[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. MARY PAT SEURKAMP

 Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the outstanding 
leadership and accomplishments of Mary Pat Seurkamp, Ph.D., president 
of Notre Dame of Maryland University.
  The College of Notre Dame of Maryland was founded in Baltimore by the 
School Sisters of Notre Dame to educate women and the poor. The 
institution was chartered in 1895 and was known as the College of Notre 
Dame of Maryland until September of 2011, when it was officially 
renamed Notre Dame of Maryland University. The undergraduate Women's 
College of the School of Arts and Sciences remains at the heart of the 
university and is the only women's college in Maryland. Under Dr. 
Seurkamp's leadership, Notre Dame of Maryland has flourished as one of 
the Nation's strongest women's institutions, fully embracing its role 
in preparing young women to understand and meet society's challenges.
  Under Dr. Seurkamp's leadership, the college has also found new ways 
to meet society's needs. The Accelerated College was founded to help 
working women and men earn their undergraduate degrees. Now known as 
the College of Adult Undergraduate Studies, this division has continued 
to adapt to the needs of working adults and community institutions, 
offering courses on the Baltimore campus and at regional higher 
education centers and partnering hospitals.
  Dr. Seurkamp, responding to expanding job opportunities in the area 
of health care, worked to found the Notre Dame of Maryland University 
School of Pharmacy, the second pharmacy school in Maryland and the 
first at a women's college in the United States. The School of 
Pharmacy, like the new School of Nursing and the School of Education, 
offers professional education rooted in the Catholic tradition of the 
liberal arts and service to others.
  As part of the implementation of the campus's 20-year master plan, 
Dr. Seurkamp worked not only to enhance the beauty of the university 
grounds but also to ensure that university buildings are 
environmentally sustainable.
  Dr. Seurkamp has been honored with numerous leadership awards, as 
well as the papal honor of Dame of the Order of St. Gregory. Her work 
reminds us of the critical role that higher education plays in defining 
our country's workforce and shaping our country's future.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Dr. Seurkamp on her 
15 years of outstanding accomplishments as president of Notre Dame 
University of Maryland and in wishing her well in her 
retirement.

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