Who was the first layperson to serve as a full-time faculty member at Benedictine University? It was Dr. Rose A. Carney, who joined the faculty as a professor of physics and mathematics at St. Procopius College in 1948. She served as head of the mathematics department for 21 years and chairman of the natural sciences division for 11 years, prior to her retirement from the University in 1990.

Dr. Ralph Meeker, professor of computer science at Benedictine University, is a former student of Dr. Carney. He told the Chicago Tribune*:

""Rose broke a lot of ground at St. Procopius, being one of the college's first female physics professors and the first layperson to serve on its faculty. Before that, the faculty had been completely staffed by Benedictine monks and members of other religious orders. She was an extraordinary teacher, certainly demanding, but always very engaging and approachable. The key to her success was that she could take average students and make them better. She always looked for opportunities to encourage female students in mathematics and the sciences," Meeker said. "She, more than most, understood the obstacles facing women in those fields."

Dr. Carney was born in Chicago on April 30, 1920 and grew up on Chicago’s South Side. She was a 1938 graduate of Visitation High School. She received her B.S. in physics from DePaul University and her Ph.D. in physics from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), where she was a National Science Foundation Faculty Fellow.

While still in her 20s, Dr. Carney worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Chicago where she worked on on the Manhattan Project, the government research project that resulted in the development of the first atomic bomb. Dr. Carney was part of a team that developed technical instrumentation, and was on hand that historic day, Dec. 2, 1942, when sustained nuclear reaction was observed in the university's testing labs.

Dr. Carney taught physics and mathematics at DePaul and was an Assistant Professor of Physics and Mathematics at St. Xavier College in Chicago before beginning her 42-year tenure at Benedictine University. She also worked at Argonne National Laboratory as a Research Associate for ten summers and was a member of Women in Mathematics (WAM).

Dr. Carney receiving the Honorary Alumnus award for 1974

Dr. Carney died of congestive heart failure on February 21 February 2007at the age of 86. She was preceded in death by her parents – James and Rose Carney.

Visitation will be Saturday, 3 March 2007 from 9:00-11:00 A.M. at Sacred Heart Monastery Chapel at Villa St. Benedict, 1920 Maple Ave., Lisle.

A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 11:00 A.M.

Interment: St. Procopius Abbey Cemetery, Lisle.

In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to:

Rose A. Carney Scholarship at Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois.