Presents interview with Sister Joel Read, who offers candid, insightful, and provocative perspective of unique role of Catholic women's colleges and how their history and tradition of social action and service and their urban base distinguish them from 50% of non-Catholic women's colleges. Describes Alverno College's unique model of self-directed,…

Presents an address to the annual meeting of Neylan colleges, Catholic colleges founded by religious women, that retain some relationship to the religious community. Drawing on survey data, the presentation briefly chronicles the origins and history of the colleges, changes in them since the 1960s, and salient issues that have arisen in recent…

The mission of Catholic colleges and universities and their responses to change are discussed in four articles. Historical information on Catholic women's colleges and the current picture are reviewed by Abigail McCarthy in "A Luminous Minority." The revision of the curriculum at Fordham College is described by James N. Loughran in…