College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Address, Morning

Mary Jane Theis

JD (BA ’71) • Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court

Mary Jane Theis, JD (BA ’71) is an Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice for the First Judicial District, Cook County. Chief Justice Theis earned a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Chicago in 1971 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco in 1974. From 1974-1983, she was an assistant public defender in Cook County.

Chief Justice Theis has served at every level of the Judiciary in the State of Illinois. In 1983, she was appointed an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she served for five years. In 1988, Chief Justice Theis was elected to the Circuit Court, where she was assigned to both the Criminal and Chancery Divisions until 1993, when she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District. She was elected to the Appellate Court in 1994. When Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald retired in 2010, the Supreme Court appointed Justice Theis to fill his vacancy on the Court.

In her 17 years on the Appellate Court, Chief Justice Theis served as a Presiding Judge. She was Chair of the Committee on Judicial Education and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee. Chief Justice Theis was President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association, as well as President and founding member of the Illinois Judges Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI).

Chief Justice Theis has taught at conferences and seminars for the ISBA and CBA, and at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and the John Marshall Law School.

Chief Justice Theis’ honors include the American Constitution Society’s Legal Legend Award, the Illinois Judges Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the CBA’s Vanguard Award recognizing persons who have made the law and legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large, the IJA’s Celebrating the Achievement of a Judicial Icon, the CBA’s John Paul Stevens Award, the Juvenile Justice Initiative’s Champion of Children’s Rights Award, the WBAI’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Judicial Achievement Award, and the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Service to Law and Society Award.

College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Address, Afternoon

Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula, S.J.

(MA ’10, PhD ’16) • Director, Arrupe Center for Research and Training; President, African Studies Association of Africa

Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula, S.J., (MA ’10, PhD ’16), is a Jesuit priest, theologian, poet, literary critic, social scientist, and executive coach.

Fr. Kafarhire has earned a Master of Arts in Political Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations from Loyola University Chicago. Before he studied at Loyola, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Facultés Saint Pierre Canisius in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) in Ethics and Social Theories from the University of Santa Clara.

Kafarhire’s research focuses on social justice, religion, democracy and peace, political violence and conflicts in Africa Great Lakes Region, and of course global public health politics. He has taught at Loyola University Chicago, Episcopal Theological College of Pecs in Hungary, Hekima University College in Kenya, and Université Loyola du Congo (ULC) in Kinshasa, DRC. He is currently a visiting professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. Murhula was involved in Pope Francis’ visit to the DRC in 2023, helping nearly 40 students from across the country meet the Pope.

Kafarhire is an alumnus of the Distinguished Humphrey Fellowship Program at the State Department and the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program. He is the current president of African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA); a member of the Editorial Board of Global Africa Review; the Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa (CIHA) Blog; Reseau Elikya; the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network and the former Africa region coordinator of Catholic Theological Ethics in World Church (CTEWC). He works with African leaders through the Coach Africa program at the African Union.

College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Address, Evening

Matthew Kolinski

DO (BS ’06) · Founder/Chief Executive Officer, Staffing Management Group; Founder/Chief Executive Officer, USA Staffing Services; Co-Founder Lanefinder Workforce Solutions; Author

Matthew Kolinski, DO (BS ’06) is the founder and chief executive officer of Staffing Management Group, a speaker, entrepreneur, physician and author who has fostered health care innovation and business leadership.

While earning a Bachelor of Science in biology at Loyola University Chicago, he started his first business, Superior Business Staffing, to pay for medical school.

Dr. Kolinski completed his medical training at Midwestern University in 2010 and embarked on a double residency in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine. Following a residency in Milwaukee, he secured a pulmonary fellowship focusing on cystic fibrosis research at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. While on the path to becoming a pulmonary specialist, Dr. Kolinski's previous experience also led him to become founder and CEO of Staffing Management Group.

At the helm of Staffing Management Group, Dr. Kolinski oversees a portfolio of brands catering to clients including USA Staffing Services, a flagship operation founded in 2010, which leverages a large partner network to deliver staffing services in all 50 states. Dr. Kolinski has led innovative investments in blockchain technology that aim to streamline collaboration among recruiters and has also invested and co-founded Lanefinder which is an AI driven technology platform designed for the transportation industry.

He recently published his first book, “Work-Passion-Life Balance: Finding Fulfillment Through Zones of Efficiency” in 2020 and has been invited to give several keynote speeches for businesses and healthcare organizations throughout Florida and Europe.