Our Legacy:
The Dominican Sisters of Hope
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A look back at Our Dominican heritage
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s Mount Saint Mary College celebrates our 60th anniversary, we reflect on the dedication, selflessness, and service of our founders, the Dominican Sisters. In 1883, sisters Hildegarde, Justina, DeSales, and Egbert first set foot in Newburgh. Committed to community and education, the sisters quickly founded Mount Saint Mary Academy on Gidney Avenue. The sisters opened Greater Mount Saint Mary, a five-story high school in the building now known as the Dominican Center, in 1927. Then, guided by the four pillars of Dominican Life – study, spirituality, service, and community – the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh established Mount Saint Mary College as a four-year institution in October of 1959. Now known as the Dominican Sisters of Hope, our founders have nurtured the Mount and its students from the start. Many of the sisters spent their days educating the next generation of young professionals, including beloved instructors Sr. Catherine Walsh ’70, OP, professor emerita of Communications, Sr. Patricia Sullivan ’64, OP, professor emerita of Mathematics; Sr. Leona DeBoer, OP, professor emerita of Nursing; and Sr. Cecilia Murray, OP, current adjunct professor of Religious Studies and author of Other Waters: A History of the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, New York. Others lent their skills to the Mount’s growing administrative needs, including Sr. Ann Sakac, OP, fourth president of the Mount, and the late Sr. Agnes Boyle, OP, who is best known for her three decades as vice president for Academic Affairs.
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