By Al Benson
Sister Kathleen Ryan’s goal as founder and director of the Dominican Literacy Center (DLC) in Aurora is to provide opportunities for women to receive individual tutoring in reading, writing, and speaking English.
After the Sunday, June 2 afternoon pre-retirement open house in the Center, she should have no doubt if she accomplished that aim.
When attendees lined up outside the Center, she greeted visitors indoors for several hours. They included Juanita Rodriguez of Oswego, Ryan’s first student.
Ryan, who founded and has directed the Center since September 1993, will step down June 30. She announced her departure in March in an E-mail to tutors and staff members.
For its first year, the center resided in the basement of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Aurora. In September 1994, the DLC moved to its present location on the site of St. Therese Catholic Parish in Aurora. During the DLC’s first year, eight students were served by five volunteer women tutors. Currently, 200 students receive individual tutoring by 200 trained volunteers who meet weekly at the Center on Aurora’s far East Side. The staff has grown from one to seven persons and more than 3,000 women have been tutored.
Ryan said, “The Dominican Literacy Center believes in empowerment through education and the dignity of each individual person.” She added that volunteers lead citizenship classes for both women and men.
Ryan plans to take a sabbatical starting July 1 for a retreat in Tucson, Ariz., to finish her study of Spanish. “By the end of my sabbatical, I hope to be fluent in Spanish. Then I am open and willing to explore other possibilities for work and ministry,” she said.
During her tenure as DLC director, Sister Kathleen developed an adult literacy curriculum, initiated and coordinated an advisory council, helped develop and implement an ESL curriculum for adult citizenship classes and wrote grant applications. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Greater Aurora Literacy Coalition and member of the Aurora area planning council for adult education of Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.
Her career in Catholic education included teaching positions in Springfield, Aurora, Evergreen Park, and Crystal Lake. She served as principal in Algonquin and Evergreen Park.
Under her leadership, the DLC recently received the Library of Congress Award in Washington, D.C. Carla Hayden, head librarian at the Library of Congress said, “This award recognizes Dominican Literacy Center’s successful practice of building one-on-one relationships and grassroots organizing that keeps humanity at the heart of literacy experiences.”