Sister Linda Bevilacqua, OP, PhD

Sister Linda Bevilacqua, OP, PhD, returned to her Alma Mater as Barry University’s sixth president in 2004. Bevilacqua’s career spans all aspects of higher education. Through it all, though, her roots have always belonged to Barry.

She began her Barry experience in 1958 as a student and her leadership skills quickly emerged. She was junior class president and, as a senior, she served as Sodality Prefect, considered a position of high honor at Catholic colleges.

After graduating magna cum laude from Barry in 1962, she entered the Adrian Dominican congregation, making final profession in 1968. She taught first grade for five years and completed her master’s degree at Siena Heights College (now University) in 1969. At this time, she returned to Barry as Assistant Dean of Students, before being promoted to Dean of Student Affairs in 1970, a position she held until 1978 when she began doctoral studies.

Sister Linda completed her PhD in educational leadership at Michigan State University in 1980. She returned to Barry in 1981 as director of alternative programs, where she administered Barry’s Early Credit Program. Bevilacqua was promoted in 1982 to Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and first dean of Barry’s School of Adult and Continuing Education. There she led the creation and administration of degree programs for working adults at various sites, then and now the largest school at Barry.

Sister Linda left Barry in 1986 to accept an elected position as administrator of the congregation of Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan. She was responsible for the congregation’s administrative, financial, legal, corporate and real estate matters.

From 1993 to 2002, she served as president of Gwynedd-Mercy College in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania.

Sister Linda is active in numerous professional and community organizations, both nationally and locally. These include the Orange Bowl Committee, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Camilla Madden Charitable Trust, the American Council on Education, the Council of Independent Colleges, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the International Women's Forum, the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, and the School Improvement Zone/University and Community Advisory Board for Miami Dade County Public Schools. In addition, she is a member of four honor societies–Delta Epsilon Sigma, Kappa Delta Pi, Kappa Gamma Pi, and Phi Delta Kappa. As an undergraduate, she was elected to lifetime membership in Barry’s Lambda Sigma honor society.

Besides her roots with Barry, she also has deep ties to the South Florida community. Her family has lived in Miami-Dade County since 1958–the same year she began her education at Barry. She was born March 7, 1941 in Jamaica (Long Island), New York.