SUPPORTING STUDENTS: MARY ELLEN KORNDOERFER, ’73

Sister Bernadette Armiger, D.C.

The Rev John G. Nugent, C.M., and Sister Bernadette Armiger, D.C., made a real difference in Mary Ellen Korndoerfer’s life.

So much so that Korndoerfer has established a $25,000 endowment to fund a scholarship in their names for Niagara’s new nursing completion program.

“Looking back, you do appreciate what you got from your education and the people who helped you out,” she said.

Korndoerfer was accepted into NU’s English program, but not into nursing, her first choice. At orientation, Father Nugent, then dean of the College of Education, noted that they were both from Point Lookout and took the time to personally welcome her. When Korndoerfer confessed that she truly longed to be a nurse, Father Nugent interceded on her behalf with Sister Bernadette, dean of the College of Nursing from 1968 to 1974.

Korndoerfer graduated from the College of Nursing in 1973, and in 1983, earned a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins (now Bloomberg) School of Public Health. Since leaving Niagara, Korndoerfer has been involved in a variety of nursing positions in different parts of the country. She still enjoys her chosen profession.

Father Nugent, who later became Niagara University president, and Korndoerfer kept in touch through the years. The priest Korndoerfer describes as “a very special person, very humble” would occasionally meet the former NU student when he visited his now deceased sister in Point Lookout.

Korndoerfer didn’t keep in touch with Sister Bernadette, but she regarded her as a role model as a female administrator and nursing advocate.

The start of the university’s 150th anniversary celebration gave Korndoerfer an opportunity to meet Niagara’s current president, the Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M. Impressed with his plans for the university, and reassured that the future is bright for the nursing completion program that started in the fall of 2006, she decided to give back to the university in the form of a scholarship.

“We were just delighted with Mary Ellen’s generosity. Our nursing alumni always make us proud,” said Dr. Frances Crosby, chairman of the nursing department and herself a member of the NU Class of 1967. “The reason the program is up and running again is because of nursing alumni such as Mary Ellen.”