The College of Mount Saint Vincent Honors Three Alumni with the Ad Laudem Dei Award
10/15/2008
On Wednesday, October 15, 2008, three distinguished alumni from the University of Mount Saint Vincent will be honored with the seventh annual Ad Laudem Dei Award. The event will be held at the College in the President’s Reception Room of the Administration Building. The Honorees are: Margaret A. Dames, Ed.D., ’65, Julianne L. Imperato-McGinley, M.D., ’61 and the Honorable Miriam Naveira de Rodon, ’56.
The Ad Laudem Dei award recognizes alumnae/i of distinguished achievement whose nominations are sought annually from alumnae/i, faculty, staff and friends of the college. The award is given to individuals whose professional lives are of national significance and illustrate that service is not only an activity but also an approach to the responsibilities of work. Awards are given each year in three areas: Economics, Business and Government; Medicine and Science; and Arts, Humanities, Religion and Education.
Margaret A. Dames is the Superintendent of Schools and Director of the Office for Education of the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT. She received her B.A. in French from the University of Mount Saint Vincent and Doctorate in Educational Administration from Columbia University. She is responsible for the education of over 14,000 students. She is known as being an innovator in education providing a cohesive curriculum that promotes unity among parents and educators. Enrollment at the six Bridgeport elementary schools is on the rise bucking the national trend for Catholic schools. By having every teacher map his/her curriculum, she has allowed teachers own the process and product. President George Bush has called hers, “a marvelous school program.”
Julianne L. Imperato-McGinley earned her bachelor’s degree from the College in 1961. She received her M.D. from Downstate Medical Center. In the 1970’s discovered the role of the hormone dihydrotesterone in normal human growth and its contribution to prostate enlargement, hair loss and acne. This discovery directly led to the development of finasteride, a drug produced by Merck & Co. to remedy prostate enlargement and the first rationally designed oral medication for hair loss. Her studies in androgen physiology are considered classic and were the first to challenge the widely held view that gender is socially acquired. She is currently the Principal Investigator for a $49 Million research grant, the largest ever bestowed upon Weil Cornell Medical College.
Honorable Miriam Naveira de Rodon, ’56 was the first woman in Puerto Rico to occupy the position of Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Antitrust Laws and was named Solicitor General arguing cases to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. In 1985 she was named Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, a significant first for any woman in the Commonwealth. Puerto Rico’s first woman Governor, Sila Maria Calderon, later designated her the first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the head of the Judiciary, the highest position in that branch of government.
Justice Rodon obtained her bachelor’s degree in science with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Mathematics from the University of Mount Saint Vincent, her law degree at the University of Puerto Rico, and obtained a masters degree in Law at Columbia University in New York. She pursued post graduate studies in comparative commercial law at the University of Leiden in Holland