By Deanna Howes Spiro, Vice President of Communications, AJCU
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we dedicate this issue of Connections to all of the women who lead and serve at Jesuit colleges and universities. In 2014, Linda LeMura became the first lay woman to lead one of our schools; today, lay women comprise one quarter of our presidents.
President LeMura is featured in this issue, as well as two of our newest presidents: Julie Sullivan, who will begin her tenure at Santa Clara University this summer, and Cody Teets, who serves as interim president at Regis University. You will also learn about several other women who are “firsts” at their institutions: Dominique Jordan Turner, the first Vice President of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Loyola University Chicago; Kristina Ropella, the first female Opus Dean of the Opus College of Engineering at Marquette University; and Michelle Wheatley, the first female Vice President of Mission Integration at Gonzaga University.
These are exciting times on our campuses, and we are thankful for all of the women who are transforming our schools and serving as role models for all of our #JesuitEducated students.