The University of Scranton to Present Annual Arrupe Award on May 3

The University of Scranton will present its annual Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Award for Distinguished Contributions to Ignatian Mission and Ministries to Stephanie Russell, Marquette University’s vice president for mission and ministry, at an assembly in the Rose Room of Brennan Hall on Thursday, May 3, at 11:30 a.m.

“Stephanie’s commitment to the advancement of Jesuit ideals and identity is impressive,” said Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., president of The University of Scranton. “Both on Marquette’s campus and throughout the country, she has worked to create a community of leaders, equipped with a deep understanding of our mission and the tools to go forth and articulate it.”

Russell began her position at Marquette in 2001 and reports to the university’s president, Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., who was previously the 24th president at The University of Scranton. Her responsibilities include promoting Marquette’s mission and identity and overseeing the Faber Center for Ignatian Spirituality and Campus Ministry. To promote Marquette’s mission, she focuses on core Catholic values and social teaching, the Ignatian spiritual and educational heritage, and interreligious dialogue.

She believes the Office of Mission and Ministry is a “catalyst to spark imaginations and support programming” that helps the university’s faculty and staff make mission “authentic in a person’s life.” Her impact extends far beyond.

Russell is a founding member of the Ignatian Associates, a lay community of women and men who live and serve in the Ignatian tradition. She also helped develop and serves on the advisory board of the Ignatian Colleagues Program (ICP), a comprehensive program whose mission is to “develop Ignatian partners in Jesuit higher education who are capable of and committed to assuming leadership within the Ignatian spiritual and educational heritage and who will sustain their school’s Jesuit Catholic character into the future.” The program also seeks to enhance local, regional and national networks of Ignatian leaders who work collaboratively to enrich Jesuit higher education.

Russell’s career has focused on pastoral ministry, administration and education, and she has worked for several Jesuit institutions, including serving two years on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and 11 years as the provincial assistant for lay formation and social ministry with the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus.

Russell earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Marquette and her Master of Arts in pastoral studies from St. Francis Seminary in Wisconsin. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

The Arrupe Award is named in honor of the late Very Rev. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. The University of Scranton instituted the award in 1995 to further its namesake’s vision by recognizing men and women for outstanding contributions in a wide variety of Ignatian-inspired ministries.