The Catholic University of America

Board of Advisors

Kenneth E. Archer

Washington, D.C.

Ken Archer, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is owner of software-provider Telogical Systems, as well as a graduate student in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, and a board member of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry.

Mr. Archer began his study of philosophy at Tufts University, where he first developed a concern for the relationship between faith and reason. While at Tufts, Ken was accepted to the New England Undergraduate Philosophy Conference with his paper, "Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt." After earning his B.A. in political theory in 1996, Mr. Archer began his business career at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, where he received a Master's in International Business Law. In Budapest he met his wife, Veronika, who is from the Czech Republic.

After settling in Washington, D.C. in 1998, Mr. Archer co-founded Telogical Systems in McLean, Virginia, which has grown into a leading provider of pricing management software for telecommunications providers and an employer of 17 in Virginia and Oklahoma. Mr. Archer currently serves Telogical as Vice President of Engineering.

In 2003, Mr. Archer approached Dean Pritzl about pursuing his love of philosophy at The Catholic University of America, and in 2004, he matriculated into the graduate program. Also in 2004, Mr. Archer continued his commitment to the relationship between faith and higher education by joining the board of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry, which trains and sends Christian disciplers and mentors to college students on over 200 campuses.

Mr. Archer lives in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. with his wife, who is a physician's assistant in the Surgery Department of Sibley Memorial Hospital. Mr. Archer is an avid reader of philosophy, politics and technology, and a fan of the Oklahoma Sooners football team.

 

Mary Ellen Bork

McLean, VA

M.A., The Catholic University of America, 1980, Theology

Mary Ellen Bork is a free-lance writer and lecturer on issues affecting Catholic life and culture. She is a graduate of Manhattanville College with a B.A. in Philosophy, Siena College with an M.A. in English Literature, and Catholic University with an M.A. in Theology. She taught religion for many years as a Sacred Heart nun.

She serves on the Board of Directors of the John Carroll Society, The Institute on Religion and Democracy, and Women Affirming Life. She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine Voices. She is on the Advisory Board of the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, Christendom College, The Cardinal Newman Society, Institute for Psychological Sciences, the Susan B. Anthony List, and the Chesterton Review. She is a member of the Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs, and Immediate Past-president of the Downtown Washington Serra Club. She is past president and program chairman of the Thomas More Society.

She is on the parish council of St. Ann's parish, Washington D.C. and serves as a lector.

Her articles have appeared in the National Catholic Register, the Washington Times and The New Criterion.

She received the St. Paul Woman of the Year award in 1991 from the Daughters of St. Paul and the Brent Society Award in 1992. In 1995 she received an Honorary Degree from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. She was a member of the presidential delegation to the 25th anniversary of the elevation of Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2003. She also attended the Beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

She and her husband, Judge Robert H. Bork, live in McLean, Virginia.


James D. Johnston

Locust Grove, Virginia; Washington, D.C.

Mr. Johnston was born in Nebraska in 1930 and lived there until moving to California in 1944. After graduating from San Bernardino High School in 1948, he traveled through Mexico and much of Central America. He attended the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, graduating in 1953. Following service in the U.S. Army, he earned a Masters in Public Administration at the University of California at Los Angeles (1957). While at Georgetown he worked at United Press and while at UCLA, worked with Town Hall, the Los Angeles organization of civic and business leaders.

In 1957, he joined the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer. He served in the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs as post management officer for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. In 1959, he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City as a consular officer and then as assistant to the ambassador. In 1963, he served as Chief Economic Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua, followed by service in the Department of State as staff assistant to the Assistant Secretary for American Republic Affairs and special assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs (1963-1966).

He took a leave of absence from the foreign service to work as assistant to the president of the Automobile Manufacturers Association. After resigning from the foreign service, he took a position with General Motors in 1971. He attended the advance management program at Harvard Business School in 1982 and that same year was elected as General Motors' vice president for industry-government relations. With offices in Detroit and Washington, he was responsible for public policy position development and corporate relations with governments at the federal, state and local levels.

While at General Motors, he served on the board of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Federal City Council, the National Symphony, the International Road Federation and other business and civic organizations. He served as president of the American Coalition for Traffic Safety (dedicated to increasing vehicle safety belt use) and was a board member and officer of other state and national safety groups. He was a member of the board of advisers of the National Council of La Raza, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Ford's Theater, Meridian House and others.

After retiring from General Motors in 1994, Mr. Johnston joined the American Enterprise Institute as a resident fellow researching government-business relations, transportation issues and regulation and has written articles on these subjects for various publications. He is the author of Driving America: Your Car, Your Government, Your Choice, published by AEI in 1997.

Mr. Johnston and his wife, Margaret, live in Locust Grove, Virginia and Washington, D.C. He has five children and eleven grandchildren, all of whom live in Maryland, Washington, D.C., or Virginia.



Emily Mahony

Washington, D.C.

Emily Mahony is presently the Vice President of Development for Marymount University, a Catholic university located in Arlington, Virginia. A native of Boston, Emily came to Washington, D.C. where she first worked in the office of the Honorable Thomas P "Tip" O'Neill as a legislative assistant until Congressman O'Neill rose to become Speaker of the House of Representatives. She served as the Treasurer of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 1980s. After earning a Master's Degree in Special Education, Emily left Capitol Hill and became a special education teacher focusing on the learning disabled and emotionally disturbed. Emily was the architect for Fairfax County's elementary school program for self-contained learning disabilities classes.

Emily left teaching and worked as a fundraiser for Reese and Associates followed by a long stint with O'Neill and Associates as an event fundraiser working for many non-profit groups. She then worked at The Catholic University of America in the Development Office representing the Schools of Architecture, Library and Information Science, and Catholic University's premiere school, Philosophy, where she developed an appreciation for Philosophy. After a year at the National Italian American Foundation as Director of Development, a NIAF board member convinced her to join Marymount's staff.

Emily is a member of the So Others Might Eat Executive Committee and is a committed volunteer to help with several of S.O.M.E.'s events and fundraisers each year. She serves on Ignatian Partners, a Jesuit group which recruits lay people to aid the Jesuits in helping the poor, Terry Mahony McLean Little League Scholarship Fund Board, and Leadership Arlington. She is involved in a writing group at Georgetown University and likes politics, Notre Dame, Boston College, Gonzaga High School, everything Italian, the World Champion Boston Red Sox, Catholic University's School of Philosophy and now Marymount University.

Emily has a B.A. from Boston College in History and an M.A. from American University in Special Education. She moved to Georgetown from McLean, Virginia where she raised her two children, Jamie and Suzanne. Her late husband, Terence Mahony, was Vice President, Washington for NBC.



Dr. John McCarthy

Dean, School of Philosophy

John McCarthy was appointed dean of the University’s School of Philosophy in June of 2011. McCarthy was first appointed as an assistant professor at Catholic University in 1990. In 1996 he was promoted to associate professor. In October 2010 he was named interim dean when Rev. Kurt Pritzl, O.P., took a leave of absence for medical reasons. He continued to serve in that capacity when Father Pritzl passed away on February 21 of 2011.

McCarthy earned an M.A. and a doctorate with distinction in philosophy from Catholic University in 1982 and 1988, respectively. In recent years the focus of McCarthy’s writing and teaching has principally been early modern philosophy, but he also has strong interests in political philosophy and Husserlian phenomenology, a philosophical approach, the focus of which is the being of things in their manner of self-disclosure. He is editor of Modern Enlightenment and the Rule of Reason, published in 1998, and he has written 30 scholarly articles and reviews on a wide array of philosophical topics and thinkers.



Margaret B. Melady, Ph.D.

Washington, D.C.

Margaret Melady served as president of The American University of Rome from 1997 to 2003. Founded in 1969, the American University of Rome is Italy's first American independent degree-granting university.

During her tenure as president, The American University of Rome reached a record level of enrollment, more than tripling in less than six years. Under Dr. Melady's leadership, The American University of Rome added 14 new U.S. universities to its already impressive list of study abroad programs.

Margaret Melady has a rich background in university teaching and administration, corporate management and global communications. She has authored four books on social and political commentary and studies in international culture and communications and consulted with foreign and domestic clients for a Washington-based public affairs firm.

Dr. Melady is a former member of the faculties of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield (CT) and the State University of New York in Oswego where she taught speech, public relations and media communications.

An alumna of the College of New Rochelle where she received a B.A. degree, Dr. Melady received her M.A. from Seton Hall University. She earned the Licenza magna cum laude and Doctor of Social Sciences degree summa cum laude from the Gregorian University in Rome. Her major study examined overseas travel as a new form of papal communications and was published by Preager in 1999 as The Rhetoric of Pope John Paul II: The Pastoral Visit as a New Vocabulary of the Sacred.

As director of corporate communications of United Illuminating, a Connecticut public utility company, Dr. Melady was responsible for all external and internal communications including advertising and media relations. At Chesebrough-Ponds, she directed a nationwide program in state governmental affairs. She was the first woman promoted to an executive position in public affairs at Stauffer Chemical Company, where she worked in both public relations and governmental affairs.

Dr. Melady produced and moderated her own radio programs at WICC, the largest commercial radio station in Connecticut. While speaking on behalf of her corporate clients, she appeared on many radio and television programs.

Dr. Melady's volunteer activities have centered in intercultural and political themes. She served as Chair of the Board of Regents and Marymount International School, Rome. She ran for statewide political office and served on state and national committees.

Dr. Melady was invested in the Order of St. Gregory the Great. She received the Cross of Merit with Star from the Order of Malta and the Robertus Bellarmino Medal from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2003, both Seton Hall University and John Cabot University awarded her a doctor of humane letters honoris causa.


 

Edward F. Reilly, Jr.

Bethesda, Maryland  

On May 31, 2001, President George W. Bush designated Edward F. Reilly, Jr. as Chairman of the United States Parole Commission. After being appointed to the Commission in 1992, he also served as Chairman from August 15, 1992, until February 4, 1997, when he was designated a member of the National Appeals Board.
 
Mr. Reilly received a B.A. in political science from the University of Kansas.
 
Prior to his appointment to the Parole Commission, Mr. Reilly served 29 years as a legislator in the State of Kansas. He served one year as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives and then 28 years as a Senator in the Kansas State Senate. In the legislature, Mr. Reilly served as Assistant Majority Leader, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs, Chairman of the Senate Insurance Subcommittee, and Vice Chairman of the Senate Elections Committee. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs, which handled most corrections issues, Mr. Reilly became keenly interested in the area of corrections, probation, and parole. In 1981, Mr. Reilly chaired the Senate/House Committee that reviewed the operations of the Kansas Correctional System. This review ultimately led to major reforms in Kansas Corrections, including increased benefits for correctional officers.
 
From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Reilly served as a Commissioner on the National Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. In 1985, he was appointed a member of the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee. He has served as an advisory member of the American Justice Institute on federal and state prisons and as a member of the Community Liaison Committee of the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing, Kansas. He has also served as a member of the State Attorney General’s Task force on Drug Education in Kansas.
 
Mr. Reilly is a member of the American Correctional Association, the Association of Paroling Authorities International, the National Criminal Justice Association, the National Committee on Community Corrections, and the National Association of Chiefs of Police. As Chairman of the Parole Commission, he serves as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission (ex officio) and the National Institute of Corrections Advisory Board (ex officio). In addition, he serves on a number of Boards, Committees and Task Forces relating to issues involving the criminal justice system.
 
A native of Leavenworth, Kansas, Mr. Reilly was for thirty years in the field of real estate insurance and banking. Mr. Reilly served seven years in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He has been actively engaged in the International Officers Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, hosting international officers from other nations attending the Command and General Staff College. From 1967 to 1992, Mr. Reilly annually provided instruction to the International Officers on federal, state and local government relationships.
 
Mr. Reilly currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Rome.

 

Catharine M. Ryan
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  

Catharine Murray Ryan was born in Bronxville, NY, the second of 10 children. She received her early education at parochial schools in the Diocese of New York. After high school at The Ursuline School in New Rochelle, she attended Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Newton, Massachusetts. In 1968, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in Economics.
 
In 1969, Catharine married John Ryan and moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is still their home. John is Chairman and CEO of Mine Safety Appliances Company (MSA), the world’s leading manufacturer of worker safety and protective equipment.
 
While raising their two daughters and one son, Catharine was also active in various community and Church organizations, in particular, the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors and the Sacred Heart Parish Council.
 
In 1988, Catharine returned to graduate school. She earned a Masters Degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Theology Department of Duquesne University in 1993. She then served as a Chaplain for seven years at Magee Women’s Hospital and Forbes Regional Hospital.
 
Currently, Catharine serves on the Board of Trustees of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and of the Venerable John Henry Newman Association. She is also a member of The Board of Trustees of the Pittsburgh Oratory, for whom she chaired a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign (completed in 1995) to build a new campus ministry center and a residence for the Fathers of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
 
For many years, she has coordinated the John Henry Newman Lecture Series sponsored by The Pittsburgh Oratory. In 2002, she joined the Oratorians in co-founding the National Institute for Newman Studies, which encompasses the Newman Research Library, the Newman Scholars Program and the Newman Studies Journal. It is their hope that the Institute will become the definitive source in the United States for scholarly research on the life, work and influences of John Henry Newman.
 
Catharine’s family spends summers on Cape Cod, where she enjoys gardening, sailing, reading and playing with her four grandsons.
 
 

Mark Ryland 

Great Fall, Virgina  

Mark Ryland is active in both the software business and in public policy work.  He serves as Vice-President and Chief Technology Office for Myriad Telecom (www.myrtel.com), a software start-up developing interactive distance learning and virtual classroom software, and as Chief Technology Consultant for Microbanx (www.microbanx.com).  He also services as Vice-President of Discovery Institute (www.discovery.org), where he is actively involved with Discovery's Technology and Democracy Project as well as its Center for Science and Culture.  Previously, Mr. Ryland worked for Microsoft Corporation for almost ten years, serving in a variety of positions that culminated in his work as Director of Standards Strategy.
 
Mr. Ryland serves on the boards of directors of various educational and philanthropic institutions: Discovery Institute, Christendom College, the International Theological Institute (ITI) in Austria, and the Fellowship Of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). He is a member of the board of regents of Gonzaga University and the board of advisors to the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America as well as the Catholic Information Center in Washington, DC. He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of San Diego in 1983 and law degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law at U.C. Berkeley in 1986. He clerked for Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1986-88.
 
Mr. Ryland currently lives in the Washington, DC suburb of Great Falls, Virginia, with his wife Katherine and their nine children.

 

Stephen M. Younger, Ph.D 

Los Alamos, New Mexico
B.A., Catholic University, 1973, Physics. 
 
Stephen M. Younger is a Senior Fellow in the Theoretical Division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a Senior Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. At Los Alamos, his principal research interests include the computer simulation of primitive societies, especially hunter-gatherer societies in which gift giving is a significant feature. At the Wilson Center, Dr. Younger writes on a broad range of issues in international security, focusing on practical measures for the prevention of large scale conflict.
 
From 2001-2004, Dr. Younger was the Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a component of the U.S. Department of Defense, whose mission is to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction. In this capacity, he led an organization of over 2,000 people with a budget of over $2 billion. DTRA activities included arms control inspections, cooperative threat reduction, new weapons development, chemical and biological defense programs, and operations in Iraq.
 
Prior to his government service, Dr. Younger was the Senior Associate Director for National Security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was responsible for assuring the safety and reliability of most of America’s nuclear deterrent. He has taken a leading role in the development of a new approach to strategic forces and deterrence in the post-Cold War era.
 
From 1989 to 2001 Dr. Younger held a number of senior management positions at Los Alamos and led technical projects ranging from inertial confinement fusion to supercomputing. He was the founder and first director of the Center for International Security Affairs at Los Alamos and took a leading role in opening the Russian nuclear weapons institutes for international collaboration. 
 
From 1982 to 1989 Stephen Younger was involved in nuclear weapons design at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He designed and oversaw the testing of several new concepts in nuclear explosives.
 
From 1974 to 1982 Dr. Younger was a computational atomic theorist at the National Bureau of Standards in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He has published over 60 papers on electron scattering from highly charged ions and other topics in atomic physics.
 
Dr. Younger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from The Catholic University of America in 1973, an M.S. in physics from the University of Maryland in 1975, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland in 1978.
 
Stephen Younger is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service.  he is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of United States Strategic Command, the Board of Advisors of the School of Philosophy of Catholic University of America, and serves on various panels and review committees.