The Value of a President

When Sister Maureen McGarrity, CSFN, ’70, PhD, attended the thenHoly Family College in the 1960s, she was already impressed with what the still-new institution offered to her and her fellow students.

“It was a small women’s college with a very streamlined curriculum, yet I think that my impression coincides with some of the graduates who went here even earlier than me. We felt like we had nothing to apologize for,” she remembers. “If anything, I think that we were overeducated because Holy Family was trying to compensate for its newness. It provided a good, strong curriculum that you could build on. Some of our earliest graduates have reinforced that with me. In those early days, they received a very strong education that provided them with a foundation for life.”

Holy Family University established a powerful foundation for Sister Maureen, who will be stepping down from the Presidency of the University this summer after serving in the role since July 2014. Of course, as the Holy Family community knows, Sister Maureen’s time serving the University community extends far beyond her recent years as President. Her earlier positions at Holy Family include Associate Professor, Department Chair, Division Head, Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Associate Provost for Academic Services, and Provost. There are virtually no departments of the University that have not benefited from the invaluable wisdom and leadership of Sister Maureen over the last few decades.

Even in her years as a student, Sister Maureen’s decisions were informed by her intention to make Holy Family a better place. Not only did she pursue her PhD in microbiology out of a genuine interest in the subject, but because she also believed that educating herself in that discipline would fill a future need for Holy Family. She recalls, “I wanted to major in an area of biology that had a lot of human application. Between what I had been doing when I went away to do my doctoral degree and what I saw for the future of Holy Family in terms of health care and the biology department, microbiology seemed like an obvious choice. I made sure to go to a school where microbiology was housed in the medical school to get the orientation that I wanted.”

Sister Maureen returned to Holy Family after earning her PhD at Saint Louis University. Teaching was one of her favorite roles at the University, primarily because it enabled her to connect with many students and become part of both their education and their lives. She says, “My conversations with students, aside from imparting content, were my favorite part of teaching — learning about them, their families, what they wanted to do, and how we might be able to help them. I’ve always said that labs were my favorite part of teaching because during that you have some downtime enabling you to talk to the students, and you get to know them.”

Even at that time, Sister Maureen was thinking of bold ways to help improve Holy Family. “When I first came back from graduate school, one of my earliest wins was revamping the biology curriculum,” she recalls. “We took it apart and put it together in a whole new way.” It was the first of many instances where Sister Maureen would help improve critical aspects of Holy Family. As an instructor, she received the University’s Ray L. Taylor Award for Faculty Development three times (1995, 1998, 2001). During her tenure as President alone, Holy Family underwent many substantial improvements, including the renovation and expansion of Marian Hall and Alpha House, enhancements to the biology and chemistry labs, the creation of the Center for Teaching and Learning, the introduction of two new doctoral programs, and full accreditation to offer online courses, among other key accomplishments. In addition to her long record of service at Holy Family, Sister Maureen also served in various other leadership roles as well, including serving on the Board of Directors for the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce for six years (with one term as its Chair), the Strategic Planning Committee of the Board at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary for four years, as Chair of the Research Committee for the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities for two years.

One value that has been woven throughout Sister Maureen’s many roles at Holy Family University is leadership. While she feels that some might see her as “a top-downer, too much in the weeds,” when it comes to making decisions for Holy Family’s future, Sister Maureen points to her invaluable support team. “I think group process is extremely important so that people can own decisions by getting everything out on the table,” she explains. “Sometimes when I get into the details, I tell the vice presidents that I don’t want to know these details to impede progress, I want to get into these details so I can embrace progress by completely understanding both where we are and what impact our decisions will have now and into the future so we don’t overlook anything. It’s impossible to overlook the unforeseen consequences of your decisions, but I think the more input you have, the better the decisions will be.”

Of course, as President, Sister Maureen has had the final say on major decisions for the University. She adds with a laugh, “But there comes a point sometimes when I say, ‘This is the decision.’ The buck stops here!”

One of those instances was a challenge that Sister Maureen faced this past year as President that no other Holy Family University president had previously faced — the swift impact that COVID-19 had on all operations of the University.

Reflecting on the University’s first response to the pandemic, Sister Maureen says, “Initially we had some sessions in what I called the ‘War Room’ when everyone came together to decide what we were going to do. It was a gradual evolution of our consciousness and realization that we had to take certain steps.”

As with many other decisions that she had made as President, Sister Maureen sought the counsel of leadership at the University. She continues, “Most of our students are commuters and we only had a few hundred students in residence on campus, but what do we do with them? The Director of the Health Center came into our meeting and one of her phrases sealed my decision to close the residence halls immediately. She said, ‘If you keep the residence halls open, you’re creating a cruise ship.’ When she used that analogy, we knew we had to get our students home so they’re in a familiar environment with their healthcare providers. It was a gradual realization of all the information that was coming through that this was really a serious situation and we had to make fast decisions. Luckily, we made the right decisions.”

Like most institutions, one of the significant changes that Holy Family University underwent in response to the pandemic was in technology. While so many aspects of campus life had to be distanced, Sister Maureen points to how technology also has the potential to bring the Holy Family community together using the example of the most recent iteration of Christmas Rose.

“Christmas Rose is one of our oldest and most sustained traditions. I remarked to someone that you’d have to be as old as me to realize what it looked like in the day when the majority of the students were resident students!” she explains. Regarding the virtual Mass and variety show that made up this year’s event, Sister Maureen adds, “It was difficult to try to organize and execute the Christmas Rose but essential so it didn’t become a lost tradition. One important element that surfaced from this effort was the fact that because we have the capacity now to stream this event, some of our older graduates who can’t come back to campus, can now be part of this event in the future.”

Close to Sister Maureen’s heart and her philosophy of leadership are the words of the Mission of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, which is devoted to celebrating the oneness of the human family. As President, she has endeavored that the ministry of the University reflects those values. She explains, “I want very much for our ministry to understand the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and what they mean by ‘family,’ specifically what that means in our educational ministry. So even if there were no sisters available to staff Holy Family, that spirit would still pervade in what we do here.”

Sister Maureen sees that essence as what defines Holy Family University and sets it apart from peer institutions. “If you look at our curricula, our distinctive feature is that we want to serve families by allowing each person to develop to their fullest potential,” she explains. “That applies to our students, many of whom are first-generation who don’t realize how smart they are or all the opportunities that are available to them in today’s world. But, it also applies to our staff, faculty, and administrators to help them to reach their fullest potential. This sounds strange, but sometimes in helping people reach their fullest potential, they see that they need to go somewhere else to reach that potential.”

Looking forward for Holy Family beyond her presidency, Sister Maureen hopes to see the University remain committed to family. She points to the University’s 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, which calls for the Family Center to expand its scope as “a source of significant outreach and service to the community with participation from students, faculty, and staff, and alumni.” She says, “That could have a massive impact on all the schools and services if we took it to its fullest potential. If there is one type of center that fits Holy Family as an institution that is affordable for anybody, it’s that idea of a Family Center. My greatest hope is that this comes to fruition in the years to come.”

Yet the importance of family extends beyond the Family Center — to Sister Maureen, it’s part of the lifeblood of the University. “The one part of the Strategic Plan that really speaks to me is to fully understand, embrace, live, and perpetuate the culture of family,” she continues. “I enjoyed a really supportive and strong family, and I realize that’s not the case with many of our students. But in our culture, we can give that. If we had that in society, it would be a very different world… I hope this culture of family endures, no matter how the profile of the University changes and develops in the future.”

As a key member of the Holy Family community for decades, Sister Maureen recognizes the pivotal role the University President plays in shaping the future of the institution and the extraordinary challenges that come with it. “I feel like I will be handing the next President some clay and saying, ‘You have a good number of resources to shape this clay for the future,’” she explains. ‘“The clay is what the campus could look like — the Strategic Plan, and the alignment with the Congregation’s mission. What do you see yourself doing with it?’”

Similarly, she has advice for the next President that has served her very well in her administrative roles at Holy Family. “Spend a good amount of time just listening to people. Understand who they are and how the pieces of the mosaic fit together. If any one of those pieces is missing, the picture is not complete. It’s flawed in some way. See how these people are fitting together, and give them a chance. Be open to them. Some people present as very strong, some people don’t want to talk, and some people are afraid of this, that, or the other thing. Try to encourage them to get to know you. Get to know the campus community because there’s a treasure trove of folks here at all levels.”

For recent alumni, faculty, and administrators, it is likely difficult — perhaps impossible — to envision the University without Sister Maureen in a key leadership role. For her part, Sister Maureen says what she’ll miss most about her role as President are her daily interactions with all of those members of the Holy Family community. “I think I’ll miss more than anything the interaction with such a broad swath of the University,” she says. “I can interact with every bit of it and people interact with me.”

As for her more immediate future, Sister Maureen would like to return to teaching. Beyond that, she jokes about spending some time at the seashore. “A perfect day for me would be someplace close to the ocean, moderately warm, with a book that I just always wanted to read,” she describes.

While reflecting on her tenure as University President, Sister Maureen can think of all of the people — students, administrators, faculty, staff, and alumni — who have looked up to her for her contributions to the University to the benefit of their own lives. The way others express their gratitude to her takes her by surprise. “Sometimes you’re amazed when people share their perception of you!” she admits. “For the most part, I would hope that I have helped people in some way and have not been a hindrance. That’s what we’re all here for — to help each other.”