FROM PRESIDENT

Isabelle Cherney, Ph.D., Mount Mary University

Dear Mount Mary Alumni and Friends,

Soyez la bienvenue!

The 2023-24 academic year is officially underway and off to an exciting start. There are so many wonderful things happening around our campus community right now, and many others in development that we look forward to sharing! Our mission calls us to provide access to the most vulnerable and create an environment for the development of the whole person. During this season of Thanksgiving as we reflect on our many blessings, we pray for peace and remember those who are suffering violence around the world.

Reflecting on this first year as president of Mount Mary University, I am continually reminded of how blessed I am to lead such a mission-centric, diverse and inclusive institution of higher education. Although there are many challenges facing single-sex faithbased universities, Mount Mary is adaptive, creative, innovative, transformative and poised for a bright future.

This past year, we accomplished so much. We had over 400 students taking summer classes. Our yearly Summer Leadership Program welcomed over 80 high-school girls, and our Summer Fashion Academy was a great success. Over 860 visitors admired our senior fashion design students’ creations displayed at the CREO fashion show. This fall, our first-year undergraduate class increased by 10%. We began the fall semester by welcoming one of our most diverse groups of students in our history. Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is reflected in our recent rankings in the U.S. News and World Report, once again lauding Mount Mary as a regional leader in social mobility, diversity and value. I was pleased to see our rankings improve in each category, including being the leader in social mobility in the Midwest.

This commitment is demonstrated in the many actions that we collectively undertake. A few notable examples include our campus ministry’s spring service-learning trip to the United States border to learn about immigration issues (see story on page 12) and the recent grand opening of our Center for Culture, Identity and Belonging (page 24). This fall, we also celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month and our status as one of only three Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the state of Wisconsin. Our diversity is truly our strength! This issue of Mount Mary Magazine reflects upon our embrace of science, technology, Reflection, engineering, art and math (STREAM) in all aspects of education. We recognize the vital importance of incorporating technology into every major, shaping our students to be adaptive and reflective leaders who are equipped to enter the workforce with vision, compassion, purpose and confidence. This Reflection, emphasized in the core curriculum, prepares our students to be thoughtful leaders.

Our STREAM undergraduate curriculum prepares students well for a fast-paced, complex future where people must collaborate to solve difficult problems ethically.

This summer, thanks to a grant, we added an Anatomage table to our list of innovative technology. The interactive table allows students and faculty to dissect the human body without the need for cadavers and learn anatomy in a way that is visual, interactive and intricate. We opened the School of Nursing and organized our other existing academic programs into the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Graduate Health and Professional Programs. Our largest undergraduate majors are nursing, biology, psychology, fashion design, and interior architecture and design, and our new UX design major has already drawn attention from large corporations. Our largest graduate programs open to women and men are counseling (including a Ph.D.), occupational therapy (including OTD), art therapy, dietetics and education.

Strong foundation, bright future

We are excited to be in the initial stages of building partnerships with several corporate and non-profit organizations, both locally and nationally. The development of the Institute for the Advancement of Women and Children continues to unfold as former dean of the Schools of Art and Design and Business Bob Schwartz steps into a new role fostering relationships that will benefit our students, faculty, staff and university, connecting us to emerging technology and opportunities to learn from local and national industry leaders (see story on page 6).

This year, women’s leadership has been at the forefront of conversation in the media. The popularity of the movie “Barbie” has helped shine a spotlight on feminism. We examine the complexities of a cultural phenomenon that has been viewed as a trend-setting style icon and at the same time a symbol of the impossible expectations that women continue to face (see story on page 10). At MMU we have always recognized the need for strong female voices as we continue to help shape our future leaders to change the world in positive ways.

The conversation about authenticity and leadership was also highlighted at our annual Voices of Leadership event this November (see story on page 16). Keynote speaker April Hansen reiterated the importance of helping employees become more engaged within the workplace, preventing burnout while allowing individuals and teams to thrive. It is more critical now than ever before that we build an engaged workforce and nurture the ambition and tenacity required to solve the systemic issues our world faces. We are confident that the education we provide will equip our students with the skills, abilities, connections, experiences, and passion required to go forth to be a leading voice in the world.

We welcome new board members, Dr. Eileen Schwalbach, Joel Brennan and Jeff Scott. I look forward to their shared insight as we continue to shape the direction of the university. I am deeply grateful to our outgoing board members, Mary Jo Layden, Sue Bellehumeur, Sister Sandra Ann Weinke and Sister Janet Abbacchi. Their leadership has been instrumental in the progress we have made over the past few years.

The School Sisters of Notre Dame, our beloved sponsors who created Mount Mary 110 years ago, had few resources except determination and prayers. Despite these challenges, they ventured forth to educate, believing then as we do now that education is the great equalizer. Education changes lives: it creates possibilities for lowincome students to get higher-paying jobs, feeding not only their families, but also lifting them out of poverty. Social justice is possible through education. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.”

I am so proud of our community shaping future leaders. Our mission of inclusivity, diversity, equity and belonging provides a safe environment for our students to grow and thrive. This commitment can only be accomplished through the pursuit of social justice, with an unfailing respect and dignity for all persons.

We look forward to the year ahead and the many developments unfolding at Mount Mary as we grow and evolve as an academic institution. We continue to be one community shaping tomorrow’s game changers!