McGreal 10th Anniversary Series: Advisory Board

We are grateful to Domlife for the opportunity to celebrate the McGreal Center’s 10th Anniversary via articles about this unique Dominican family endeavor. Two articles introduced you to our student workers and volunteers. Now you meet another important group of people, the McGreal Center’s Advisory Board.

Top from left: Lois Hoh, OP and Suzanne Noffke, OP. Bottom from left: Ms. Anna Donnelly, OP and David Wright, OP

Four members, veterans from the Project OPUS Advisory Board, made the generous transition to serve on the McGreal Board in 2008: Ms. Anna Donnelly, OP, member of the Eastern Province Laity; Lois Hoh, OP, Sinsinawa; Suzanne Noffke, OP, Racine; and David Wright, OP, Central Province. They joined current board members: Patricia Carroll, MLIS; Pat Farrell, OP, San Rafael; Marie Michelle Hackett, OP, Springfield; Diane Kennedy, OP, Sinsinawa; Felice Maciejewski, Dominican University Librarian and Sinsinawa Associate; Claire Noonan, Dominican University, Vice President for Mission and Ministry; Liesl Orenic, Dominican University, Professor of History; Ms. Jill O’Brien, OP, Central Province Laity; Aaron Reisberg, MLIS, McGreal Center Archivist; Cecilia Salvatore; Dominican University, Professor in the School of Information Studies; Connie Schoen, OP, Peace; Ellen Skerrett, free-lance Historian; Janet Welsh, OP, Sinsinawa.

Recently, Board members completed a survey for our Facebook page. This is how they define the McGreal Center’s Advisory Board:

  • “The Advisory Board is a microcosm of the Dominican Family in which all the branches are represented” (Kennedy).
  • “In many respects the McGreal Advisory Board is a model in miniature of inter-branch collaboration within the Dominican Family, which profits from the creativity and commitment unleashed in collective engagement”(O’Brien).
  • “The Advisory Board is comprised of individuals who bring a broad range of talents and experience to the common effort to support and promote the mission of the McGreal Center” (Carroll).
  • “The McGreal Board provides professional thinking and guiding advice to the Center” (Hoh).

We also asked the members to predict what the future ten years might hold. They hope that the Center:

  • Becomes a significant repository for the story of the Dominicans;
  • Continues to research and write about the Domincian family for future genrations;
  • Increases its holdings;
  • Builds a state of the art and larger facility;
  • Becomes a central hub for the Dominican family in these changing times;
  • Collaborates with the Dominican School of Information Science to train its graduate students to learn how to manage religious archives;
  • Creates a higher profile among researchers;
  • Recommend directions for new projects and longevity of Center;
  • Increases Board membership

We also asked the members to use a word or two to describe the Center. The nouns and adjectives they chose captured the essence of the McGreal Center: professionally managed and still warm and inviting; facilitates; incubator; truth, preservation, inspirational, generative and potential. If you are interested furthering the mission of the McGreal Center, please consider serving on the McGreal Advisory Board. We meet once a year for a day; we work very hard and laugh heartily too. We end our time together by attending the Diane Kennedy, OP Lecture and Dinner. Moreover, it is a privilege to work with such a wise group of people!

This article is part of the the McGreal 10th Anniversary series. To view past articles in the series, please click on the links below.