Humans of Regis: John Hickey

(Photo courtesy of KRCX)

What brought you to Regis?

I have been here since I started at Regis in 1989. I was just married to my wife who is from New York, her parents had moved out here when she was in college so we had come out a couple times and when we got married we knew we wanted to eventually move out to Colorado. So when we got married we figured that was the time to do it when everything was new. When I came out I didn’t know that Regis existed. I worked in colleges back in New York and I looked at what colleges were around here. Neither one of us had jobs when we came out here. I saw that Regis was here and that Regis was the only Catholic college in the entire region. In New York there are Catholic colleges everywhere so it was just like I have got to get in there. It took a year, but a year later I ended up getting the job.

What is your favorite Jesuit Value? Why?

I think that my favorite Jesuit Value would be Cura Personalis. I have always been a believer in sort of a holistic approach to life. You have to take care of your intellectual self, your emotional self and your spiritual self. So that has always just resonated with me and its also you know working with students it is a natural one. You get to know students in the classroom and outside of the classroom. That is the one that resonates with me the most.

Tell us about your position as Associate Dean.

I am one of two Associate Deans in the college; we have one Dean so we are a rather small office, which means we do everything. I liken it to keeping the wheels rolling. We have to make sure that we have classes, make sure we have faculty, and make sure the semester goes through. It is good. It is a busy job. In this office there is an awful lot of traffic. People are constantly coming in asking questions so I spend a lot of my time answering questions and solving problems, but again, we are a tight office. We have a great staff in the dean’s office. It is a fun place to work.

What has been your best memory while at Regis?

I think one of the things I am most proud of at my time here at Regis has been having KRCX’s music playing outside of the student center. There is nothing better than walking across the quad and hearing a song that you particularly like. I have been KRCX’s advisor for a bunch of years and when I first started here they did not have that music playing out on the quad so I think that is one of the things I am most proud of. It just feels right to hear music across the quad.

Is there anything else you would like the Regis community to know?

I think we have got a really special place here at Regis. It doesn't happen without a lot of people working. Especially in times like this where there is a lot of division. I think it is nice to recognize what we have here at Regis. We need to work to make it even better because I am not saying it is perfect. We have a lot of issues just like everywhere has issues. It goes back to that Cura Personalis. A lot of the people who work here, faculty, staff, they really care about what happens. They care about their students so I think that’s really nice to see and be a part of. And figuring out, alright how do we work through it as a community. How do we work through our challenging difficult times as a community?

Samantha Jewell Social Media Editor