Women's History Month
The Prep Celebrates the Impact of Women
March is Women’s History Month. This year, the Prep celebrated its history, noting the first women on the faculty while also honoring those women who continue to make teaching young men at 17th & Girard their vocation.
In a letter to the community at the beginning of March, President John Marinacci discussed how important women have been to the Prep and to the Jesuit order.
“The impact of women on the mission is so great, that I dare say the Prep and the Society of Jesus itself may not be here without them,” says Marinacci, while mentioning an influential woman on the faculty at Fordham Prep while he was a student there. “Women such as Inés Pascual, Infanta Juana, and Catherine the Great were exceptional women who kept the Jesuit order afloat in the early days. This has paved the way for a living tradition of great women who animate the mission at the Prep, accompanying generations of students on their journeys to becoming men who make a difference in the world through faith, intellect, love, service, and a commitment to justice.”
On Instagram and Facebook, the Prep honored many women from its history as well as current faculty and staff, from Ms. Josephine DiPaul, the Prep’s assistant librarian who in 1964 became the first Prep’s female member of the faculty, Ms. Barbara Brown, who is the longest tenured woman on the faculty, and new faculty such as Kat Lee and Stephanie Paulowski.
Visit each Women's History Month post by clicking on a name below:

Modern Language

Fine Arts

Assistant Librarian

Lead Building Supervisor

Mission and Ministry

English

Spanish

VP, Office of Institutional Advancement

Director of Academic Data and Analytics

Modern Language

Associate Campus Minister

Director of College Counseling

English

Math

Director of Marketing

Classics

Director of Development

Religious Studies

English

History

Director, Office of the President

Admission Counselor

Department Chair, Modern Language

(l-r) Sonia Nelson, Gina Gulli, Jenna Robinson, Jeannie Murphy, and Jenny Mars
“Each woman who has been part of our community had made a difference in the lives of colleagues and students for generations,” Marinacci continues. “It is important to show an ongoing appreciation for their presence and a recognition that the Prep would not be the same institution without them. It is vital to understand the role of women in the history of our school and the Jesuit order, both out of gratitude and an understanding of how essential their presence is to our existence, our identity, and our ability to accomplish this mission. If not for women, not only would we be a lesser institution, but we would not be here at all.”