Founder's Week

Founder's Week 2026 Schedule

Tuesday, September 22

Event: Founder's Week Faculty Research Luncheon

For: All faculty 
Time: 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. ( lunch will be available beginning at 12 noon) 
Location: D'Angelo Center, Room 416
Speaker: TBA
Registration: Registration link coming soon
Contact:  Lucy Pesce, Executive Director for Mission Initiatives
                ([email protected]); 718-990-3004)

Wednesday, September 23

Event: Founder's Week Administrators and Staff Luncheon

For: Administrators and Staff on all campuses
Time: 12:00 p.m. ( Lunch available beginning at 11:45 am)
Location: D'Angelo Center, Room 416
Speaker: Jonathan Dator, Director of the Center for Counseling & Consultation, St. John's University
Contact:  Vincentian Center for Church and Society at 718-990-1612; [email protected]
Registration: Registration link coming soon

Thursday, September 24

Event: The Vincentian Convocation

Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: St. Thomas More Church, Queens Campus
Keynote Speaker: 
Contact: Office of University Events at 718-990-6365

The Vincentian Convocation will honor recipients of the Vincentian Mission Award, St. Vincent de Paul Medal, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Medal, Caritas Medal, International Medal, and the Frederic Ozanam Award. 

Honoree Dinner

Time: 5 p.m. 
Registration: By invitation only
Contact: Office of University Events at 718-990-6365

Friday, September 25

Event: Queens Campus Mass, St. Vincent de Paul Feast Day

For: Administrators and Staff on all campuses
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Location: St. Thomas More Church, Queens Campus
Contact: Andrea Pinnavaia, [email protected]

Saturday, September 26

Event: University Service Day

For: Students, Faculty, Administrators, Staff, and Alumni
Time:  All Day
Registration is required
Contact: The Institute for Vincentian Impact 718-990-8331
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Monday, September 28

Event: Vincentian Heritage Lecture with M. Therese Lysaught, Ph.D.
" Knowing the Impoverished: Poverty, Race, Ethnicity and Catholic Bioethics"

For: Students, Faculty, Administrators, Staff, and Alumni                                                         

Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Belson Moot Courtroom( Room 2-13), School of Law, Second Floor          
Contact: Vincentian Center for Church and Society at 718-990-1612; [email protected]
R.S.V.P: Registration link coming soon

M. Therese Lysaught (PhD, Duke University) is the Rose F. Kennedy Chair in Christian Ethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, and Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Previously a tenured faculty member at Loyola University Chicago, Marquette University, University of Dayton, she served as an NIH/ELSI Fellow at the University of Iowa, working in the lab of Dr. Jeff Murray, one of the Human Genome Project labs.

Author of over 100 articles and book chapters, her scholarly work brings into conversation the fields of theology, medicine, bioethics, and global health. Her books include: Theological Bioethics (Cascade Press, 2026); A Prophet to the Peoples: Paul Farmer’s Witness and Theological Ethics (Pickwick Press, 2023, co-edited with Jennie Weiss Block and Alexandre A. Martins); Biopolitics after Neuroscience: Morality and the Economy of Virtue (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, co-authored with Jeffrey P. Bishop and Andrew Michel, 2021 Expanded Reason Award); Catholic Bioethics and Social Justice: The Praxis of US Healthcare in a Globalized World (Liturgical Press, 2019, co-edited with Michael McCarthy, 2019 Catholic Press Association Award); Caritas in Communion: The Theological Foundations of Catholic Health Care (Catholic Health Association, 2014); On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives on Medical Ethics, 3rd edition (Eerdmans, 2012, co-edited with Joseph Kotva); and Gathered for the Journey: Moral Theology in Catholic Perspective (Eerdmans, 2007, co-edited with David Matzko McCarthy, 2008 Catholic Press Association Award).

In addition to consulting with Catholic health systems on issues surrounding mission, theology, and ethics, she has served as a visiting scholar with the Catholic Health Association; on the Board of Directors of the Society of Christian Ethics; on the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) at the US National Institutes of Health; as a member of the advisory board for the Program of Dialogue Between Science, Religion, and Ethics at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); and as a member of the U.S. Catholic-Episcopal Theological Consultation under the aegis of the USCCB. She is a founding member and Editor of the Journal of Moral Theology and a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life.