More than 80 alumnae gathered on June 6 to raise a glass to outgoing Marymount College Alumnae Board leaders Samantha MacInnis, MC ’00, and Julene Caulfield, MC ’02, and welcome three new members of the executive committee—Paula Mahayosnand, MC ’93, Michelle McAllister, MC ’96, and Heather McWilliam, MC ’88.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, addressed the group to open the reception, and in her own remarks, MacInnis referred to Marie Joseph Butler, R.S.H.M., who founded the women’s college in Tarrytown, New York, in 1907.

“As Mother Butler said, ‘The world has never needed women’s intelligence and sympathy more than it does today,’” MacInnis, the outgoing board president, told the group. “I’m proud to have been part of continuing this tradition.”

Mahayosnand, who succeeds MacInnis as board president, also cited the legacy of Mother Butler.

“Today, together, we are bonded by Marymount yet come from diverse backgrounds,” Mahayosnand said. “Father McShane often refers to Marymount women as storytellers. As a community, we are vocal, and from these stories, we are able to share in the rich history of what it means to be a Marymount woman and the importance of continuing the legacy of Mother Butler.”

The reception also honored the three recipients of the alumnae board’s annual awards.

Ottilie Droggitis, MC ’78, won the Gloria Gaines Memorial Award, the alumnae board’s highest honor, in recognition of her service to her church, her community, and Marymount. She has served on the Marymount Alumnae Board since 2016 and been an alumnae class agent for many years. She has worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and as a teacher for the Montgomery County Public School System in Maryland. She is also an avid volunteer in her community, having served on the Capitol Hill Hospital Women’s Auxiliary Board and on the board of the Walter Johnson High School Education Foundation.

Carmen Garver, MC ’85, won the Alumna of Achievement Award. After a 15-year career in therapeutic intervention, clinical administration, and health education, in 2004 she and her husband, Bob, founded Wicked Joe Organic Coffees, Bard Coffee, and Wicked Leaf Organic Teas. Carmen and Bob were recognized in 2017 as Maine’s Small Business Leaders of the Year.

Jean Wynn, MC ’80, won the Golden Dome Award in recognition of her efforts to advance the Marymount community. Her background in strategic account management and international banking spans the U.S., Asia Pacific, and Europe. She retired in March as a managing director at BNY Mellon, where she had spent her entire career after graduating from Marymount in 1980. She was a founding member of BNY Mellon’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) and the Wall Street Women’s Alliance. She served for two terms as the vice president of the Marymount Alumnae Board; is a consistent donor to the Marymount Legacy Fund, an endowed scholarship fund that supports women students who carry on the Marymount tradition at Fordham;  and is a member of the Fordham President’s Council and Parents’ Leadership Council. She has also been an active participant and supporter of the Fordham’s annual Women’s Summit.

“I know it sounds cheesy,” says the San Antonio native. “But it looked like a great place to study. I can still remember the ’70s-green carpet, the wooden chairs … it was all about comfort.”

Beyond the library, Valentine was particularly attracted to Marymount College for the five-year bachelor’s/master’s program in social work it offered with Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service. She moved from Texas to New York in 1999, without ever visiting campus, and immediately felt at home.

“At Marymount I became who I am,” she says, “and then at Fordham I was really able to shape myself professionally.”

Now a licensed clinical social worker, for the past five years she has been supervising veterans programs for Westhab, a Yonkers-based nonprofit that provides housing, employment, youth, pantry, and other social services to New York residents.

“I know I’m in the right career, not just because I enjoy what I do,” she says, “but I really believe I’m channeling good work for people.”

This spirit of service has also drawn Valentine to volunteer work. She has served on the Marymount College Alumnae Board and the Sacred Heart of Mary Extended Family Board, and she is currently a member of the Fordham University Alumni Association Advisory Board, which is supporting Fordham’s Day of Service events in April and May in honor of National Volunteer Month.

She also serves on the alumni board’s Forever Learning task force—a perfect fit for someone who loves fulfilling the continuing education requirements needed to maintain her license as a clinical social worker. “You learn about different things outside of your own work,” she explains. “I did one in pet therapy, one in working with food aversions. It can be really interesting. But I’ve always been about seeing open doors and opportunities.”

In 2018, Valentine became the youngest recipient of the Golden Dome Award, given to an alumna whose continuous service has advanced Marymount’s mission.

“I always feel like I could do more,” Valentine says, “and it’s always hard to see the impact of what we do, so it’s nice to see it through somebody else’s eyes.

“To be part of this elite group of Marymount women who have done amazing things before me … it’s something very unreal.”

Fordham Five

What are you most passionate about?
I believe in volunteering time, energy, and ideas; helping each other out as people or through organizations; self-care of body, mind, spirit, relationships; active listening; family; work/life balance; not keeping your gifts to yourself; acknowledging a person’s strengths and challenges; believing in yourself; the power of a good story; being in the here and now; living life to the fullest; the need to love, be loved, and be part of a community; continuing education; doing what you love; taking risks; everyone needing and accepting help in some way or another; decompressing; disconnecting from electronics; sending cards in the mail; saying thank you—the list can truly continue. 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Professionally, when I was in high school my Aunt Sylvia suggested I consider a career in social work. That sparked a fire in me. It clicked; something just felt right. So, whether she knew it or not, she guided me in the right way. She saw something in me I didn’t know was there. Now I love what I do and cannot see myself in another career.

Personally, the R.S.H.M. retreats and days of reflection have taught me to slow down in this hustle-and-bustle world. It’s not as simple as driving your car slower but rather taking time to be at peace spiritually, with myself and others. It’s about mindfully listening and looking around you and not constantly being on the go 100% of the time. This can be quite challenging for us intrinsically driven folks. My husband came into my life about seven years ago, and he also indirectly taught me to slow down without compromising my goals.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
I don’t have one favorite physical part of the city. My favorite aspects are the experiences and complexities of NYC. There are parts that stand still and then ever-changing parts. I love experiencing parks, gardens, museums, theater, history, new and old architecture, and the variety of faces and food. My favorite place in the world is a tie—I love being anywhere in Texas, my home state, because nothing beats the feeling of home. And I love vacationing with my husband, my favorite person. With him, I love going somewhere new, just being, and completely unplugging from work.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I loved the tone, the family and social complexities of the time, and the characters. Oh, the drama! Plus, Austen’s novels translate fantastically to film. This was the first classic novel I embraced at a younger age. I love a good book that can sweep you away and plop you right into the story. While I never aspired to be a writer, authors like her leave me in awe of the art.

Who is the Fordham or Marymount grad or professor you admire the most?
As is true for countless Marymount grads, Ellen Marie Keane, R.S.H.M., is someone I hold dear to my heart as a friend and an example of how to serve others.

As my first-year academic adviser, she was the first sister I remember meeting at Marymount in fall 1999. As a philosophy professor, she was always challenging us as women to question any system.

She was a born teacher who could speak to any audience. She was the embodiment of the R.S.H.M., both professionally and personally: passionate, intelligent, gifted, religious, patient, loving, dedicated, nonjudgmental, unconditional. She was a champion of women, children, and the poor. I admired her commitment to service to the R.S.H.M., Marymount, and the college program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women. Sadly, Sister Ellen died in August 2018, but she inspired hope in so many.

“Through personal contact, or travel, or even stories, we are all expanding. We are caring as a people, and we are so blessed here in the United States. We can make life better for our southern neighbors,” Sister Kelleher said on December 2, when she received the Mother Butler Leadership Award at the Marymount College Alumnae Association’s annual Founder’s Day celebration on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.

Sister Kelleher, a Catholic nun and an attorney, has been on the front lines of immigration issues and asylum requests for more than 30 years. She speaks passionately of her clients at Legal Aid Services of Collier County in Immokalee, Florida, a heavily agricultural area just north of the Everglades. There she mostly supports impoverished migrant farmworkers who were victims of crimes in their home countries in Central and South America.

In one case earlier this year, she advocated for a woman who had fled an abusive relationship with a gang member who was threatening her life. She said he had left him in Honduras and returned to her family in El Salvador, but he pursued her and continued physically and emotionally abusing her. She was unable to leave the relationship without risking her life, she said, so she sought asylum in the U.S. With Sister Kelleher’s help, she was able to stay.

“I could not have won that case later in 2018,” Sister Kelleher told her fellow Marymount alumnae and guests at the luncheon in Butler Commons. “Such victims of domestic violence no longer qualify” to be protected, she said, citing a recent memo issued by then Attorney General Jeff Sessions (a policy which was struck down about two weeks after the event). Many women who are victims of violence and sexual assault will most likely be sent back to countries where their safety is at risk, she said.

“The [long-term] solution to this issue and so many others lies in nations with capacity collaborating with honest stakeholders in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to invest so as to make change in these countries,” she said.

In response to an audience member who asked how they could help, Sister Kelleher encouraged attendees to take “hold of the power that women have.”

“Use your pen, use your voice, and, frankly, get in touch with organizations that you feel at home with” she told them.

After receiving the award, Sister Kelleher, who was one of only three nuns worldwide to serve as an auditor at the Catholic Church’s 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family, spoke about how meaningful it was to be honored by her fellow Marymount alumnae—especially since both her mother and aunt had attended the college before her. “We’re very much a Marymount family,” said the 1960 grad, who also earned a master’s degree in English from Fordham in 1969.

It was while teaching high school religion and reading about various social movements that Sister Kelleher was first inspired to act on behalf of vulnerable populations, she said. And when she saw how integral the legal system was to advancing causes in ministry, she decided to attend law school at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Her motivation is simple. “I can only say that, when my neighbor’s house is on fire, I can hardly say it’s no concern of mine,” she said.

Brigid Driscoll, R.S.H.M., GRE ’02, president of Marymount College during a turbulent period and a leader who lifted women through education, died at Marymount Convent in Tarrytown, New York, on Oct. 29. She was 84.

“We have lost an inspired and inspiring educator, a fierce advocate for women, and a leader of great integrity and decency,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, in an email to Marymount alumnae. “Her energy and great devotion to the proposition of women’s empowerment through education were second to none.”

Sister Driscoll (who was universally known as Sister Brigid) was many things: a mathematician, a Ph.D. with five honorary doctorates, and, for two decades, the leader of a liberal arts women’s college who helped hundreds of young women navigate the path toward adulthood. What made Sister Brigid different from Marymount’s other presidents, friends and former students said, was her devotion to not only expanding women’s educational opportunities, but also aiding women from all walks of life: girls intrigued by the STEM fields, women balancing both a full-time job and a bachelor’s degree program, and even inmates at a maximum-security prison.

“She was a true champion of women’s education,” said Jane Bartnett, MC ’76, former president of the Marymount Alumnae Board, in an email. “Serving as Marymount’s president really meant the world to Sister Brigid.”

Sister Brigid was born Joan Driscoll on November 20, 1933, to Daniel and Delia Duffy Driscoll. As a child, she was unusually reticent until she turned three years old, said a longtime friend, Margaret Karl Geraghty, MC ’69.

“When she was little, her parents were very, very concerned about her because she didn’t speak. All of a sudden, her father was putting her shoes on, and he kept saying, ‘Push, push!’ And the first word she spoke was, ‘Daddy, my pushies are too tight!’” she said, laughing as she recalled a story Sister Brigid told her several years ago. “Every flower blooms at a different time. She was late talking, but she knew everything.”

A native New Yorker, Sister Brigid graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1954. That same year, she joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, an international congregation of nuns. But when her mother dropped her off at the convent, the older woman’s face was covered in tears. Delia didn’t want her daughter to join the convent, recalled Geraghty. But Sister Brigid had made up her mind.

“She said, ‘This is what I really wanted to do in life.’”

Mathematician, Scholar, and Staunch Supporter of All Women

She continued to pursue her passion for numbers, later earning a master’s degree in mathematics from the Catholic University of America and a doctorate in mathematics from the City University of New York. In 2002, she received a master’s degree in religious education from Fordham’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education.

Her career at Marymount College began in 1957, when she began teaching mathematics at the all-women’s school. Fourteen years later, she became associate academic dean, and, soon enough, director of continuing education. In 1975, she introduced a program called Weekend College—one of the country’s first full bachelor’s degree programs that allowed working women to earn a college education solely through weekend classes.

In 1979, Sister Brigid became president of Marymount College, a position that lasted for two decades.

“During that time she oversaw Marymount’s transformation from a homogenous liberal arts college exclusively for women to an institution that also served an inclusive population of adult and international students from diverse backgrounds,” wrote her alma mater, Marymount Manhattan College, in a statement.

As president, she promoted programs like the Marymount Institute for the Education of Women and Girls and the Girls’ Summer Science Program, which introduced laboratory experiences to “girls who might otherwise shun the field.” But her job wasn’t always easy, Sister Brigid later admitted.

“The 70’s were a tough time for women’s colleges,” she told The New York Times shortly before she retired in 1999, adding that the number of colleges for women in the United States had dropped from approximately 300 to 80 in just a decade—from 1979 to 1988.

In light of Marymount’s dwindling enrollment numbers and the increasing financial costs that many small liberal arts colleges faced during that time, Fordham acquired Marymount in 2000. When Marymount College closed in 2007, Sister Brigid remained by her students’ side.

“She really wanted to support alumnae and make sure that we were still able to connect,” said Samantha MacInnis, MC ’00, current president of the Marymount Alumnae Board. “She was very good about that … being able to honor the past, but also look to ‘This is where we’re at now. This is where we need to go.’”

The Personality Behind the President

Alumnae describe Sister Brigid as an intelligent woman of quiet strength, a barely 5-foot-tall lady who could “hug you like a bear,” and a feminist who supported women in all roles—and taught her students to do the same thing. She was a president who invited the entire 1990 class—more than 200 women—to her home, a modern, boxy house that bordered the edge of their campus, for a picnic. And to many Marymount alumnae, she was more than their past president—she was a close friend.

“When I told someone, ‘I’m having lunch with the former president of my college,’ they just looked at me like, what? That’s so unusual,” said Rena Micklewright, MC ’90, former member of the Marymount Alumnae Board. “Granted, it was a small school. But for someone at her level to even want to have those relationships, I think it just speaks to who she was.”

Throughout her life, she sat on multiple boards of educational, civic, and professional organizations at national, state, and local levels, including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. Sister Brigid was also an R.S.H.M. nongovernmental organization representative at the United Nations and a consultant to the Beacon Institute—a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to rivers and estuaries—where she chaired the advisory committee that created their initial strategic plan. Until recently, she also worked with LifeWay, an anti-trafficking network, and taught mathematics to inmates at Marymount Manhattan’s degree-granting Bedford Hills College program at the Bedford Women’s Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, New York.

She was generous behind the scenes, too. When the family of Maria Esperanza Healy, MC ’78, immigrated to New York from Nicaragua in 1979—the beginning of a bloody revolution that wreaked havoc across her native country—Sister Brigid sent them beds that her four siblings could sleep in. And she always pushed Healy, her old statistics student, to do better.

“These are things that, for me, for the rest of my life, I will always have in my heart,” said Healy, a member of Fordham’s President’s Council who went on to found her own financial firm. “She was one of the greatest people I’ve ever met.”

Read more memories about Sister Brigid here.