Women in Theology at Marquette
Web Posted: 06/01/2010
Dr. Mary Lea Schneider, OSF
Since completing her doctoral program at Marquette, with a dissertation on the Jesuit theologian and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Dr. Schneider (Ph.D., 1971) has gone on to a distinguished career in teaching and academic leadership. Her first two decades as a professor were in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University where she taught on religion and American culture and the history of Christian thought, among other subject matters. Her last several years at Michigan State found her leading the Department of Religious Studies as its Chair and serving a term as Assistant Dean for the College of Arts and Letters. On August 1, 1991, she became the fifth president of Cardinal Stritch College, a Franciscan institution in Milwaukee. In 1997, she led the institution in its transition to university status as it became Cardinal Stritch University, with academic divisions in four colleges. The University also added its first doctoral program, in leadership within the College of Education and Leadership, in 1998. Cardinal Stritch developed other academic programs during her tenure which served an increasingly wider population of students as, today, a quarter of its undergraduate students are ethnic minorities. Before she retired as President in 2008, the University established the Saint Clare Center for Ministry Formation for the education and formation of lay and ordained ministers. In “retirement,” Dr. Schneider continues to teach at Cardinal Stritch and to participate in a variety of conferences and meetings.
Theology Department Mission Statement
Marquette University defines itself as Christian, Catholic, Jesuit, urban, and independent. The Department of Theology functions within the university to investigate and understand the Catholic tradition, its relation to other Christian communions, and to other religions of the world. Read more of our mission statement.
