whole person, is really about helping people feel good or feel successful. This technology lab is another way to demonstrate your God-given skills in a way that really fits you.”
David Hart is an intern for the Midwest Jesuits and a senior at Loyola University Chicago, where he is majoring in advertising and public relations.
The technology lab was fully funded by Ken Melrose, a longtime donor to Cristo Rey Jesuit High School-Twin Cities who sadly passed away before the lab opened. Speaking about Melrose’s generosity, Myers says, “God works in wonderful ways when you have a mission. At Cristo Rey, we say, ‘we’re here to serve others.’ We want others to be successful. In reality, Ken Melrose felt a deep bond to our mission; that is really what made it happen. It is a mission that really spoke to him and what he believed in.”
And the mission continues to grow. When the first Cristo Rey school was founded in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago in 1996, its goal was to provide high school diplomas to an underserved community. From there, the Corporate Work Study Program helped evolve the mission of getting students to graduate from college. The mission has evolved yet again to incorporate Cristo Rey alumni entering fulfilling careers after college. As Myers states, “Care for the whole person doesn’t stop at grade 12; it doesn’t stop at college. It keeps going throughout life.”
In This Issue
Photo: David Hrbacek