Dr. Anne Carson Daly's Inauguration Address to the Mount community
Above: Dr. Anne Carson Daly's Inauguration Address to the Mount community
The Mount Saint Mary College community and cherished friends celebrated the inauguration of Dr. Anne Carson Daly, the college’s sixth president, on Thursday, March 12.
Succeeding Fr. Kevin E. Mackin, OFM, STD, Dr. Daly was appointed unanimously by the college’s Board of Trustees after a competitive nationwide search.
Before coming to the Mount, Dr. Daly served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, where she led more than 160 full- and part-time faculty; oversaw the educational program of almost 1,700 students; supervised more than 50 majors, minors, and concentrations; and managed the staff, budgets, and programs of all academic departments. Dr. Daly also helped to lead the college through its 10-year re-accreditation.
College trustees, campus personnel, student leaders, and regional leaders/partners such as Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney; Sen. William J. Larkin, Jr.; Newburgh businessman and philanthropist William Kaplan; Bishop Dominick J. Lagonegro, DD; and Newburgh mayor Judy Kennedy were present in recognition of Dr. Daly’s service to the college.
Among those who praised Dr. Daly were Mysia Hoogsteden ‘84, president of the Alumni Association and member of the Presidential Search Committee; Sr. Leona DeBoer, OP, professor emerita of nursing; Dr. Irene Nunnari, professor emerita of arts and letters; Laura L. Anglin, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges & Universities; Sr. Ann Sakac, OP, past Mount president; and Dr. William Richards, president of the State University of New York (SUNY) Orange.
Dr. Albert J. Gruner, chairman of the Mount’s Board of Trustees, presents Dr. Anne Carson Daly, sixth president of the college, with the Mount Saint Mary College charter. The charter represents the college’s official right to educate students. Photo by Lee Ferris.
Dr. Albert J. Gruner, chairman of the college’s Board of Trustees and former Chairman of Ulster Savings Bank, noted that the presidential search was “a time intensive, demanding process” and the results speak for themselves.
“We could not be more pleased with the outstanding job that Dr. Daly is doing,” he said. “We are delighted to have selected a president with excellent academic credentials who has also worked successfully in the worlds of government and business.”
During part of the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations, Dr. Daly served as the second-in-command at the National Advisory Council on Educational Research and Improvement, which advised the President, the Congress, and the Secretary of Education on educational matters nationwide. From 1994 through 2000, at Pfizer, Inc., the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Dr. Daly supervised Policy Communications on five continents.
Student body president Mary Bocskocsky of Mohegan Lake, N.Y., thanked Dr. Daly for her commitment to strengthening the Mount community.
“President Daly exhibits the qualities of an accomplished leader,” she said. “Her integrity, consistency, and open-mindedness collectively reflect the values that are at the heart of the Mount Saint Mary College experience.”
English professor James Cotter offered Dr. Daly gratitude for her support of the Mount’s academic programs. As the longest serving member of the Mount faculty, Cotter carried the ceremonial mace, emblazoned with the college’s motto “Doce me veritatem” (teach me the truth).
Cotter passed the mace to Fr. Mackin, who entrusted it to Dr. Daly.
Dr. Anne Carson Daly, sixth president of Mount Saint Mary College, receives the college’s ceremonial mace from past president Fr. Kevin E. Mackin, OFM, STD. Photo by Lee Ferris.
Dr. Daly thanked the many faculty, staff, students, and friends of the college who made the inauguration celebration possible, as well as the Dominican Sisters of Hope who founded the college more than 50 years ago.
The new president noted that the college’s focus on the liberal arts and “the triad of goodness, truth and beauty” rose out of the Dominican commitment to prayer and learning.
“The liberal arts open the mind and heart, not only freeing the soul from prejudice and ignorance and pettiness, but also helping to free it for justice, and generosity, and wisdom,” Dr. Daly explained. “The good, true, and beautiful is the natural focus of the liberal arts, because contemplating the truth is the highest good of the mind; contemplating the good is the highest intellectual goal of the spirit; and contemplating beauty is the highest intellectual goal of the senses.”
She added, “Here at Mount Saint Mary College, we have a great and caring community…who exemplify in their own lives the good, true, beautiful.”
Dr. Daly earned her B.A. in English and history from Mount Holyoke College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Johns Hopkins University. She has taught at Johns Hopkins, the University of Notre Dame, and Georgetown University.
A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she co-translated a major work on the founding of the Jesuits from French to English, and has penned more than 80 articles and reviews on a wide array of topics, including literature, religion, architecture, education, and business. She has also given more than 100 lectures throughout the United States and Europe.
Mount Saint Mary College, located 60 miles north of New York City above the majestic Hudson River, offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs preparing students for careers in healthcare, business, education, social services, communications, media and more.
Click here to view the full photo gallery from Inauguration.