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Sustaining a Legacy of Mercy in a new partnership between Mount Mercy and St Ambrose Universities
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Introduction
Since the time of Catherine McAuley, Mercy ministries have responded to changing needs with courage, creativity, and a deep commitment to mission. That same spirit is reflected in a new partnership between Mount Mercy University and St. Ambrose University, bringing together two Catholic institutions to strengthen opportunities for students while ensuring their shared values continue to serve future generations.
In the reflections that follow, Mount Mercy Campus President Todd Olson, PhD, and St. Ambrose President and CEO Amy Novak, EdD, share how Mercy values guided this journey and why collaboration can be a powerful way to sustain mission into the future.
Todd Olson, PhD, President, Mount Mercy University
When Amy and I met in January 2023 at a Perkins restaurant halfway between our university campuses in Cedar Rapids and Davenport, neither of us was thinking about creating the largest Catholic university in Iowa. We were thinking about what could be lost.
Across the United States, many colleges and universities were facing unprecedented challenges. Rising costs, demographic shifts, and declining enrolment were forcing institutions to make painful decisions. Some reduced programs. Others closed their doors entirely, including more than 20 Catholic colleges over the past decade. We knew those realities were not someone else’s problem, they were ours as well.
As we sat together over coffee, our conversation shifted from lament to preservation. Not preserving our organizations for their own sake, but about preserving a shared Catholic mission.
100 years of mission at Mount Mercy
For Mount Mercy University, that mission began nearly 100 years ago when the Sisters of Mercy, inspired by Catherine McAuley’s vision, established a junior college dedicated to educating young women with compassion, academic excellence, and a deep commitment to serving others. They responded courageously to the needs of their time, trusting that education could transform lives and strengthen communities. That courage has continued in the decades since, as we have added new programs and became a four-year college and then university.
As we considered the future, we often found ourselves returning to Catherine’s wisdom. She encouraged her companions to “supplement one another’s gifts.” She reminded them to act with courage, to speak the truth gently, and to let gratitude guide their work. Those words, written nearly two centuries ago, became surprisingly practical as we discerned a path forward together.
That wisdom, and the courage of our founding Sisters, inspired us to bring together Mount Mercy University and St. Ambrose University in an innovative combination. Doing so has required countless conversations, difficult decisions, and an extraordinary amount of trust. Throughout the process, we have tried to approach one another with the same spirit the Sisters of Mercy modelled – listening first, recognizing each other’s strengths, and believing that together we could accomplish more than either institution could alone. We needed to make sure that “1+1=3 (or more),” as Amy often likes to put it.
The result is not simply a stronger university. It is a stronger opportunity to continue our Mercy mission.
Together, our students will have access to expanded academic pathways, particularly in graduate education. They will be able to move more seamlessly between programs, complete degrees more efficiently, and prepare for meaningful careers serving our communities.
Most importantly, this work ensures that the Mercy tradition continues to thrive in Eastern Iowa. As Sr. Margaret Weigel reflects, nearly a century after the Sisters of Mercy founded Mount Mercy, their mission is not fading. It is finding new ways to flourish.
“Education has been the focus of my Mercy ministry and service,” said Sr. Weigel, St. Ambrose University Board of Trustee. “This experience reassures me our new model of Catholic higher education, and its mission, will strengthen and serve our graduates to extend justice and the Mercy charism to the needs of the society in which they live and serve.”
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Amy Novak, EdD, President and CEO, St. Ambrose University and Mount Mercy University
As Todd and I came to know one another through these conversations, we discovered something remarkable. While our institutions have different founding stories, we share the same understanding of why Catholic higher education matters.
St. Ambrose University was founded in 1882 in the tradition of Saint Ambrose of Milan, whose writings consistently challenged Christians to care for their neighbours and work for the common good. Catherine McAuley lived those same values through the founding of the first house of Mercy, and later, the Sisters of Mercy, responding to poverty, injustice, and exclusion with practical compassion and unwavering hope.
Although their stories began in different places, they were rooted in the same Gospel call.
That shared mission became the foundation for every decision we made.
Our universities have never existed simply to award degrees. They exist to prepare graduates who improve their communities—teachers who shape young minds, nurses and healthcare professionals who care for the whole person, business leaders who act with integrity, social workers who accompany those facing hardship, and graduates in every profession who understand that success is measured not only by achievement but by service.
We see the impact of that education every day in the communities our graduates serve. Reflecting on the impact of Mount Mercy graduates who now serve children and families throughout Iowa, Mary Beth O’Neill, president and CEO of Four Oaks, one of Iowa’s largest non-profit organizations providing child welfare, behavioural health, family support, foster care, and adoption services shared:
“The employees who come to us as graduates from Mount Mercy have an exceptional ability to critically evaluate situations and problem solve. They don’t take things for granted or only look superficially at the challenges in front of them. They dig deeper and truly get to the root cause of a problem, which can be life-changing and life-saving for our patients.”
Her words remind us that the legacy of the Sisters of Mercy is carried forward not only through our institutions, but through every graduate whose work touches the lives of others. As our two universities come together, we hope to prepare even more graduates who will serve with compassion, wisdom, and a commitment to the common good.
The combination of our institutions is ultimately about ensuring that this work continues for generations to come. It’s about respecting the charism and founding principles of each university, while expanding opportunities for students and strengthening Catholic higher education across Eastern Iowa. More importantly, it safeguards the values that have always defined both universities: courage, wisdom, justice, service, and mercy.
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Doors remain open 200 years after Catherine McAuley opened the doors of Baggot Street
Nearly 200 years after Catherine McAuley opened the doors of the first House of Mercy on Baggot Street, those doors remain open.
Today, they open in classrooms where students discover their purpose. They open in laboratories and clinics where future healthcare professionals learn to care for the whole person. They open through service projects, community partnerships, and quiet acts of compassion that may never make headlines but change lives nonetheless.
Our campuses may be evolving, but our Mercy mission is not.
Instead, through this new chapter, we believe it is being renewed.
We are grateful to carry forward the legacy entrusted to us by Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy - not by preserving it exactly as it was, but by ensuring it continues to meet the needs of today’s students and tomorrow’s communities.
That, we believe, is what sustaining Mercy truly means.
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Mount Mercy Graduates sustaining the Mercy Mission
See stories of Mount Mercy graduates sustaining the Mercy mission:
ENDS
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Editor’s Note: This is a wonderful story of connection across two university campuses that despite not having the same founding stories share the same belief in the value of Catholic higher education. It is also a wonderful link between the work that both Saint Ambrose and Catherine McAuley did to alleviate poverty and care for their neighbours.
We are so grateful to have this wonderful story to share with the Mercy World as a beautiful example of Mercy in place.
Photos used with permission.