This summer, Edgewood College congratulates Sr. Maggie Hopkins, O.P., on her retirement after twenty-nine years of service to our community. When Sr. Maggie began working here, the Oscar Rennebohm Library was the newest building on campus, and as she concludes her ministry the Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts and Nursing all have dedicated facilities. Through the administration of five presidents, Sr. Maggie has gently but firmly guided Edgewood College in the tradition of Dominican education and service and thus it is with the deepest gratitude that we acknowledge the many ways in which we have been shaped by her influence.
Sr. Maggie was born in Milwaukee and educated by the Dominicans of Sinsinawa throughout her years of primary and secondary schooling. Following a year of classes at UW-Milwaukee while thinking about religious life, Sr. Maggie joined this same Sinsinawa congregation. She finished her education in Religious Studies at Mundelein College, and then worked in three Catholic high schools before returning to the Mound at Sinsinawa as vocation director for her congregation. After seven years in this role, and after completing a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies at Wartburg College, Sr. Maggie was invited to interview at Edgewood College, and in 1991 to join our community.
Although every aspect of life and learning at Edgewood College has benefited from Sr. Maggie’s inspiration, we remember with particular pride her role in the Office for Dominican Mission. This work, concerned with institutionalizing the mission, heritage and traditions of the sponsoring organization, was a completely new idea in the early 1990s. Drawing upon her experience as a vocation director and responding to the needs of the College community, Sr. Maggie created this office from the ground up, then led it throughout the rest of her ministry. Her last postion with the College was Vice President for Dominican Life and Mission. Through it, and for nearly three decades, she has quietly impressed upon us our roots in the Dominican-Catholic Intellectual Tradition, our obligations to the vulnerable among us, and our responsibility to meet the needs of the world, even as she has met ours.
So while we are not saying good-bye, we do wish Sr. Maggie “Godspeed.” We look forward to hearing about the new projects to which she will turn her attention, even as we continue her work here. For from her we have learned that whatever has been best with us, and what will be best in what comes, will come as it always does, when cor ad cor loquitur. In gratitude we acknowledge that our hearts speak more perfectly only because we have heard hers.
Dr. Jill Kirby
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
June 29, 2020
Eagle Athletics