Officials at Duquesne University on Wednesday celebrated a $2.5 million endowment–the school’s largest ever from a living graduate.

The gift from Catharine M. Ryan and her husband, John T. Ryan III will underwrite the new Ryan Endowed Chair for Newman studies.

Kevin Mongrain, named inaugural Ryan chair, has written extensively about the late British Cardinal John Henry Newman, 1801-1890, who was beatified in 2010, a preliminary step on the Catholic Church’s road to sainthood.

Catharine Ryan, who earned her master’s degree in theology at Duquesne in 1993, co-founded The National Institute for Newman Studies, located at the Gailliot Center in 2002. The Institute, in Oakland,has the most extensive Newman library in North America and has hosted more than 40 Newman scholars from around the world.

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