Holy Family Institute Announces New Board Chairperson for its Foundation
Holy Family Institute announces Charles J. Dougherty, Ph.D., President of Duquesne University, was appointed to serves as the Chairperson of the Holy Family Foundation Board.
“Dr. Dougherty understands the financial challenges we face to improve the quality of life for our community’s children, youth, and families. He brings to the Chairmanship leadership and service excellence, both of which will strengthen HFI’s impact in attaining our mission,” said Sister Linda Yankoski, CEO, Holy Family Institute. “He has led Duquesne University into the first ranks of American Catholic higher education by emphasizing its unique Spiritan identity, enhancing the quality of the campus and the quality of the student experience and developing a national reputation for academic excellence. We are fortunate to have someone of his caliber lead the board.”
Dougherty (b. 1949) is a nationally recognized scholar and expert in health care ethics, and has served on numerous health care advisory commissions and projects. Most recently, Dougherty has worked with the Not-for-Profit Hospital Trustees Project at the Hastings Center and the New York Academy of Medicine, as well as the National Coalition on Catholic Health Care. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Health Association and the Board of Editors at both Creighton University Press and Health Progress. Dougherty has also served as a Commissioner for the State of Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, a government ethics panel.
““For more than a century, Holy Family Institute has fostered positive change and support for children, youth and families through its many programs and services as well as its commitment to the sanctity of family,” said Dougherty. “With the heritage of its founders, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and its tradition of Catholic social teaching, the Institute, not unlike Duquesne University, serves God by serving others. It is truly an honor to be the chairperson for its Foundation Board.”
He is a member of the board of directors of UPMC Mercy Hospital, where he chairs the Ethics Committee, the Senator John Heinz History Center, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. He also serves on the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP), the President’s Committee of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE) and the Atlantic 10 Council of Presidents.
Dougherty has received many awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement from the AICUP, the Tree of Life Award from the Pittsburgh Jewish National Fund, the Nelson Mandela Leadership and Diversity Award from the Afrika Yetu organization and others.
Educated in Catholic schools all his life, Dougherty received his master’s and doctorate degrees in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1973 and 1975; he received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Bonaventure University in 1971.
Dougherty and his wife, Sandra, who recently retired as a judge on the Nebraska District Court in Douglas County, have two grown children.
