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Mourn CNR’s Sister Dorothy Ann Kelly

District Council 37 and the College of New Rochelle mourn the passing of former CNR President Sister Dorothy Ann Kelly on March 27. Widely recognized as a national leader in higher education, Sister Dorothy Ann played a central role in creating CNR’s DC 37 Campus.

“She was a beautiful woman, a personal friend and a true leader who believed deeply in meeting the educational needs of working people,” said
DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

A nun in the Ursuline Order, Sister Dorothy Ann expanded CNR from a small Catholic college for women with 900 students on one campus to seven branches, including a graduate school and a nursing school, with a total of more than 6,500 students.

To help working-class men and women get a college education, she founded the School of New Resources, with sites in poor areas such as the South Bronx, Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant. In 1972 and 1973, she worked closely with Roberts (who was then associate director of DC 37), former Executive Director Victor Gotbaum, former Education Director Bernie Rifkin and CNR Professor Tom Taaffe to found the DC 37 Campus, making District Council 37 the nation’s only union with its own college for members.