According to Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., the coeducation of Notre Dame was one of the most significant enhancements ever made to the University. To commemorate its 35th anniversary, almost 100 of the first female graduates returned to campus in August to celebrate Father Hesburgh's historic decision to admit women.
Their "thank you" was delivered in the pages of their book, Thanking Father Ted: Thirty-Five Years of Notre Dame Coeducation, a draft of which Ann Therese Darin Palmer '73 '75MBA, gave to Father Ted during a special "Thanking Father Ted" weekend on campus in August.
The weekend began with a luncheon honoring Sister John Miriam Jones, the University's first female administrator, as well as the other members of the first women's residence hall staff. That was followed by Mass at the Grotto concelebrated by Father Hesburgh, Rev. Thomas Blantz, C.S.C., former student affairs vice president and Rev. James Flanigan, former associate vice-president of student housing.
The weekend concluded with a dinner in the Main Building. Dinner highlights included Mary Davey Bliley '72, a marketing major in the Business Administration College. She recounted how she became the University's first woman undergraduate degree recipient and the impact of her Notre Dame experience.
Bliley's story is included in the book, which is now available in bookstores nationwide. It contains individual letters from undergraduate alumnae and Notre Dame celebrities thanking Father Ted for the gift of coeducation and detailing the differences their Notre Dame educations have made in their lives. The book also contains reminiscences of almost every living university administrator during the coeducation transition.
All profits from the book will go to fund a $100,000 scholarship in Father Ted's name.
Several of the women pioneers who graduated from Notre Dame, including Palmer, will join Jim Lynch '67, captain of the 1966 ND Football Championship Team, at the launch of Thanking Father Ted: Thirty-Five Years of Notre Dame Coeducation on Monday, Sept. 24 at the University Club of Chicago from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. You can join the University in celebrating this monumental event. Register for the event by clicking here.
Additionally, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of Notre Dame, will speak at a special luncheon on the topic "Coeducation at Notre Dame: Past, Present and Future."
That luncheon, sponsored by the Thanking Father Ted Foundation and the Notre Dame Alumni Association, will take place at the University Club of Chicago on Monday, Oct. 22 from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. For reservations, click here.
