Sister Ellen Lorenz, SSND, Ed.D., (formerly Sister Marie De Sales), made her First Profession July 17, 1957, in Milwaukee. “That was a day long awaited for as far back as I can remember,” said Sister Ellen. “I always wanted to be a sister.
How I got the idea is still a mystery to me for I did not attend Catholic school and did not know sisters until eighth grade. Our family lived on a farm and I walked to the one-room, all-grades schoolhouse for my early education. What I do know though is both my parents made God a very important member of our family. Selecting the School Sisters of Notre Dame was not a hard decision. My mom had been a teacher and taught our Sunday school classes, so teaching was a reasonable choice for me. After having excellent SSND teachers during my high school years and two years of college, I headed for the old Milwaukee motherhouse.”
Sister Ellen’s first ministry assignment took her to Chicago, where she taught at the Academy of Our Lady High School from 1958 through 1964. She earned a bachelor’s in English with a minor in Latin from Mount Mary University (MMU), formerly Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, in 1958. Sister Ellen then earned a master’s in education from Loyola University in Chicago in 1966 and an Ed.D. in curriculum and supervision three years later from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois.
After earning her doctoral degree, Sister Ellen joined the faculty of MMU as director of secondary education in 1968, rising to the post of academic dean by 1976. In 1979, Sister Ellen was appointed president of MMU, continuing in that role until 1987. After she completed her term as president, Sister Ellen returned to classroom teaching at the university for another 25 years. Prior to retiring, she tutored in academic services part-time through mid-2014.
“What I discovered as time went on, was that my greatest joys often came from seeing students develop their values and skills and go on to inspire countless other young people through their teaching,” said Sister Ellen. “Even now I continue to rejoice in their successes.”
“I am grateful for the many opportunities I have been given through my ministry as a School Sister of Notre Dame,” said Sister Ellen. “My first call was to teach English to high school students, which I found very fulfilling, and therefore, I was very reluctant to leave this mission when asked. The change meant that I would spend the larger part of my life working with college students in various capacities, primarily those of preparing these students to become high school teachers. I viewed this as a daunting task.”
In 2014, Sister Ellen delivered the commencement keynote address and received an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters from MMU for her service to Mount Mary over four decades. During that time she was responsible for developing the university’s core curriculum based on the Search for Meaning. All students are introduced to this theme through a theology and philosophy course of that name. The current structure of academic requirements is still based on the sources of meaning in life rather than traditional categories.
Sister Ellen was honored with the title Professor Emerita August 24, 2015, from MMU. Her significant contributions to the mission of Mount Mary University, the education of students and the general welfare of the academic community were highlighted at the ceremony, including her work as professor of education, assistant dean, dean and president, co-chair of the Higher Learning Commission Self Study Criterion Three: Student Learning and Effective Teaching, co-chair of the Creative Campus Initiative Task Force and chair of the Task Force on College to University.
“What I discovered as time went on, was that my greatest joys often came from seeing students develop their values and skills and go on to inspire countless other young people through their teaching,” said Sister Ellen. “Even now I continue to rejoice in their successes.”
Sister Ellen currently lives in community at Notre Dame of Elm Grove in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. She, along with large numbers of the sisters there, continue to share their mission through tutoring and serving others in a variety of ways.
“We know that without the generous contributions of those who support the religious retirement fund, the sister’s retirement would be much less healthy. Your contributions enable us to continue to serve others.”
Photo above: At the centennial gala of Mount Mary University, Sisters Ruth Hollenbach (l) and Ellen Lorenz (r), former presidents of Mount Mary, posed in front of their images on one mural depicting the 100-year history of the college which became a university on July 1, 2013.
— Trudy C. Hamilton, M.A.