J. A. Wayne Hellmann OFM

J. A. Wayne Hellmann OFM Conv. is professor of Historical Theology at Saint Louis University where he currently serves as chair of the Department of Theological Studies. He was co-editor of the three volume set, Francis of Assisi: Early Documents and now serves as liaison with the Center for Digital Theology in his department that is currently digitizing the electronic searchable version of the three volumes along with the Latin originals. Over the years he has contributed various studies exploring the Franciscan theological tradition and more recently to the development of what became the Virtual Basilica of Saint Francis, an interactive theological study of the upper church of the basilica. He is a member of the Bonaventure Texts in Translation series and is working on Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Sentences

Sr. Margaret Carney

Sr. Margaret Carney is the 20th president of St. Bonaventure University. Sr. Margaret is working with Trustees and the University community to develop a 21st century plan for educational excellence in a student-centered learning environment.

She has established the Damietta Center, a multicultural center that celebrates the diversity of the campus community and provides cultural, intellectual and spiritual enrichment. Diversity enrollment has climbed steadily for the last three years at St. Bonaventure. The University’s First-Year Experience program is the result of early planning decisions and is already renewing the way in which new students come to grips with the potential of their college careers. Since becoming president, the University has added majors in music, women’s studies, gerontology, theater arts, and art history and an exciting dual-admissions/dual-degree program in health professions.

Since the beginning of her presidency, St. Bonaventure University has invested approximately $25 million in seven major projects on the 500-acre campus. Among them, the spectacular renovation of Hickey Dining Hall, one of the University’s historic and signature buildings; complete renovation of Shay-Loughlen residence halls and the baseball complex, Fred Handler Park at McGraw-Jennings Field; construction of a gourmet coffee café, a $13.5 million, 46,000-square-foot science center, and a rare books library addition; and the complete renovation of the newly christened Bob Lanier Court in the Reilly Center Arena. She is also a driving force in The Anniversary Campaign for St. Bonaventure University, which has raised more than $82 million in pledges and commitments toward the $90 million goal.

A leader with a strong impulse for collaborative models, she engages her Cabinet and senior management in regular exercises to improve communication and planning activity. She serves on the board of the Council of Independent Colleges of New York and the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities. She is newly appointed to the board of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference’s Council of Presidents and serves on the Secretariat for the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition.

She received her doctorate in theology in Rome in 1988, becoming the first woman to graduate from the Franciscan University of Rome at the doctoral level. She studied in Europe after completing master’s degrees in theology at Duquesne University and Franciscan Studies at St. Bonaventure University.

From 1980 to 1982, she worked as part of an international commission on a new Rule of Life for the 400 institutes of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. This Rule was eventually approved by John Paul II. She has lectured extensively both in the U.S. and abroad and served for eight years as the general minister of her religious congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Whitehall, Pa. The congregation serves in the United States, Brazil, Lithuania and Bolivia. During her term, the congregation contributed to a collaboration in Ethiopia at a time of famine and civil war.

In 1997, Sr. Margaret came to St. Bonaventure University to serve as a faculty member of its world-renowned Franciscan Institute. Within two years she was named dean and director. She promoted a number of important collaborations during her tenure, including the foundation of what is now the Secretariat for the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition. She continues her Franciscan service by occasional lectures and through her active support of the work of the Franciscan Institute housed at the University.

Sr. Margaret holds four honorary doctorates and is the recipient of a number of other honors. She is a member of Duquesne University’s prestigious Century Club. In 2007, she was named the Whitehall (Pa.) Borough Person of the Year and received the Community Leader Interfaith Award from the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York.

Sr. Roberta A. McKelvie, OSF, is a Bernardine Franciscan sister currently serving on her congregation’s general leadership team. Her life experience placed her in the classroom as a teacher on secondary, collegiate, and post-graduate levels; she is has served as a pilgrimage leader, a retreat director, and distance-learning teacher. Sister also served as Manging Editor of Franciscan Institute Publications and Editor of The Cord (2002-2006).

Sisters Roberta has a BA from Alvernia College, an MA in English from Villanova University, an MA in Franciscan Studies from St. Bonaventure University, and a Ph.D. in historical theology from Fordham University. She has written articles for The Cord, a Franciscan Spiritual journal, and is the author of Retrieving a Living Tradition: Angelina of Montegiove: Franciscan, Tertiary, Beguine.