Joliet, Ill. – As part of its June 14, 2024, meeting of the whole, the University of St. Francis (USF) Board of Trustees named its newest Trustee Emerita and announced two new Joliet Franciscan Congregation-Appointed Trustees.
“The Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate are pleased to appoint two new Trustees as our representatives. We are especially pleased that Sr. Margaret Guider and Dr. Anthony Zordan bring a wealth of experience in Catholic higher education to their board service. The understand the mission of both the Franciscans and USF and are poised to help shape the University to best serve our students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said Sr. Jeanne Bessette, O.S.F., Ed. D., President of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate.
Patricia Wheeler – Trustee Emerita of the University of St. Francis
The USF Board of Trustees voted unanimously to bestow upon Trustee Patricia Wheeler ’67 the distinction of Trustee Emerita of the University of St. Francis.
According to the USF Board of Trustees By-laws, “Trustee Emeritus status recognizes long-standing members of the Board of Trustees who have made a significant contribution to the University through their service. A trustee is eligible for such status at the completion of a regular term of service on the Board or at the time of resignation from the Board. Nominations for Trustee Emeritus status emanate from the Executive Committee. Trustee Emeritus members shall have the right to attend meetings of the Board of Trustees but shall not have voting powers.”
Patricia Wheeler has served the community for more than two decades, including as an alumni representative on the Board of Trustees, as a Representative of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate and a member of the Board of Trustees. She served on the Board of Trustees as a Representative for the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate for 22 years. While on the Board, she and her husband, Robert, were co-chairs of the Capital Campaign from 2005-2009.
In June 2010, Patricia gifted the University by naming the auditorium the James and Patricia Sexton Auditorium in memory of her parents and in honor of their commitment to Catholic education.
In August 2019, Patricia and Robert also provided USF’s College of Business and Health Administration (COBHA) with a grant from their Wheeler Family Foundation, which supports a curriculum that is more Franciscan in nature.
Joliet Franciscan Congregation-Appointed Trustees – Sr. Margaret Eletta Guider, O.S.F., and Dr. Anthony Zordan
The USF Board of Trustees also announced Sr. Margaret Eletta Guider, O.S.F., and Dr. Anthony Zordan as new Joliet Franciscan Congregation-Appointed Trustees.
Sr. Margaret Eletta Guider, O.S.F., is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate and has been a member of the ecclesiastical faculty of the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College since 2008. Prior to that, she was a faculty member at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sr. Guider also serves as the Faculty Coordinator for Formação Continuada. She is Professora Ordinaria of the Ecclesiastical Faculty of Boston College and was granted the Nihil Obstat in 2017. She has served as Department Chair of the Ecclesiastical Faculty and currently serves as the Acting Program Director for the Doctorate in Sacred Theology. Sr. Guider is the past president of the Association of Professors of Mission as well as the American Society of Missiology. She has served as an advisor and consultant for numerous religious institutes and missionary societies as well as a trustee and board member for a variety of Catholic institutions and organizations.
Dr. Anthony Zordan is Professor Emeritus at USF. Dr. Zordan began his professional career with Price Waterhouse (now PwC) and as controller of a tubular steel distributor. In 1983, he began teaching accounting fulltime at USF. While at USF, Dr. Zordan served three terms as chair of the Academic Assembly, two periods as interim dean of the College of Business & Health Administration and a period as interim vice-president for Academic Affairs in 2002. Dr. Zordan retired from USF in 2021.
Since 2021, Dr. Zordan has served on the board of The Women’s Centers of Greater Chicagoland. He and his wife, Nancy, live in the Beverly – Morgan Park neighborhood of Chicago. They have five adult children and five grandchildren.
About the USF Board of Trustees
The University of St. Francis Board of Trustees oversees and guides USF in fulfillment of its educational mission. To learn more about the USF Board of Trustees, visit stfrancis.edu/about-us/university-leadership/board-of-trustees/.
: :
The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 3,300 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 53,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
# # #
