Manhattanville Presidents & Faculty
The Manhattanville archives contain collections on the life and work of celebrated presidents and faculty members.
Use the attached finding aids and digitized content below to learn more.
Grace Cowardin Dammann was born on July 12, 1872 in Baltimore, Maryland. From 1884 to 1890, she attended the Georgetown Visitation Academy in Washington D.C., and made her first profession as a nun in 1900. She studied at three houses of the Order of the Sacred Heart at three separate times: Albany, New York (1898-02); London, England (1914-15); Rome, Italy (1924). Her longest tenure in an administrative position prior to her fifteen years as president was at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she served as Principal from 1921 - 1927. She also founded the Country Day School in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, in 1924, and served as its Principal that year. Her last position before becoming President of Manhattanville in 1930 was as Principal of the Academy of the Sacred Heart at Maplehurst, NYC, from 1927 until August 16th, 1930.
The first evidence that the new president would be a major influence was the
adoption of "The Manhattanville Resolutions". Passed by Manhattanville students in1933, the Resolutions -- eight, in all -- outline the ways in which the students pledge to actively improve the plight of the "American Negro", and improve overall race relations. The Resolutions were derived directly from the Catholic theology being taught to Manhattanville students at that time. As such, the Resolutions reflected President Dammann's own interpretation of the individual Catholic's role in interracial matters, and they would also come to foreshadow Dammann's seminal 1938 address, Principles vs. Prejudice.
Faculty
[biographical snippets for each]
Elizabeth J. McCormack was the President of Manhattanville College from 1966-1974. During her term Elizabeth McCormack guided the college through changes to both the student body and curriculum.
