FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: The College of New Rochelle Barbara Nitzberg: 914-654-5285

CNR CONTINUES CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION WITH 
SPECIAL EVENT SPOTLIGHTING WOMEN’S EDUCATION

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, February 26, 2004 -- As part of its year-long celebration to mark its Centennial, The College of New Rochelle (CNR), the first Catholic college for women in New York State, will host the two-day event “In Celebration of Women’s Colleges” at its Main Campus in New Rochelle:

Tuesday, March 23, 4:00 p.m.
Holy Family Chapel
The college will host an academic convocation and confer an honorary degree on Patricia McGuire, J.D., President of Trinity College in Washington D.C.  She is being recognized for her leadership at Trinity College and for a life-long career devoted to academic excellence and the advancement of women.

Wednesday, March 24, 4:00 p.m.
Student Campus Center, 2nd Floor
Barbara McManus, Professor Emeritus of Classics at CNR, will moderate a panel discussion on the future of women’s colleges in the U.S. with: Daniel S. Cheever, Jr., President, Simmons College (Boston, MA); Lisa Marsh Ryerson, President, Wells College (Aurora, NY); and Mary Pat Seurkamp, President, The College of Notre Dame of Maryland (Baltimore, MD)

Honorary Degree Recipient
Patricia McGuire
Since becoming President of Trinity College in Washington, D.C. in 1989, Patricia McGuire has turned around an institution nearing bankruptcy in the late 1980s to one that is today at the pinnacle of the Washington, D.C. higher education community.  She has accomplished this impressive achievement by overseeing the completion of a $20 million sports complex with a special emphasis on women and girls and by diversifying the college’s student population by tapping into communities where higher education is often an elusive dream.  Today, 75 percent of Trinity’s student population consists of black and Hispanic women from Washington, D.C.

Before coming to Trinity, Ms. McGuire was the Assistant Dean for Development and External Affairs for Georgetown University Law Center, where she was also an adjunct professor of law teaching courses on tax exempt organizations. Earlier, she was project director for Georgetown's D.C. Street Law Project. She was also a legal affairs commentator for the award-winning CBS children's newsmagazine 30 Minutes and the Fox Television program Panorama in Washington.

President McGuire earned her bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Trinity College and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.  She is currently a member of the boards of directors of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Washington Hospital Center, the Women's College Coalition, the Washington Metropolitan Consortium of Universities, the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation, the D.C. Agenda Project, the Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company and the AmeritasAcacia Mutual Holding Company, the Eastern High School Choir, and the College Information Center. 

Panelists
Daniel S. Cheever, Jr., President of Simmons College (Boston, MA).  This four-year, private, non-sectarian undergraduate women's college offers a comprehensive liberal arts and professional curriculum to a 1,300-strong student body. 

Lisa Marsh Ryerson, President, Wells College (Aurora, NY).  Established in 1868 and among the country’s oldest women's liberal arts colleges, Wells currently enrolls 450 students from across the globe.

Mary Pat Seurkamp, President, The College of Notre Dame of Maryland (Baltimore, MD).  Founded in 1873 by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), the College of Notre Dame of Maryland was the first Catholic college for women to award the four–year baccalaureate degree.


The first Catholic college for women in New York State, The College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline Order. Today, it comprises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and three schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for adult learners), the School of Nursing and the Graduate School.  The main campus of the College is located in lower Westchester County, 16 miles north of New York City.  The College maintains six other campus locations in New York City. Visit the College’s website at www.cnr.edu
                                
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