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Dr. Mary M. Keys '84
For Mary M. Keys ’84, Ph.D., now a professor of political science at Notre Dame, her love of the liberal arts began at home as a young girl and while a student at Oakcrest.
“When I graduated from Oakcrest, at first I thought of becoming a journalist or a marine biologist,” she says. “But after my first two years of college, I realized I loved higher education, especially political science, philosophy, and the Great Books. That passion led me to attend graduate school in political theory and to achieve my goal of becoming a professor.”
Even today, Mary believes that the Oakcrest education she received had a direct impact on her future studies and work.
“I had many excellent teachers at Oakcrest, and I’m grateful to them all,” she says. “The classes that influenced me most in the long term were the humanities courses: history, art history, literature, philosophy, and theology. These challenged me to grow as a person intellectually, morally, and spiritually and helped me grow in understanding of the human condition, our origin in and call from God, and our world. My teaching and scholarship focus on the humanities portion of political science, incorporating dimensions of philosophy, theology, history, and literature.”
Mary returned to Oakcrest this year to deliver the commencement address for the Class of 2023.
Read Mary's complete profile here.
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