Game-changing Fly Together launches with a $100 million gift, the largest in Creighton's history
The nearly $300 million project will unite the campus with the Builder's District, an urban village anchored by the corporate headquarters of Kiewit Corporation.
By Micah Mertes
Creighton University has announced Fly Together, a nearly $300 million donor-funded initiative to reshape a 12-block recreational and athletic corridor on the east side of campus for students, student-athletes, faculty, staff, friends and fans, while strengthening the University’s ties to Omaha.
Fly Together will encompass 11 new or upgraded facilities and outdoor spaces covering approximately 700,000 square feet of campus.
Additions and enhancements will include a new Student Fitness Center, upgrades to the Rasmussen Fitness & Sports Center, and the creation of the Jaywalk, a new pedestrian thoroughfare that will connect Creighton to the Builder's District, the rising urban village across 17th Street, anchored by Kiewit Corporation’s headquarters. Fly Together will also include a new Sports Performance Center for Creighton’s 300 student-athletes; improvements to current athletics buildings; and an accompanying team facility to complement new baseball and softball fields.
Fly Together’s launch supports Forward Blue, the largest fundraising campaign in the University’s history.
Announced publicly in 2021, Forward Blue has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from tens of thousands of donors, supporting scholarships, mission, academics, programs and capital projects at Creighton.
The University’s priorities include supporting the humanities and global outreach through such major initiatives as the Kingfisher Institute, the Institute for Population Health and the Arrupe Global Scholars and Partnerships program.
During Forward Blue, Creighton has raised more than $244 million in scholarship support, creating nearly 500 new scholarships for students.
In the past decade, the University has seen a 47% increase in extramural research funds (to $31 million) and a 38% increase in endowed faculty chairs, totaling $33.6 million.
Philanthropic support generated through the Forward Blue campaign has constructed or upgraded 18 campus buildings and seven outdoor spaces, including the Creighton University Health Sciences – Phoenix Campus, the CL and Rachel Werner Center for Health Sciences Education, Graves Hall and Simpson Family Courtyard, the School of Dentistry building and clinic, The Ruth Scott Training Center, the Mike & Josie Harper Center, the Jérôme Nadal, SJ, Jesuit Residence, the 24th Street corridor, and St. John’s fountain and plaza, among others. In the spring, the University announced the donor-funded construction of the 5.7-acre Creighton Quad.
Creighton’s investment (including public-private partnerships) in Omaha’s urban core since 2015 will have grown to $1 billion by the early 2030s.
(See details and renderings of the facilities or read more about how Fly Together facilities will connect Creighton more closely to downtown Omaha via the Builder's District.)
The University launches Fly Together with a $100 million lead gift from the Heider Family Foundation — the largest gift in Creighton’s history.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Heider family and the additional donors who are making this moment possible,” said Creighton President Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD.
Other early lead donors to Fly Together include Don Scott, CL and Rachel Werner, and Larry and Linda Pearson. Fly Together will be entirely donor-funded.
Fly Together continues and builds upon Creighton’s momentum over the past decade, said Fr. Hendrickson.
“This gift, and our campus master planning, is comprehensive of our people and programs. It benefits everyone. It enhances student life, intramurals, premier club sports and intercollegiate athletics. It also strengthens Creighton’s connection to downtown and the broader Omaha community."
In addition to academic accomplishments, Fr. Hendrickson said, Creighton continues to build out programs "that are meaningful to the experience of Creighton students and the community at large. Fly Together gives us the opportunity to take significant strides while also embracing the strengths, values and mission of the University.”
Marcus Blossom, McCormick Endowed Athletic Director, said investing in Fly Together will enhance the student experience and drive the recruitment and retention of top student-athletes.
“Investing in this project will make us better. Investing in this project will, I believe, help us win and help us compete with some of the best programs in the country.”
Lead donors Cindy and Scott Heider, trustees of the Heider Family Foundation, said the breadth and depth of Fly Together make it a unique effort in higher education.
“Fly Together will serve students and student-athletes, but importantly, it will serve the Omaha community itself,” said Scott Heider, who is also a member of the University’s Board of Trustees.
Fly Together will connect the reimagined east campus with the Builder’s District, Heider said, giving the University and the city something that neither has had before: a front porch connecting to Creighton.
“Fly Together will deepen the bond between Creighton and Omaha and create countless new opportunities for the community to engage with the campus and the Builder’s District.”
Cindy Heider, Heider Family Foundation president, said it has been rewarding for her family to be a part of the Creighton community, “as it was for Scott’s mother and father before us. I believe that’s one of the biggest reasons we’re supporting Fly Together: Creighton is an amazing community, and we want to invite more people to be a part of it.”
Read more about the Heider family’s longtime support of Creighton and Omaha.
* * *
Fly Together for Students and Community
The new Student Fitness Center and upgrades to the Rasmussen Center will enhance Creighton’s offerings in fitness, intramurals and club sports, a significant factor driving University admissions.
Along with faculty and staff, Creighton students use the current fitness facility more than 200,000 times per year. More than 4,500 intramural participants compete annually on over 800 teams. More than 450 students (44% of whom are freshmen) compete in club sports in 22 different programs.
This year, Creighton added six premier club sports to its roster: women’s and men’s ice hockey, women’s and men’s golf, and women’s and men’s lacrosse. These programs will compete at an elevated, intercollegiate level. (Read more about Creighton's premier club sports programs here.)
Pre-med student Jack Vandenbussche helped start the men’s club sports lacrosse team two years ago when he arrived at Creighton. He said the opportunity to continue competing in his high school sport has been a significant part of his student experience.
“I came to Creighton for the academics,” Vandenbussche said. “I could have gone to some Division III schools to play lacrosse, but they just didn’t offer the same kind of academic experience as Creighton. Now, having the higher level of competition of premier club sports at Creighton will honestly be like a dream come true.”
For Vandenbussche and thousands of other students, the future student fitness center and upgrades to the Rasmussen Center will provide approximately 130,000 square feet of indoor fitness and recreation space, connected via the Jaywalk.
The 10-block, $650 Builder's District — developed by Noddle Companies, backed by Kiewit Corporation and anchored by the latter’s corporate headquarters — will include an urban park and community space, a destination hotel, retail, restaurants, entertainment, offices and 600 apartments available to Creighton’s undergraduate and professional students.
The parallel rise of the Builder’s District with Creighton’s Fly Together project further strengthens both endeavors, said Fr. Hendrickson.
“These developments are an innovative partnership. They bring the life of the University and the life of the city closer together than ever, continuing to build on Creighton’s investment in Omaha's urban core.”
The blending of new campus facilities with a new urban village, Fr. Hendrickson said, will attract more students to Creighton and, in turn, create further brain gain for Omaha and Nebraska.
With each new freshman class, nearly 80% of Creighton students come from out of state. Nearly half of all undergraduates stay in Nebraska after graduating.
Amid declining college enrollment nationally, Creighton’s long-term efforts to recruit and retain students are proving successful. In the fall of 2024, the University showed a school-record 94% first-to-second-year retention rate. This fall, Creighton celebrated the largest freshman class in its history: approximately 1,250 students, bringing total enrollment to a record 8,914.
Significant campus improvements like the Fly Together facilities and the recently announced 5.7-acre Creighton Quad will continue to help drive recruitment and retention of students, Fr. Hendrickson said.
“I speak to so many of our alumni around the nation. They are always proud of this campus and the ways it continues to grow and evolve, making the experience for current and future students all the better.
"Fly Together supports institutional priorities and strategies, and an aspirational vision that has been taking shape in recent years. It is another expression of excellence for Creighton University and its continued partnership with the city and state we call home."
* * *
Fly Together for Student-athletes
Fly Together's support of intercollegiate athletes will benefit Creighton teams and fans alike.
“Creighton Athletics is on an upward trajectory and, to keep going in the right direction, we need to continue to invest in the things that matter,” Blossom said.
Greg McDermott, men's basketball head coach, said that Creighton is competing with institutions and conferences "that have astronomical TV contracts providing support for their students.
"So how do we catch up? Where can we make up that difference? In addition to revenue-sharing, facility enhancements are one of the ways we can. When the Fly Together project is complete, Creighton's facilities will be among the best of the best, keeping us competitive with the programs we're going toe-to-toe with every day.”
The strength of Creighton athletics programs has given the University a national spotlight in recent years.
In 2022, the women’s basketball team made its first NCAA Elite Eight appearance. In 2023, the men’s basketball team made its first Elite Eight appearance since 1941. In 2022, the men’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA’s College Cup, collegiate soccer’s Final Four. And last fall, Creighton’s powerhouse volleyball team earned its 13th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the second time.
Creighton is the only school in the country to advance to the Elite Eight in men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball in the last four years.
With its addition of the Sports Performance Center and enhancements to D.J. Sokol Arena and The Ruth Scott Training Center, Fly Together will be “transformational for women’s athletics in so many different ways,” said volleyball head coach Brian Rosen.
“Fly Together will allow us to recruit incredible student-athletes, retain them and give them the experience we want them to have at Creighton.”
Ava Martin, a volleyball player and senior in the Heider College of Business, said Fly Together embraces the greatest strength of Creighton Athletics (and the University generally): a strong culture.
“The culture at Creighton is something I knew I wouldn’t find anywhere else,” Martin said. “All of our coaches, the staff, our professors and Athletics supporters really care about who you are as a person. I’ve learned so much, on and off the court, and I feel like I’ve truly become a better person because of Creighton.”
Like Martin, nearly all student-athletes who come to Creighton remain at Creighton.
Creighton is one of 21 schools in the country with a Graduate Success Rate of 95% or above for all student-athletes for the last 11 years, keeping up with such schools as Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford and Yale.
“Athletics needs to be seen as a part of the University — not as apart from the University," said Jim Flanery, women's basketball head coach. "Fly Together embraces that. It will serve our student-athletes as students and athletes, but also in other ways, through the opportunities for personal and spiritual formation that are unique to Creighton.”
Watch video interviews with Marcus Blossom, coaches McDermott, Flanery and more.
* * *
More about Fly Together
Creighton and Kiewit's partnership
* * *
Fly Together’s launch supports Forward Blue, the largest fundraising campaign in the University’s history.
Announced publicly in 2021, Forward Blue has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from tens of thousands of donors, supporting scholarships, mission, academics, programs and capital projects at Creighton.
The University’s priorities include supporting the humanities and global outreach through such major initiatives as the Kingfisher Institute, the Institute for Population Health and the Arrupe Global Scholars and Partnerships program.
During Forward Blue, Creighton has raised more than $244 million in scholarship support, creating nearly 500 new scholarships for students.
In the past decade, the University has seen a 47% increase in extramural research funds (to $31 million) and a 38% increase in endowed faculty chairs, totaling $33.6 million.
Philanthropic support generated through the Forward Blue campaign has constructed or upgraded 18 campus buildings and seven outdoor spaces, including the Creighton University Health Sciences – Phoenix Campus, the CL and Rachel Werner Center for Health Sciences Education, Graves Hall and Simpson Family Courtyard, the School of Dentistry building and clinic, The Ruth Scott Training Center, the Mike & Josie Harper Center, the Jérôme Nadal, SJ, Jesuit Residence, the 24th Street corridor, and St. John’s fountain and plaza, among others. In the spring, the University announced the donor-funded construction of the 5.7-acre Creighton Quad.
Creighton’s investment (including public-private partnerships) in Omaha’s urban core since 2015 will have grown to $1 billion by the early 2030s.