Focused on the Mission
By Steve Ruic
At Notre Dame, the mission defines the College.
It directs programming, ties it to its historical
roots, and provides a framework to create a
vision for the College’s future.
Sr. Carol Ziegler, Ph.D., SND
Because mission holds such an
important place in the culture of the
College, Notre Dame has hired Sr. Carol
Ziegler, Ph.D., SND as special assistant to
the president for mission effectiveness.
“My formation as a Sister of Notre
Dame has contributed significantly to
who I am as a professional,” said Ziegler,
who began working at the College in
February. “There is an educational
heritage that was part of my early
formation, and a commitment to a
thoughtful and ongoing regular prayer life
that is important to my development as a
woman and then as a religious woman.”
Early in her academic career, Ziegler
spent one year at Notre Dame College as
a second year novice during her initial
formation as a Sister of Notre Dame. She
ultimately earned her undergraduate
degree in elementary education from
St. John’s College and has since earned
her M.A. in language and literacy from
Virginia Polytechnic & State College and
her Ph.D. from Boston College in
curriculum and instruction.
She began her career in education
as an elementary teacher at St. Margaret
Mary in South Euclid. Over the course of
20 years, she became a specialist in
reading and science, teaching first
through eighth grade students at
diocesan schools in Cleveland, Chardon,
Elyria and Canton, Ohio.
In 1990, she took a position as
principal at St. Agnes School in Arlington,
Virginia. “That was a rich opportunity to
put into practice the vision I had for a
Catholic elementary school,” recalled
Ziegler. “When I began there, the school
was on the verge of closing. I initiated
shared leadership with the faculty
community and as a result enrollment
almost doubled by the time I left. It was
very exciting to be a part of a turnaround
for an elementary school and to still see
that school flourishing today.”
Prior to coming to Notre Dame
College, Ziegler was the program director
for elementary education at Lesley
University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She oversaw program development and
administration of the university’s
elementary education licensure program
and was part of the university’s
educational leadership team. “It was very
involved. I was responsible for 75 fulltime
and adjunct faculty members and
approximately 700 students both on and
off campus,” she said.
She was also a member of Lesley’s
faculty, serving as an associate professor
of teaching, learning and leadership,
and assistant professor of curriculum
and instruction.
As she begins her new role at Notre
Dame College, she sees three levels to her work:
assisting the
Education
Department
with
coordinating
the visit of
representatives
from the
National
Council for
Accreditation
of Teacher Education; working with Dr. T.J. Arant,
Vice President for Academic Affairs, along
with full-time and adjunct faculty
members to develop an adjunct faculty
orientation program carefully aligned
with the Notre Dame College mission;
and developing and serving as chair of an
ad hoc committee for faculty and student
development around the College mission.
“Our mission and who we are as a
college rests on the premise of caring for
people, one person at a time,” said
Ziegler. “The College could not have a
better mission. It connects us with Sr.
Julie Billiart, Sr. Maria Aloysia, and the
educational heritage of the Sisters of
Notre Dame. If there is anything these
women were about and Jesus was
about, it was tending to people one
person at a time.”
Steve Ruic is the writer and editor for
Notre Dame College.
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The lecture, sponsored by the Clara
Fritzsche Library, drew an audience of
Notre Dame faculty, staff and
administrators along with alumni, students
and local residents. The talk was more
than a mere travelogue as Strouse spoke
on teaching methods and contrasted the
American educational system with that in
Ukraine. Audience members were
surprised to hear that Ukrainian students
always dress professionally and must take
an average of 10-12 courses per semester.
Also, their school day starts at 8:00 a.m.
and ends around 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
A certified public accountant with
almost 20 years of experience in business,
Strouse has an M.B.A. from Cleveland
State University. She has worked for both
a large public company and a smaller
private firm and has had responsibility for
all phases of financial management. She
taught accounting as an adjunct faculty
member at
several
institutions
before
accepting a fulltime
position at
Notre Dame
College in 2001.
In addition to
her duties as
chair of the
Business Department,
Strouse also serves on the College’s Educational Policy
and Planning Committee.