ALLEGANY, N.Y. — St. Bonaventure University’s president, Sister Margaret Carney, revealed on Wednesday she is battling cancer.
Last month, Carney announced she is stepping down as the university’s president on July 31 before going on a one-year sabbatical.
“Shortly after announcing my decision, I met with my doctor to review results of tests taken several weeks earlier,” Carney wrote in an email. “His news that day was not good. … I learned that day, and later had confirmed with other testing, that I have multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood causing abnormal plasma cells to collect themselves in bones and the bone marrow. It is something I am still getting used to writing and saying out loud.”
Carney has undergone several tests at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and will begin this week an intensive course of drug therapy that may extend for six months.
Until her departure as university president, Carney will remain at the helm.
“My medical team assures me that I will be able to continue to fulfill my role as long as I somewhat reduce my schedule. This will cause me to slow my 80 mph daily speed to a more respectable 55 mph. It will also cause me to make schedule choices to protect me from exposure to anything contagious, as the therapy will weaken my immune system.”
Fellow university officials have offered their support to Carney as she takes her first steps in battling the disease.
“We are, of course, first concerned with her well-being and making sure she has the support she needs to heal and beat this disease,” said Robert Daugherty, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees. “The board, cabinet and other campus leaders and staff will surround her with love and support while also continuing to lead our campus agenda. We will enable her to take care of herself as she also concludes her presidency in her chosen style and manner.”
Carney is the university’s fourth-longest-serving president, assuming her leadership role at St. Bonaventure in 2004. She succeeded Dr. Robert Wickenheiser, who resigned in 2003 amidst a St. Bonaventure basketball player eligibility scandal, as the institution’s 20th president.
“It will come as no surprise to anyone that I intend to do everything possible to win this battle with cancer. I will also find in this many opportunities to ponder the fundamentals of the faith with which I was gifted in baptism,” she wrote.
The university president is credited by many for guiding the institution away from the scandal and bringing a sense of calm and normalcy back to the school.
Among many accomplishments during her tenure include helping to raise $15 million for the School of Business and increase the university’s endowment by more than $30 million. She and the trustees’ board invested $71.4 million in capital improvements, the majority of which included the construction and renovation of campus facilities, academic buildings and residence halls.
Carney also orchestrated the most successful accreditation process in the university’s 158-year history.
