Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D., St. Bonaventure University president, has begun a three-year term on the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Board of Directors.
The ACCU is a voluntary association founded in 1899 by 53 delegates from Catholic colleges throughout the United States. Its principal purposes are to help its members enhance and strengthen their stated Catholic mission and to foster participation among Catholic colleges and universities.
“The ACCU plays a significant role in continually helping Catholic institutions define and refine their mission-oriented goals,” Sr. Margaret said. “I’m honored to serve on the board, and to contribute to the collaborative effort that benefits almost every Catholic college in the U.S.”
Through research, publications, conferences, consultations, special programs and its relationship with other agencies, ACCU encourages and facilitates the sharing of ideas and collaborative efforts among its member institutions.
Since it began, the ACCU has grown to represent more than 90 percent of accredited Catholic institutions of higher learning in the U.S., as well as approximately two dozen international universities.
The major project this year for the Board of Directors and ACCU’s staff is the drafting of a document tentatively titled Catholic Higher Education in the American Context, which will cover a myriad of topics including, but not limited to: the value of diversity within Catholic higher education, linking academic freedom to academic responsibility, linking liberal arts traditions to Catholic intellectual and social teachings, and relating Catholic higher education in U.S. context to a global frame of reference.
Sr. Margaret also serves on the board of the Council of Independent Colleges of New York and the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities. She is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference’s Council of Presidents and serves on the Secretariat for the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition.
By Kathleen M. Moulton