Katherine Squires Rogers of Elizabeth City, North Carolina (previously of Scarborough, Maine) will speak at the 2019 Saint Joseph’s College Commencement as she accepts her MBA from the College's online program. In North Carolina, Ms. Rogers has served as the Executive Director of a domestic violence shelter; she now serves on the Board of the Albemarle Area United Way and as the Board Liaison to the Pasquotank and Camden Counties Community Care Collaborative. Her interest remains in healthcare administration–specifically in the area of access to and delivery of care in underserved populations.
She has spent many years in healthcare administration, most recently at Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine. Her time at Mercy Hospital connected her to the Sisters of Mercy, who integrated the story and mission of Catherine McAuley into the work environment for staff. This connection led Ms. Rogers to look into the online programs offered by Saint Joseph’s College after she moved to North Carolina. She had been aware of the college while in Maine, but didn’t know about the online programs until she started looking for her master’s degree.
Online classes are different from campus programs but offer a new experience for learning and connecting with classmates. Ms. Rogers explained that while she had some anxiety about returning to college as an adult, getting into the program eased those worries. Her philosophy was to be a good role model for her kids by pursuing her master’s degree. Posting online emphasized the individual writing styles of the participants, and it didn’t take long for friendships to form. “You learn to know people through their posts by recognizing their writing style and thought process,” Ms. Rogers said. She anticipates meeting some of her online classmates and professors for the first time at Commencement.
Ms. Rogers enjoyed the online student experience and found herself noticing how different it was compared to her undergraduate schooling. Taking classes became a constant over the two-year program, and she commented on some of the life changes that can happen in two years. “People’s lives were reflected in their posts,” she said. Online courses also showed their educational value and how they related to her working life. “I wanted to get every last morsel out of it, so I put 110% into it.”
On being selected to speak at Commencement, Ms. Rogers is honored by the opportunity. It came as a surprise, but she is excited to come back to Maine and meet some of the friends she made in her online courses.
About Saint Joseph’s College Commencement
The Saint Joseph’s College Commencement will take place on Saturday, May 11, 2019, at 10 a.m. at the Sebago Lake campus, 278 Whites Bridge Road in Standish, Maine. In addition to conferring an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to Sister Karen Schneider, the College will award an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service to Donato J. Tramuto. More information can be found at: https://www.sjcme.edu/graduation.
About Saint Joseph’s College
Founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine, Saint Joseph’s College is Maine’s Catholic liberal arts College with a commitment to sustainability and wellness. The 474-acre campus, located on the shore of Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and a nationally renown Division III athletic program to a population of approximately 1,000 on-campus students. The College provides certificates and undergraduate and advanced degrees for thousands more working adults who reside throughout the United States and in more than 20 other countries through an online learning program. In 2015 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recognized the College’s focus on community service through its mission and daily interactions with local, regional, and global communities with the Community Engagement Classification.
