Stevenson University Receives $1.2 Million Gift from the Estate of the Late Carolyn Manuszak, Former President of Villa Julie College

Stevenson University has received a $1.2 million gift from the estate of the late Carolyn Manuszak, who served as president of Villa Julie College from 1965-1999. The gift will support the Carolyn Manuszak Scholarship in Memory of Dr. T. J. Manuszak, her father.

“Carolyn’s gift is one of the largest that we have received and it truly demonstrates her devotion to this institution that first began as Villa Julie College,” said Steve Close, Vice President of University Advancement.

“Villa Julie College and the values of higher education were central to Carolyn Manuszak’s life,” added Marshall Paul, Esq., a former member of Stevenson’s Board of Trustees and a close friend of Manuszak. “Her bequest to Stevenson is a testimony to her commitment to the mission and future of the university, and a wonderful way to see her legacy perpetuated.”

Manuszak served as the third President of Villa Julie College, retiring in 1999 after 34 years in this leadership role. Raised in Reading, Pa., she attended Trinity College in Washington, D.C. There, inspired by the educational mission of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who administered Trinity, she joined the religious order in 1952 and became Sister Mary Stephen. After teaching high school English in Media, Pa., she returned to Trinity College to teach while she earned her Master’s in English at Catholic University. Although she planned to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, her life took an abrupt turn in 1964 when her order directed her to postpone her studies and instead serve as President of Villa Julie College.

Manuszak passed away on February 10, 2016, at age 82. Her personality and tenacity made an indelible mark on the institution and it was her forward-thinking and persistence that guided Villa Julie on the path to becoming a four-year, independent coeducational institution from its roots as a Catholic women’s secretarial school.

Stevenson University, known for its distinctive career focus, is the third-largest independent university in Maryland with more than 4,100 students pursuing bachelor’s and master’s programs at campuses in Stevenson and Owings Mills.