Sister Theresa Mary Martin dedicated nearly four decades to the students of Felician College. After nine years as the College’s Dean of Student Affairs, she was inaugurated as Felician’s fourth President in 1984.
Sr. Theresa’s 28-year tenure -- the longest of any Felician President -- was marked by a wide range of initiatives. One such vision was the establishment of an intercollegiate athletics program.
In 1993 Sr. Theresa hired the College’s first director of athletics, Bob Symons. Fewer than three years later, four Felician teams -- men’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, and softball -- took the fields and courts representing Felician as members of the National Assocation of Intercollegiate Athletics.
A key development in the future of the Golden Falcons came in 1997, when Sr. Theresa purchased the former Fairleigh Dickinson College campus in Rutherford, adding, among other amenities, a gymnasium and residence halls. Growth continued under her watch, and by the time of her retirement in 2012, Felician had joined NCAA Division II, was sponsoring 10 sports, and had captured 12 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championships.
The athletics program is only one area in which Sr. Theresa’s impact continues to be felt among the Felician community. Early in her tenure the College went co-educational, admitting men to what had been an all-women’s institution. She spearheaded a capital campaign which allowed for the creation of Kirby Hall, and secured the generous gift from Joal and Joe Job of what is now the President’s house in Rutherford.
Under Sr. Theresa’s watch, graduate education was initiated into every academic division, and distance learning was incorporated into the curriculum. She challenged the faculty and staff to encourage students to reach ther full potential, and encouraged all members of the campus community to be “Sparks of the Divine.” Enrollment increased from 400 to 2,300 during her time as President.
Theresa Martin was born in Camden in 1932. She entered the postulancy of the Felician Sisters in Lodi in 1951 and received the Felician habit in 1952. Prior to joining the Felician College staff, she was a teacher at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City and the principal of Our Lady of the Lake Regional High School in Sparta (now Pope John XXIII Regional).
Sr. Theresa died on December 16, 2019, in Lodi. She was 87 years old and had been a Felician sister for 68 years.
“Felician is where teachers and students stand face-to-face in coversations about who and what we can do in our world; about freedom and what we can make of it; about ultimate reality and how we can understand it; and about spirituality and our connectedness to God and to one another.” -- Sr. Theresa Mary Martin
