[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 157 (Tuesday, October 27, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2637-E2638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO SISTER DOROTHY ANN KELLY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NITA M. LOWEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 27, 2009

  Mrs. LOWEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Sister Dorothy 
Ann Kelly, OSU, whose extraordinary life of service as an educational 
leader and visionary, a champion for social justice and interfaith 
understanding, and a mentor to thousands of women and men will be 
celebrated by the Alumnae/i Association of the College of New Rochelle 
on Saturday, November 7, 2009.
  Sister Dorothy Ann, the 11th president of the College of New 
Rochelle, died suddenly on March 27, 2009, ending her 60-year 
affiliation with the college, from which she had graduated in 1951. At 
the time of her death, she was in her 6th year as Provincial Prioress 
of the Eastern Province of the Ursulines of the Roman Union, the order 
of Roman Catholic nuns that she had entered in 1952.
  Sister Dorothy Ann started her 25-year tenure as CNR president in the 
early 1970s, at a time when many all-women's colleges across the 
country were foundering. She gave new life to CNR by establishing its 
School of New Resources to educate adult students on six branch 
campuses in urban New York City neighborhoods. A commuter student from 
the Bronx, who had attended CNR on a scholarship, Sister Dorothy Ann 
saw the School of New Resources as furthering the original mission of 
the college to make higher education more accessible to those who 
weren't being well served. Two other schools were also established at 
CNR during her presidency--the School of Nursing and the Graduate 
School--earning her the unofficial title as ``second founder'' of the 
college.
  Her immeasurable talents as an effective, inspiring, tenacious and 
energetic leader soon brought her expanded roles in higher education. 
In 1978, she was named the first woman chair of the Commission of 
Independent Colleges and Universities of the State of New York, and 9 
years later, became the first woman chair of the National Association 
of Colleges and Universities.
  Sister Dorothy Ann's influence and impact were also felt in other 
arenas, on the local, national and even international scene. In 1974, 
she became one of the first members of the Executive Committee of the 
Inter-Religious Council of New Rochelle, and maintained that 
association until her death. Shortly thereafter, convinced that the 
violence in northern Ireland had to be stopped, she not only hosted 
Nobel Peace Prize winners Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams 
several times at the college, but also served as the first president of 
a New York-based group formed to finance the Northern Ireland Peace 
People. And in 1995, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as a 
member of the official U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Fourth 
World Conference on Women in Beijing.
  Her achievements and contributions to numerous organizations and 
causes won her wide recognition, with honors including induction into 
the Westchester County Women's Hall of Fame and honorary degrees from 
six U.S. colleges and universities. But far more meaningful and lasting 
are the heartfelt tributes from the thousands whose lives she touched--
and improved--through her landmark efforts to expand educational 
opportunities and increase understanding among peoples of all faiths, 
races and cultural backgrounds. I urge you to join me in honoring 
Sister Dorothy Ann Kelly's remarkable legacy of service and commitment 
to making this a better world.

[[Page E2638]]



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