Sister Mary Teresa Inducted Into Donnelly College Hall of Fame

On October 5, 2023, Sister Mary Teresa Morris was inducted into the Donnelly College Alumni Hall of Fame. Donnelly College was founded in 1949 by Sister Jerome Keeler of Mount St. Scholastica and Bishop George Donnelly to educate underserved students in the Kansas City area. The Hall of Fame began in 2010 as an effort to recognize persons who have served the community in a variety of ways while upholding the mission and values of their alma mater, Donnelly College. A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Sister Mary Teresa graduated from Wyandotte High School and attended St. Margaret’s School of Nursing and Donnelly College before earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Northwest Missouri State and a Master of Public Health from Saint Louis University.

A nurse since 1972 and a member of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery since 1978, Sister Mary Teresa has served in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home health settings. She specialized in caring for the poor, homebound, high-risk infants, and children with special needs. During the pandemic, she provided infectious disease services at Dooley Center, the Mount’s licensed care facility. Sister Mary Teresa has given back to Donnelly as a teacher in the school’s allied health program, as interim director of the practical nursing program, and as a board member. In the words of her nominator,

“She approaches everything she does with precision, intelligence, and, most importantly, compassion. She treats the people she serves as she would Christ Himself.”

Sister Mary Teresa commented, “When I got the letter telling me I was selected for the Hall of Fame, I was like, ‘What? I haven’t done anything I would consider to be spectacular for Donnelly.’ But I’m thrilled and very honored to be selected.”