Seton Hill celebrating centennial, looking to future

When Gail Quigley came to Seton Hill College in Greensburg as a freshman the fall of 1960, she was leaving behind home in suburban Washington, D.C., to come to a small town east of Pittsburgh.

Quigley said she chose Seton Hill, then an all-women's school, as the place to study math after a Sisters of Charity recruiter had come to her all-girls Catholic high school in Bethesda, Md.

“I guess I wanted to get away from home,” Quigley said Friday. “I loved it here.”

In a way, Quigley, who returned to live in Bethesda, came back home, where she was joined by about 275 other alumna, staff and supporters of Seton Hill to celebrate the kickoff of the university's centennial.

Seton Hill President Mary Finger reminded the audience that the Sisters of Charity who founded Seton Hill College on 200 acres spread across a Greensburg hilltop believed in the education of women — even at time 100 years ago when women were not even permitted to vote.

While celebrating its past, Finger said the university is looking forward to its future.

“One of the things that Seton Hill has always done is to be really innovative and entrepreneurial,” Finger said. “We're continuing to do that. We really are researching ... careers that haven't even been invented at this point to make sure our students are well-prepared for the future.”

As an indication of that growth, Seton Hill had its largest undergraduate class last fall, Finger said.

The Sisters of Charity founded the Seton Hill College in 1918. That occurred after they lobbied state politicians in Harrisburg for year, said Sister Catherine Meinert, provincial superior of the Sisters of Charity.

The sisters believed women should have an education, and those young women already enrolled in Seton Junior College wanted a four-year degree.

Greensburg Catholic Diocese Bishop Edward C. Malesic, a former campus minister in Central Pennsylvania, said it was appropriate that the celebration of Seton Hill's centennial would be held in the administration building, just a floor below the chapel.

“The chapel is the heart of the campus ... it beats, it beats,” Malesic said.

While Seton Hill was founded by the Sisters of Charity, it has become a campus where students and staff of various faiths are working and being educated.

“Keep it close to Jesus,” the bishop said.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.