Recipients

Helen "Jean" Gleason White ’59

After graduating from Holy Cross, Jean Gleason White entered federal service and served with distinction for 31 years until retirement. For a short period of time, Jean left her job to pursue a degree in English at George Mason College of the University of Virginia and was among the first 60 women to graduate from UVA’s College of Arts and Science. After graduation, and return to work, Jeannie pursued post-graduate studies at night at Georgetown University and American University, earning a master’s degree in Information Resources Management, a Certificate of Accounting, and a Certificate in Configuration and Data Management. By the end of her federal service, Jean was working at the National Security Agency with top security clearance. 

Additionally, Jean has published three murder mysteries, with the fourth in the works, as well as a biography of her father-in-law, Frank Russell White, architect of the Wardman Park Hotel.

Jean has held membership in many professional and volunteer organizations, most notably is her membership in the National Press Club, entering in 1978, just three years after women were permitted. She is also an active volunteer with the American News Women’s Club and weightlifting at Gold’s Gym. 

With her laudable scholarly and professional background, Jean remains a behind-the-scenes, quiet person, demonstrating the most important qualification for this award. Jeannie is a caring Christian woman with her generous heart and her quiet way…always sensitive to the needs of others, and ready to be of service.

Mary Joy Ellis Hurlburt ’68

Having discovered her passion for art at The Academy of the Holy Cross, Mary Joy began her career teaching art at St. Mary’s Ryken High School in 1985. In 2005 Mary Joy was named President of St. Mary’s Ryken. She is the first female president of an Xaverian Brothers-sponsored school. During her time as president, she oversaw a comprehensive campus master plan that included major renovations to four academic buildings, creation of a campus ministry center, and construction of a turf field and stadium. The completion during the summer of 2019 of the 21st century MIL STEM/Robotics Lab and the state-of-the-art Donnie Williams Center, a 48,000 square ft. wellness center, brought the campus master plan to closure. Having led several successful capital and comprehensive campaigns, Mary Joy was able to raise significant funds for the endowment, capital projects, scholarships and financial aid.

Mary Joy has served on the board of directors of St. John’s Preparatory School, in Danvers, MA; Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD; and The Academy of the Holy Cross. She has served as president of the Archdiocese of Washington Presidents’ Association. She is a member of the Lexington Park Rotary Club and St. George’s Parish in Valley Lee, MD.

Mary Joy received her Master of Arts in Supervision and Leadership from Notre Dame of Maryland University and a Bachelor of Science in Studio Art and
education from Ladycliff College in New York.

She is blessed to be married to George Hurlburt for 46 years and they have a wonderful son, Jimmy, and two grandchildren, Eli and Minah.

Paula Kirlew Grant ’85

Paula is an Emmy Award-winning television and radio broadcaster and marketing/multimedia professional, who currently serves as secretary for communications for the Archdiocese of Washington and is the media spokesperson and representative of the Cardinal Archbishop. Paula previously served as director of communications for Archdiocese of Atlanta for five years.

Paula earned her Bachelor of Arts in Radio, Television and Film, magna cum laude, from the University of Maryland, College Park in just three years. While at her first job at WUSA TV/CBS she became the host of a teen talk show, eventually winning her first Emmy Award as a producer.

In 1989, Paula answered a dare from a friend and tried out for the national Miss Black America pageant—and won. She became radio co-host on Majic 102.3 (“Radio One”) and eventually won the prestigious “Best Individual in Radio” award from the American Women in Radio and Television. Paula has served as public relations counsel in numerous fields and hosted numerous special television programs for well-known entities such as the Children's Miracle Network, the WB (Warner Bros. Television, now the “CW”), UPS, and the YMCA of Greater Atlanta. Paula currently serves as a board member for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington.

Paula is the proud wife of Ray Grant and a super-proud mom of daughter Rae and son Donovan.

Elizabeth Mahan Doyle ’40 (posthumous)

Betty was an electronics engineer/intelligence analyst who was a proponent for women to enter into the engineering field. She served as a physicist in the Bureau of Ships, Navy Department, from 1944 to 1948, where she became an electronics engineer. Her assignments included tours of duty in the Direction Finder Design Section, the Infrared and Ultraviolet Passive Detection Systems Design Branch, and the Radar Design Branch. In 1956 she transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency, working as an electronics analyst in the Headquarters Electronics Intelligence Processing Center, where she interpreted signals intercepted by the famous U-2 missions. While there, Betty earned a special award from the National Security Agency for her classified reports on the Soviet Surface-to-Air Missile Radar. This work led to the successful design of electronic countermeasure systems.

In 1963 Betty moved to the Defense Intelligence Agency, where she conducted special studies to identify radar signal collection requirements and to determine how successful the airborne collections missions were in satisfying these requirements for both the Air Force and Navy. In 1971 she was appointed to be the Federal Women’s Coordinator for the DIA in addition to her responsibilities as an electronics engineer/intelligence analyst.

Betty was a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Electronic Warfare Association, Trinity College Alumni Association, The Academy of the Holy Cross Alumnae Association, The Association of Former Intelligence Officers, The U.S. Naval Institute, and the American Association of University Women. 

Betty was a member of the Catholic Church of the Little Flower and Kenwood Country Club. Betty died at age 95 on Thursday, April 5, 2018.

She was married to Bernard Doyle and is survived by her two sons, Bernie and Dick Doyle; their wives Ev and Jackie Jacobs Doyle ’73; nine grandchildren (including Christie Doyle Heidenberger ’05); and 14 great-grandchildren.

Sister Sharon Mihm, CSC ’63

Sister Sharon is so proud to be an alumna of the Academy’s fourth graduating class from the Kensington campus. “Words cannot adequately express how deeply grateful I am for the Academy.” It was here at Holy Cross that the seeds of her vocation were firmly planted as well as her desire to become an educator of students on the elementary school level. Sister Sharon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education at Dunbarton College and entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1967. She began teaching at Saint Mary’s Campus School on the grounds of the Motherhouse and Saint Mary’s College. 

Sister served as a principal for elementary schools in the East for nearly 50 years. She transitioned into hospital ministry in 2014 and began serving in the Spiritual Care Department at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring and recently at Holy Cross Germantown. She says, “When I originally took this leap of Faith to transition from education to serving patients and their loved-ones, I had no idea that these years would truly be life-giving for me personally. Seeing the face of God in the peace and contentment of newborns and the expressions of joy and love on the faces of their parents and also seeing God’s presence in those who are lonely and those waiting to be called home—touches my heart in countless ways on a daily basis.”

Additionally Sister Sharon also serves on the Academy’s Board of Trustees where she chairs the School Life Committee. “Serving as a Principal and being part of the Spiritual Care Department of Holy Cross Health has been a gift! Serving the Academy for the past 10 years has truly been a blessing.”

Sister Sharon is deeply grateful to the Sisters of the Holy Cross who taught her at the Academy and Dunbarton College of Holy Cross and on whose shoulders she is privileged to stand today.

Monica Creamer Bradford ’75

Monica studied chemistry at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, receiving a Bachelor of Science in 1979. After college, Monica worked for the Publications Division of the American Chemical Society for nine years. For the last 30 years, she has been on the staff of the journal Science, the premier global outlet for scientific news, commentary, and cutting-edge research. Monica is currently Executive Editor of the Science journals, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In this position she oversees the peer-review and selection of manuscripts for six journals: Science, Science Signaling, Science Translational Medicine, Science Immunology, Science Robotics and Science Advances. 

Monica has worked alongside six editors-in-chief helping to lead the field of scholarly publishing in developing standards for authorship, conflicts of interest, reproducibility, data/material availability, dual-use research of concern and transparency. Science has published many high-profile research papers during Monica’s tenure, on topics including the discovery of the cystic fibrosis gene, Otzi—the iceman of the Alps, the human genome, exosolar planets, quantum cascade lasers, the Bose-Einstein condensate, and small RNAs. She worked closely with the team to maximize public awareness of these exciting results. In addition she helped craft special issues that highlighted research that impacts societal issues such as inequality, the environment and disease.

Monica has been heavily involved in the development of Science’s website and new media offerings as well as the adoption of technologies to increase efficiency and support for a digital-first, format-agnostic publication process. Monica served on the publishing board of the American Heart Association, was a director of the Counsel of Science Editors, and served as the president of the Council in 2007. A personal career highlight for Monica was participating in the Conference of Women Leaders in Science, Technology, and Engineering that was organized by the U.S. Department of State and gathered women from the North Africa/Middle East region for a workshop in Kuwait. In addition she has enjoyed working with the publishing team and sponsors on establishing awards to recognize early-career scientists.

Monica has two daughters, Allison ’09 and Colleen ’12.

Kimberly Peeler-Allen, ’94

Kimberly has been working at the intersection of race, gender, and politics for almost 20 years. Kimberly is the co-founder of Higher Heights, a national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office.

Kimberly and her co-founder Glynda Carr have built Higher Heights from an idea on the back of a placemat into a network of over 90,000 members, donors, and activists across the country that have helped elect Black women to Congress and the U.S Senate, and to grow the number of Black women in statewide executive office and leading our nation's largest cities.

Kimberly was the principal of Peeler-Allen Consulting, LLC from 2003 to 2014, the only African American full-time fundraising consulting firm in the state of the New York. Kimberly served as a finance director of Letitia James' successful bid to become Public Advocate of the City of New York and the first African American woman elected citywide in New York's history. She then became the Co-Executive Director of New York Attorney General Letitia James' Transition Committee, under which she oversaw the recruitment and retention of key staff, supervised the execution of the Attorney General's inaugural, and worked with the Transition Committee to develop policy areas for enhancement within the Attorney General's Office. Kimberly also serves as a board member of ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women's Equity.

In 2018, Kimberly was selected as one of the Roddenberry Fellowship's 20 incredible established and emerging activists to devote an entire year to projects that will make the U.S more inclusive and equitable through their inaugural cohort.

Kimberly credits Holy Cross as the catalyst to taking the adage of "be the change you want to see in the world" from concept to practice. The strong academic foundation, critical thinking, resilience and of course the motto that girls can do ANYTHING instilled in her during her high school years lead her to walk in the unbought and unbossed footsteps of Congresswomen Shirley Chisholm to make sure that Black women lead at all levels.

Kimberly, her husband, and her two children live in Brooklyn, New York.