Mary Edward Healy Papers

Collection

Identifier: UA-03-A06

Staff Only

This collection includes the professional and personal papers of Sister Mary Edward Healy, the sixth president of the College of St. Catherine. Materials include correspondence, reports, awards, publications, biographical and historical materials, photographs and artifacts.

The bulk of the collection is focused on her time as a faculty member at the College of St. Catherine, with a limited amount relating to her early life and education. Most materials document her roles as teacher, dean and president. Many files relate to her studies in sociology and courses she taught on that subject.

Also of note are her fundraising efforts, particularly those related to the Ford Foundation Grant received in 1963-1964.

Dates

1938 - 1992

About Sister Mary Edward Healy

Sister Mary Edward was born Mary Marcella Healy on July 23, 1906 in Montrose, South Dakota. She attended Cathedral High School in Sioux Falls, graduating head of her class in 1924. She then went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in Latin and history from the University of Minnesota in 1928. Following her education, she briefly returned to South Dakota, where she taught at Ravinia High School and then joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1930.

After joining the CSJs, Sister Mary Edward continued teaching, first at St. Margaret’s Academy and St. Anthony High School in Minneapolis (1933-1938) and then at Derham Hall in St. Paul (1938-1939). She studied sociology at the Catholic University of America, receiving her master’s degree in 1940 and her doctorate in 1948. In 1966, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters from St. Thomas College.

Healy began teaching sociology at the College of St. Catherine (CSC) in 1941, becoming chair of the department in 1948 and dean of students 1955. She held both of these positions until she was appointed president of the College in 1961. Among other organizations driven by a social interest, Healy served on the American Catholic Sociological Society and the Minnesota Conference on Social Work Education.

During her tenure as president, Derham Hall High School moved off the CSC campus to a new location. With this move, the completion of St. Mary’s Hall, and the library expansion, there was ample room for the student body and the curriculum to expand. International studies began to develop and expand to new areas of the world. Sister Mary Edward also appointed the first lay dean, Marie Corrigan. One of Healy’s biggest contributions to the continuing success of CSC was securing a $1,000,000 match grant from the Ford Foundation in 1963 for which $2,000,000 in matching funds were raised from 1963-1966.

In 1964, she was chosen to be provincial superior of the CSJs and left the presidency for her new post. She served in that capacity until 1970, before teaching briefly at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles and eventually rejoining the CSC faculty in 1971. In 1974 she retired to the post of telephone operator and receptionist at CSC until 1981.

Sister Mary Edward died at Bethany Convent on Sept. 27, 1991.