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DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2000

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2000

MATTHEW ANITA MACDONALD, SSJ, PH.D. '60

Sister Matthew Anita is a teacher, an administrator and a leader. She is known for her excellence in teaching at the secondary and College levels. She was a challenging and inspiring teacher preparing many others to take her place in the classroom.” 

This is how former Academic Dean Kathryn Miller, SSJ, Ph.D. attests to the achievements of Chestnut Hill College's alumna and fifth president. Regarding the College, Sister Kathryn said, Sister Matthew Anita "was untiring in her efforts to lead this institution and opened the doors to new avenues of growth. She was highly regarded by her colleagues in local and distant colleges, and was frequently chosen to represent them on Boards and in national professional organizations." 

Joann Eileen MacDonald '60, former high school teacher, returned to Chestnut Hill in 1969 as a lecturer in English and a Sister of St. Joseph. Sister Matthew Anita followed her undergraduate degree in English with an M.A. degree in 1970 and a Ph.D. degree in 1973, both awarded by the University of Pennsylvania and both in philosophy and education. A fellowship in academic administration at Bryn Mawr College prepared her for several management positions at Chestnut Hill, concluding with the College's presidency from 1980 to 1992. 

Since leaving Chestnut Hill, Sister Matthew Anita has been Head of the Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Bryn Mawr, where she stepped "into the leadership of the school at a moment when it needed strong, wise leadership," noted Sister Paula Toner of the Provincial Council of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The once-floundering girls' academy is now flourishing. "Sister Matthew Anita has a remarkable ability to engage other talented people in a common effort with the focus always on the students," Sister Paula observed. 

Although Sister Matthew is a strong advocate of quality education for girls and women, it is education that she feels passionately about - consider her response to Rev. Msgr. Francis Beach, Regional Vicar for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and president of Roman Catholic High School, to join the boys' school's newly formed Board of Advisors. That was eight years ago. Since then, Sister Matthew has helped Msgr. Beach realize his goals to market the school, increase enrollment, expand the school's campus and create an endowment. 

Little wonder that countless civic, professional, and religious communities want her participation. Board memberships have included the Network of Sacred Heart Schools, LaSalle College High School, Roman Catholic High School, and the University of Scranton. Civic and community leadership roles have included the Greater Philadelphia Higher Education Congress, the Pennsylvania Commission for Women (Vice-Chair), the Mayor's Commission on Women, and the Chestnut Hill Community Association, where Chestnut Hill Local Editor-in-Chief Marie Reinhart Jones ’47 saw Sister Matthew “face each issue head-on and with great integrity.” Time and again, her colleagues elected her to executive committees of the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities, the Sisters of St. Joseph College Consortium, and the Foundation for Independent Colleges & Universities. 

In 1993, Governor Robert P. Casey appointed her to the newly established Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania, where Superior Court Judge Joseph Del Sole noted Sister Matthew's "insight and public viewpoint were invaluable." 

However distinguished Sister Matthew Anita's achievements might be with other educational institutions, it is her 12-year term at the helm of Chestnut Hill College that is most meaningful to her sister alumnae. Her tenure saw the success of the first major capital campaign in the College's history, curriculum expansion at every level, the introduction of a new endowed lecture series in the humanities; the origins of the integration of technology across the curriculum, the conversion of obsolete science laboratories in St. Joseph Hall into efficient classrooms and research space, and the introduction of fiscal, academic, management and governance initiatives that continue to have an impact today. Indeed, as Sister Kathryn Miller noted, "In this 75th Anniversary Year we have been Celebrating our Past and Building our Future. Sister Matthew Anita, Fifth President of Chestnut Hill College … certainly made an outstanding contribution to building our future and is well deserving of this honor as we celebrate our past."

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