Sister John Miriam Jones, an instrumental figure in the transition to co-education at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, died on November 3 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was 95 years old.
Dr. Jones was appointed assistant provost at the University of Notre Dame in 1972 and charged with facilitating the integration of the first 400 women students into the university. Her job was not easy. She later reported that “many men undergraduates found it hard to be welcoming. There was a nightly rating system in the dining hall; catcalls from the windows of the men’s halls; run-throughs in women’s halls; and something akin to non-inclusion in the classrooms.”
Edward A. Malloy, president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame stated that Dr. Jones “befriended the first generation of Notre Dame undergraduate women and made their transition easier. She was full of wisdom, kindness, and enthusiasm.”
Dr. Jones spent 17 years at the University of Notre Dame, rising to the rank of associate provost. In addition to overseeing the transition to co-education, she coordinated faculty appointments, supervised affirmative action activities, provided for the needs of students with disabilities and served as the liaison to the ROTC programs.
In 1989, Dr. Jones left the university to become the provincial of the Central Province of the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati. From 1997 to 2001, she served as an academic dean at what is now Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati.
Dr. Jones held a master’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in microbiology.