At ceremonies June 13 during Saint Michael's College Reunion 2009 festivities, the SMC Alumni Association named Joanne Nelson, a 1984 graduate of the college, as the Rev. John Verret, SSE, Distinguished Alumna of the Year. An extraordinary servant to college students at Saint Michael’s and then at Emmanuel College, Ms. Nelson was praised by SMC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Patrick Gallivan for being a person who has typified Mother Theresa’s saying, “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
Joanne Nelson, a native of Barre, Vt., and resident now of Boston, worked at Saint Michael's College starting in 1993 until 2008, first in Alumni Affairs and later in Campus Ministry. She spent the past year as Director of Campus Ministry at Emmanuel College.
Nelson earned two master’s degrees, one in education and one in theology and pastoral ministry. Mr. Gallivan said of her: “Ms. Nelson’s professional success has been rooted in her relationships, treating each and every person she encounters with respect.” She has served on the board of the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Vermont, has participated as a leader of service projects in cities all over the Northeastern U.S., and has volunteered with students in Calcutta, India, and in South America, always “bringing the Edmundite priests’ message of compassion and love to the underprivileged.”
Nelson has also been a church catechist, has served as a lay minister, and has participated as a member of the Mercy Associates, a group of men and women who embrace and support the work of the Religious Sisters of Mercy. Nelson resides in Boston.
Saint Michael’s College, www.smcvt.edu, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation’s Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael’s is located just outside of Burlington, one of America’s top college towns, and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael’s has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael’s students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael’s professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation’s Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.