Rita Ruderman Nga Do Sister Carol Sellman Sister Miriam Daniel Fahey

By Voice staff

Holy Names University in Oakland honored outstanding graduates and faculty members during its annual alumni awards ceremony, Oct. 9.

Rita Ruderman and Nga Do, both from the class of 1998, received recognition awards for their outstanding achievement in a profession or service to the church community.

Rita Ruderman, a Berkeley resident, has both undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing from HNU. Since 2001 she has taught Introduction to Registered Nursing at Contra Costa College. She also has taught biology and hospital health careers at Pinole Valley School and at Middle College High School in San Pablo.

Nga Do is vice consul at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, and serves as a volunteer board member for the U.S. Embassy Association, a nonprofit organization that raises funds and provides grants to local NGOs.

The youngest of 10 children, Do spoke no English when she and her family arrived in the United States from Vietnam in 1990. Eight years later, she graduated from HNU, magna cum laude, with a bachelor of arts in philosophy and minors in math and computer science.

She then began graduate studies at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute on a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship.

Holy Names Sister Carol Sellman, an Alameda resident, was the first recipient of the Holy Names University’s Special Alumni Recognition Award for her lifetime of service to the university. She received her undergraduate teaching degree at HNU in 1969 and her master of music in music education with a Kodaly emphasis in 1978.

In 1983, she began serving in a variety of administrative positions. After earning a doctorate in human and organizational development at Santa Barbara Fielding Graduate University in 1998, she became vice president for mission effectiveness and director of planned giving at HNU.

Holy Names Sister Miriam Daniel Fahey, professor emerita of Spanish and a resident of San Jose, received the Faculty Award for Outstanding Service and Loyalty. She began her career in Spanish in 1949 when she was assigned to Hispanic boarders at one of her community’s convents. She went on to study Spanish, completing doctoral studies at the University of Southern California.

She started teaching at HNU in 1970. After 50 years in the field of education, she retired in 1996 to begin a new career in social activism in San Jose as coordinator of Santee Mission, where she assisted local Hispanic residents win redress from absentee landlords.

Besides the four individual recipients, the Class of 1951 was recognized for its collective outstanding volunteer service. The class established an endowed scholarship from 33 class members to benefit students who would use their education to give back to the Bay Area community throughout their careers. Since graduation, class members have contributed over $311,938 to the university.

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