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Carlow University
Press Release Details
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| For Immediate Release |
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University Communications & External Relations |
| February 15, 2013 |
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Drew Wilson |
| 13-8 |
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Director, Media Relations |
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412-578-2095 (phone) |
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412-260-6807 (cell) |
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412-578-2080 (fax) |
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agwilson@carlow.edu |
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| Carlow University Remembers Rita McGinley, Class of 1940 |
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Beloved Alumna, Woman of Spirit®, Honorary Doctor, and Largest Benefactor
Pittsburgh, Pa. Today, Carlow University received the news that Rita McGinley, a beloved alumna from the Class of 1940, passed away. The following story appears in the current issue of Legacy, Carlow University's Benefactor Report for 2011-2012. We are reprinting it here:
Rita Remembers and Carlow Is Grateful
Largest Donation in the History of Carlow Funds the Rita M. McGinley Center for Student Sucess
Few things cause more anxiety for students than receiving their grades.
Carlow University students who suffer a few anxious moments before opening an envelope or, in more recent years, going online to see their grades have it relatively easy. Rita McGinley, class of 1940, remembers having to face the intimidating presence of Sister Regis Grace, the first dean of students and one of the co-founders of the University, just to find out her grade in freshman composition.
"My first semester I had all A's and one C," McGinley remembers. She says Sister Regis Grace would read the course title then pause for a moment before reading the grade. If the grade was an "A," she would simply say something like, "good" or "well done," and move on to the next one. To this day, though, she can repeat exactly what Sister Regis said when she reached the course in which McGinley received the C.
"She said, 'Oh my child, what a fall,'" McGinley recalls. "Facing Sister Regis Grace was worse than facing my parents."
There are moments in everyone's life that shape and define it. For McGinley, facing Sister Regis Grace was one of those moments, but hers is a life with many such defining moments.
Her earliest memories are from her hometown, Braddock, Pa., the Mon Valley steel town, which was also the site of Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill, the Edgar Thompson Works. The Braddock of McGinley's youth was a booming metropolis where the sidewalks were alive on a Saturday night.
"You could get everything you needed in Braddock," she says, and the names of the nine department stores come flooding back. "There was The Famous, and Hirshberg's, Sach's Ladies Store, and Butler's Grocery."
"Everything you needed" extended to healthcare, too. Her family's neighbor, Dr. Carlson, who later became more famous as Doc Carlson, the head basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh, removed her brother Jack's tonsils right in the office. Carlson was often seeking to offer assistance, says McGinley.
"Doc Carlson used to let everyone know that he was leaving for the University of Pittsburgh at a certain time, and anyone from the neighborhood who needed a ride would be standing on Braddock Avenue when he went past," she remembers.
"Everything you needed" would extend to the generosity of one to another, too, even the folks who didn't speak English. In McGinleys youth, Braddock was a melting pot of European cultures and languages. Her father came to know Father Abromaitis, the priest at St. Isidore, the Lithuanian church in town, whom he affectionately called "Father A-to-Z" because of the difficulty in pronouncing his name.
"When my father heard St. Isidore didn't have money to buy coal for their furnace, he rallied the men from St. Brendan's, my home parish, to raise the money so St. Isidore could fire up their furnaces that winter, McGinley remembers.
The parish's selfless act was another defining moments for Rita, who learned the importance of extending a helping hand to others. Perhaps, it was one of the reasons she became a teacher.
"I thought I'd become a doctor," she says, then recalls the ill-fated salamander dissection in biology class. "Dr. Finn told us to cut into our salamanders, and as soon as we cut it, it jumped and we all started to cry. Can you imagine how I'd be in an operating room?"
Instead McGinley majored in biology, but said she also had enough credits in English to teach. When she became a teacher, following in the footsteps of her mother, who taught English at a small business school in Braddock, she recalls her proud father saying, "I am surrounded by teachers."
Following footsteps is something McGinley has done all her life, and she has had plenty of examples, from Doc Carlson, to her father Barney, to those who helped define her path while a student at Mt. Mercy.
Those moments spent face-to-face with Sister Regis Grace made a tremendous impact on McGinley, inspiring her to focus on student success during her 45-year career as a teacher and guidance counselor in the General Braddock and then Woodland Hills school districts. She maintains her focus to this day, notably as the centerpiece of her philanthropic efforts at her alma mater.
The Rita M. McGinley Center for Student Success is at the core of the newly envisioned Carlow University Learning Commons. Soon to be located in the repurposed Grace Library at the center of campus, the new Learning Commons will become a focal point of the Carlow student experience.
The new Center will integrate an array of faculty and student services that support student and faculty learning. It will include Carlow's Center for Academic Achievement, the Learning Laboratory for Math Education, the Service Learning center, the Mercy Center for Service, the Center for Global Studies, the Center for Faculty Excellence, and Academic Advising. Carlow also plans additional learning laboratories, including a literacy lab in writing and technology, and a language lab to support global education.
When asked to contribute to Carlow, McGinley had a simple request.
"I said I would like to fund something that shows how you can get the most out of a small college," she says. "When I was at Carlow, it was always a small college, everyone was so friendly, and ready to help you if you needed it."
The Rita M. McGinley Center for Student Success will come to fruition because McGinley remembers. She remembers the examples of Doc Carlson, of Sister Regis Grace, and most importantly, she remembers the example of her parents' determination to always help those in need.
Because McGinley remembers, Carlow students now and in the future will be forever grateful.
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About Carlow University
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carlow University was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1929. Offering both undergraduate and graduate programs, Carlow University is a comprehensive master's institution dedicated to learner-centered education at the collegiate levels and at the elementary school level in the Campus School of Carlow University.
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