DALLAS TWP. — Traditional first-year students who apply to Misericordia University to be full-time students will be eligible for a new merit-based, full-tuition scholarship program beginning with the fall 2018 semester.
Named in honor of Misericordia University’s longest serving academic dean, the Sister Mary Glennon ’62 Scholarships award six competitive scholarships annually to qualified incoming first-year students. Every first-time, full-time student who applies for acceptance to the private, four-year, Catholic institution is eligible for the new program as long as the students meet established academic criteria.
Students applying to Misericordia University who meet or exceed eligibility criteria – (1250 SAT or 26 ACT and 3.7 GPA) or (1250 SAT or 26 ACT and top 5 percent of their graduating class) – will be invited to participate in the competitive selection process. In January, the university will invite eligible applicants to campus. They will participate in a tour, lunch with faculty and students in their field of study, and write an essay.
A five-member committee comprised of faculty and administration will review completed essays and narrow the field to about 12 students. In February, committee members will interview the finalists and make scholarship offers to students who plan to major in academic programs available in each of the University’s three colleges – College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, and College of Health Sciences and Education. Overall, the program will award no more than three scholarships in any one college and not less than one in each college.
The awarding of the scholarship also guarantees recipients acceptance into the University’s Honors Program if students choose to participate. The competitive Honors Program is an interdisciplinary learning community based upon a common sequence of enriched and intensified core curriculum courses that honors students take in place of regular core offerings.
A Religious Sister of Mercy, Sister Mary Glennon, Ed.D., RSM, earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in French and a minor in English, history, and the Greek and Roman classics from Misericordia in 1962. She earned a Master of Arts in English from The University of Scranton and a doctorate degree in higher education administration from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Sister Mary completed additional academic work at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania State University, State College.
Misericordia cannot overestimate the depth and breadth of Sister Mary’s service to the order, institution and education of countless students and alumni during her more than 45 years of service to the educational community as a student and administrator. In 1957, she entered the Mercy Community and shortly thereafter enrolled as an undergraduate student at Misericordia. Sister Mary professed her final vows with the Sisters of Mercy in 1965 and continued to teach English at a Catholic high school in western Pennsylvania. In September, she celebrated her 60th jubilee as a Sister of Mercy.
The daughter of a coal miner, the Freeland native returned to Misericordia in 1975 to serve as the institution’s first director of continuing education. In 1979, she became dean of continuing education. Sister Mary left Misericordia in 1982 to complete her doctoral studies. She served as dean of institutional advancement at Notre Dame College, Cleveland, Ohio, until Dr. Joseph Fink, then president of Misericordia, encouraged her to return to her alma mater in 1987. When the administrative divisions of the College reorganized in 1997, Sister Mary became vice president of academic affairs and dean of the college – supervising all services related to academics and students.
The institution recognized Sister Mary’s career and accomplishments when it awarded her the prestigious Catherine McAuley Medal in 2001. The institution’s highest honor recognizes significant service to others in the spirit of Catherine McAuley, as well as a commitment to the ideals and goals of Misericordia and the values to which it aspires. In 1994, Misericordia presented her with the Mother Mary Catharine McGann Award in honor of the founder and first dean of the college. The award recognizes a graduate for distinguished and sustained career accomplishments.
