Sister Mary Christopher O'Rourke papers (RG.3.1.4)

Biographical/Historical note

Sister Mary Christopher O'Rourke served as president of Salve Regina College from June 1968 to 1973. Appointed in spring 1968, she was inaugurated on May 17, 1969. Previously, she had been head of the sociology department at the college.

Sister O'Rourke earned her B. A. from Brown in 1940, and then her M. A in 1955 and her Ph. D in Sociology in 1962, both from the University of Notre Dame. Her doctoral dissertation was titled, "The Impact of the Educational Environment on the Development of a Professional Self-Image."

After her tenure as President, Sister O'Rourke worked as Director of Guidance in New Bedford. At the time of her death in 2003, she was living at a convent in Tiverton, Rhode Island and had been part of the Sisters of Mercy for 61 years.