Feb. 2, 2023

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MILWAUKEE — As part of Marquette University’s annual Mission Week, Feb. 5-11, students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to join in a week of events that include Mass, inspirational speakers, unique opportunities to reflect and more.

The theme of this year’s Mission Week is “Act with Kindness.”

A full schedule of Mission Week events and registration are available online. Registration is free for all events, which include:

Sunday, Feb. 5

6 p.m.: Mission Week celebrations will open with an all-university Mass in the Church of the Gesu.

Monday, Feb. 6

Noon: Award-winning author and novelist Sarah Dahmen will speak during a Marquette Women’s Reception. Dahmen is a Diederich College of Communication alumna, as well as a coppersmith and entrepreneur. Her expertise is vintage and modern cookware; she manufactures pure metal kitchenware in her Wisconsin garage for her company, House Copper & Cookware. She has published more than 100 articles as a contributing editor for various trade magazines, has written for Edible and Root + Bone, among others, and spoke at TEDx Rapid City. Her historical fiction series is in print as the “Flats Junction Series” (Promontory Press Inc.) and is in development for TV, with “Tinsmith 1865” and “Widow 1881” as the first two books available.

7 p.m.: Molly Burhans, founder of GoodLands, an organization that aims to mobilize the Catholic Church to use its land for environmental and social justice purposes, will be the featured speaker for an Ignatian Peacemaking Lecture. Burhans was the chief cartographer for the first unified digital global map of the Catholic Church in history, which was premiered in the Vatican in 2016. She was awarded the Young Champion of the Earth by the United Nations in 2019 and is one of Encyclopedia Britannica's 2022 20 Under 40 Young Shapers of the Future. In 2021, Molly was listed by National Geographic as an Emerging Explorer.

Wednesday, Feb. 8

Noon: Burhans will also be the featured guest at Soup with Substance event, where she will share her journey to map all church-owned land on the globe with the goal of creating conversations around ethical and sustainable use of this land.

Thursday, Feb. 9

7:45 a.m.: Todd Adams, vice chair of the Marquette University Board of Trustees, will be the featured guest for the Catching Fire Men’s Breakfast. Adams is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions. He has been the company’s chairman since 2020 and chief executive officer since 2009. He joined the company, formerly Rexnord Corporation, in 2004. Adams will share various experiences and aspects of his life and journey, while inviting attendees to reflect on the deeper levels of their own journey and pause to consider more wholehearted living.

7 p.m.: Karen Lincoln Michel, Marquette alumna and CEO of IndiJ Public, will deliver a keynote address and be conferred with an honorary degree from the university. IndiJ Public is a nonprofit news organization that covers the Indigenous world through a digital news site, a weekday newscast and ICT News (formerly Indian Country Today). She previously served as publisher and editor of Madison Magazine, and as a former editor with The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, Louisiana, and the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Michel started in newspapers at the La Crosse Tribune in Wisconsin and later became a staff writer for The Dallas Morning News. She has written extensively about Native American issues as a freelancer and was a columnist for The New York Times Syndicate.

Media interested in attending any of these events, or for more information, should contact Kevin Conway, associate director of university communication, at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu or by calling (414) 288-4745.

About Marquette University

Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee that offers a comprehensive range of majors in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges and schools. Through the formation of hearts and minds, Marquette prepares our 11,100 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional students to lead, excel and serve as agents of positive change. And, we deliver results. Ranked in the top 20% of national universities, Marquette is recognized for its undergraduate teaching, innovation and career preparation as the sixth-best university in the country for job placement. Our focus on student success and immersive, personalized learning experiences encourages students to think critically and engage with the world around them. When students graduate with a Marquette degree, they are truly prepared and called to Be The Difference.

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About Kevin Conway

Kevin is the associate director for university communication in the Office of University Relations. Contact Kevin at (414) 288-4745 or kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.