KATIE DIARY

from St. Catherine University Magazine, Spring 2020

by St. Catherine University Magazine

KATIES IN ACTION

Katie Diary BY KATIE HENRY ’19

Antonius Kennelly, CSJ, ’26, PhD, (1901–1995) is known for her role as the third president of St. Catherine University, but she accomplished much more in her lifetime. Sr. Antonius led the then College of St. Catherine natural sciences division for nearly 20 years and also taught chemistry. She held a PhD in chemistry from the University of Munich, where she studied with Nobel Prize winner Dr. Heinrich Otto Wieland. She studied in Europe just before WWII, and her reputation as a chemist earned her an invitation to Marie Curie’s laboratory, the Institut du Radium in Paris, in 1933 (as seen in this letter).

The letter says, “Sir, It goes without saying that Sister Antonius Kennelly will receive a warm welcome at my laboratory and may visit it. However, I’m not sure I will be in Paris at the time she’s supposed to come, and in that case, I will entrust my daughter Mme. Irene Curie-Joliot with her welcome.”

The University archives has a large collection of papers from Sr. Antonius. Read more at stkate.edu/KennellyPapers.

Catalysts for Good

There are 58,000+ alumni who are making a mark on the world, advocating for women and social justice. For Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting just a few Katies who have changed the landscape in education, healthcare, corporate culture, and more.

Abigail Quigley McCarthy ’36 ( 1915–2001 )

In 1972, McCarthy published her critically acclaimed memoir, Private Faces, Public Places. McCarthy was a visionary Catholic feminist whose promotion of equality for all led to prominence in national politics, a regular column in Commonweal, advocacy for women in the church, promotion of Catholic women’s colleges, and leadership in interracial justice and inter-religious understanding. St. Catherine University’s Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women is named in her memory.

Mary Madonna Ashton, CSJ, ’44

In 1983, Sr. Mary Madonna became the first woman and non-physician commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Health. She served in this position until 1991. During her tenure as commissioner, she worked to protect blood supplies during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and advocated for policies to ban smoking in public spaces. She was president and CEO of St. Mary’s Hospital for 20 years. In 1992, she cofounded Carondelet LifeCare Ministries to address healthcare for Minnesota’s uninsured. In 2016, she was a National Women’s Month honoree.

Anne Joachim Moore, CSJ, ’37, ’47, MAT’01, EdD ( 1916–2010 )

In 1964, Sr. Anne Joachim founded and served as president of St. Mary’s Junior College, the nation’s first college dedicated to healthcare. She led St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing and then its transformation into a thriving two-year college. The college’s guiding plan was to educate the student as a person, not a worker, and to welcome underserved students. In 1986, the college merged with what was then the College of St. Catherine, forming the University’s Minneapolis Campus.

In 1999, Dolan was named president and CEO of Tennant Company. At this time she was the first Katie — and among only 22 women — to lead a U.S.-based New York Stock Exchange listed company (out of 3,000+ companies). She now serves on the board of Travelers Co. and is founding president of Act III Enterprises. Philomena Morrissey Satre MAOL’08 In 2017, Satre was hired as the first full-time dedicated director of diversity and inclusion at Land O’Lakes, Inc. Satre creates important corporate culture shifts, and draws on her deep community network to build bridges that drive change. She also brings her passion for inclusion to the next generation of leaders as an adjunct professor in St. Kate’s Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership (MAOL) program.

Melissa Reuter Brechon ’77

In 2011, Reuter Brechon was a pivotal player in the successful accreditation of the St. Kate’s Master of Library and Information Science program, which is the only MLIS program based in Minnesota. Brechon has devoted her career to libraries, both locally and abroad. As a librarian and public library administrator, and in her continued work as a consultant, she develops lasting systems and spaces for information access. In 2016, Harwood was named a 2017 Marshall Scholar. She is the first St. Catherine University graduate to receive a Marshall Scholarship, which is awarded to fewer than 50 U.S. students annually to study at the graduate level in the United Kingdom. She aims to work as an archivist and ensure that the history we capture represents a wider range of voices and experiences. In 2008, Vang was named president and chief executive officer of the Hmong American Partnership (HAP), where she has more than tripled the nonprofit’s budget, allowing HAP to support even more refugee and immigrant families in Minnesota. Through Vang’s mentorship, she diligently encourages women around her to discover their own