Former CEO of Catholic Relief Services to give commencement address
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Carolyn Woo, PhD, former president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official humanitarian agency of the United States Catholic community, has been announced as Creighton University’s 2025 undergraduate commencement speaker by Creighton President the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD.
Woo will address a crowd of almost 900 students, along with their families and friends, when Creighton holds its undergraduate graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m. at the CHI Health Center.
“Dr. Woo is a well-respected organizational leader committed to serving those on the margins, caring for our common home, and working toward a more just world,” Fr. Hendrickson said. “I am honored to welcome her to Creighton, and to Omaha, to share her inspiring message with the Class of 2025.”
Formed in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to support World War II survivors in Europe, the organization has grown to serve more than 200 million people across 100 countries on five continents. Serving as CEO from 2012-2016, Dr. Woo used her expertise in corporate strategy and management to develop leaders internally and ensure those served by the organization’s mission would be cared for well into the future.
Woo will be awarded an honorary doctorate and will join three others who will also be receiving honors for their contributions to Creighton and the Omaha community: Randolph Ferlic, BS’58, MD’61, a retired cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, and his wife, Teresa Kolars Ferlic, both philanthropists and contributors to Creighton student scholarships; and James Grimaldi, executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter, and a multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist with The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
Carolyn Woo, PhD
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Carolyn Woo, PhD, is the former president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which is the official humanitarian agency of the United States Catholic community. Formed in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to support World War II survivors in Europe, the organization has grown to serve more than 200 million people across 100 countries on five continents.
Serving as CEO from 2012-2016, Dr. Woo used her expertise in corporate strategy and management to develop leaders internally and ensure those served by the organization’s mission would be cared for well into the future.
Prior to joining CRS, Dr. Woo was a distinguished academic and higher education administrator. She served from 1997 to 2011 as dean of the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and, during her tenure, the Mendoza College was frequently recognized as the nation’s leading business school in ethics education and research.
Before Notre Dame, Dr. Woo was associate executive vice president for academic affairs and a professor at her alma mater, Purdue University, where she earned three degrees, including a doctorate in strategic management after immigrating from her native Hong Kong at the age of 18. Dr. Woo also holds honorary degrees from Providence College, Loyola University of Maryland, Manhattan College, Wake Forest University and the University of Notre Dame, among others.
In 2013, Foreign Policy named Dr. Woo as one of the 500 Most Powerful people on the planet for her work and one of only 33 in the category of “a force for good.” In 2015, she was one of five presenters in Rome at the release of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ encyclical on the environment and she co-coordinated the Energy Transition dialogues held at the Vatican in 2018 and 2019.
Additional accolades and recognitions include serving as the first female dean to chair the accreditation body for business schools (AACSB), helping launch the Principles for Responsible Management Education for the United Nations Global Compact, best paper awards by the Academy of Management, selection as one of 40 Young Leaders of American Academe by Change Magazine and earning first place in the 2013 Catholic Press Association Awards for her monthly column published by the Catholic News Service.
Dr. Woo has also served on the Board of Directors of CRS, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic University of America; Archdiocese of Baltimore Independent Child Abuse Review Board; Migration & Refugee Services, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; the International Policy Committee, United States of Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Catholic Education Association, University of Portland, University of Notre Dame Australia and Ascension Health System. Current board service includes Holy Cross Family Ministries, Oblate School of Theology, and Our Sunday Visitor.
Dr. Woo is married to Dr. David E. Bartkus. They have two sons, Ryan and Justin. Her parish is the St. Matthew's Cathedral in South Bend, Indiana.
Dr. Woo... is a well-respected organizational leader committed to serving those on the margins, caring for our common home, and working toward a more just world. I am honored to welcome her to Creighton, and to Omaha, to share her inspiring message with the Class of 2025.
— Father Daniel Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, President, Creighton University
Randy Ferlic, BS’58, MD’61, and Terry Kolars Ferlic
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Randolph (Randy) Ferlic, BS’58, MD’61, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon for many years, and his wife, Teresa (Terry) Kolars Ferlic, a former nurse, have spent more than 50 years dedicated to improving the health of citizens across Nebraska and supporting educational opportunities for students – at Creighton and beyond.
The Ferlics met in Omaha shortly after Terry Kolars graduated from the Mayo Clinic’s St. Mary’s School of Nursing in Minnesota and while Randy was earning his medical doctorate. The two had much in common as both of their fathers had earned medical degrees from Creighton (James Kolars, MD’26, and Rudolph Ferlic, MD’35). They married in 1959, and in 1961 they moved to complete Randy's research and residency at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Ferlic joined the surgery staff at Cornell University Medical Center in New York in 1967 and then, from 1968 to 1970, while on active duty in the US Navy, Randy served in hospitals in Boston and New York on the USS Forrestal. He would return to Omaha in 1970 to begin a 24-year tenure at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and 13-year career at Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital where he held roles as chair of the surgery department, vice president, president, and member of the hospital board. In 1985, while at Clarkson, Randy led the team that completed Nebraska’s first heart transplant.
Terry would become an active volunteer in hospitals and schools, including sponsoring a primary school for girls in Egypt. She also explored her passion for painting, having her work displayed in galleries stretching from the west coast to the upper Midwest. Randy retired from medical practice in 1993 and Beyond medicine, he directed the Apache Corporation from 1986 to 2014, chairing its audit committee.
As engaged citizens, the Ferlics are active in supporting higher education with Randy holding leadership positions on the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, Midwestern Higher Education, University of Nebraska Board of Regents and University of Nebraska-Creighton University Healthcare Corporation.
At Creighton, Randy and Terry Ferlic have been responsible for providing nearly 250 students with the opportunity to spend a summer immersed in research through the Ferlic Fellowship Program, which was launched in 2006. Since the program’s inception nine Ferlic Fellows have been awarded Goldwater Scholarships, and three have been recognized as Goldwater honorable mentions, placing them among the country’s most prestigious undergraduate scholars in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. The Ferlics also support students through the Teresa Kolars Ferlic Endowment, Ferlic Undergraduate Research Fund and Ferlic STEM Research Fund.
They are parents to four children, two of whom earned degrees from Creighton (Ann L. Ferlic Ashford, JD’85; Jennifer Ferlic Mellitt, MHA; Sara Ferlic Bonn, MS’89; and Randolph J. Ferlic, MD) and 11 college graduates grandchildren, five with Creighton degrees (John P. Ashford, JD’08; Eleanor Ashford, BA’08; Kathrine Bonn, MS’20, BSBA’18; Thomas Ferlic, BA’16; John Ferlic, BA’17).
James Grimaldi
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James V. Grimaldi is executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the leading independent national Catholic newspaper in the United States, founded and run by lay leaders six decades ago.
Grimaldi is a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative journalist; his work at The Washington Post in 2005 exposed lobbyist Jack Abramoff's bribery schemes and he and a Wall Street Journal team in 2018 identified federal regulators investing in companies they oversaw. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri Journalism School and master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he was a Knight Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism. He also was a Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University.
He is a past president and board member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, where he has mentored young journalists for decades, and is a frequent guest lecturer at universities. Grimaldi is a member of the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the nation's leading defender of the media's First Amendment protections, and he previously served on the board of the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Grimaldi is the winner of many national and regional awards, including the Dirksen Award from the National Press Foundation, the Selden Ring Award from the University of Southern California and the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism, now a part of Harvard University.
He has many ties to the Society of Jesus. He was baptized and raised in a Jesuit parish and graduated from Jesuit-run Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri. His three brothers, three nephews and niece also are beneficiaries of a Jesuit education, and his father worked as an architect designing institutional buildings for the Jesuits.
It was a Jesuit at Rockhurst who first urged him in high school to read NCR, where he now heads the editorial operations of NCRonline.org, an award-winning nonprofit news organization that delivers news and commentary about the Catholic Church, the Vatican, politics, culture and spirituality. Among other issues, NCR has been covering ongoing changes to federal immigration policy and funding cuts to non-profit organizations that provide services such as immigrant and refugee resettlement programs.
Grimaldi's youngest son, Xavier, is a Creighton student in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program and his niece-goddaughter, Gabby, played for the Bluejays women's soccer team for five seasons. The father of two sons, Grimaldi volunteers at local church food pantries and serves as a lector, Eucharistic minister and volunteer at his parish on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., where he lives with his wife, two dogs and three cats.
