President Janet L. Steinmayer is among the recipients this year of the St. Edmund’s Medal of Honor, an honor presented annually by the Enders Island Catholic retreat center off Mason’s Island in Mystic, Connecticut.
President Steinmayer, according to the center, is being honored for a “lifetime of leadership in business and higher education.” Other 2019 recipients include the Rev. Raymond Doherty, a board member of St. Michael’s College in Vermont; Stephen Moran, founder of Crossroads Physical Therapy in Connecticut, and his son, Travis, a physical therapist and founder of the Crossroads 4 Christ youth ministry; and the Rev. Philip Dabney, a Redemptorist priest and former vicar of Boston’s Basilica faith community.
The awards dinner is Oct. 25 in Mystic, Connecticut.
According to the retreat center, the St. Edmund’s Medal of Honor Dinner “celebrates lives filled with grace and virtue, lives that reflect the legacy of St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury and patron of Enders Island and St. Edmund’s Retreat.”
President Steinmayer said the award is especially meaningful to her because of her esteem for Enders Island’s work, which reflects so much of Lesley University’s focus.
“To be among the recipients of the St. Edmund’s Medal of Honor is humbling, given Enders Island’s importance to people seeking spiritual guidance and mental health support,” President Steinmayer said.
“Lesley University students and alumni in expressive therapies, and counseling and psychology are on the front lines of substance-abuse intervention, mental health counseling and myriad trauma-treatment situations,” she added. “This honor reminds me that Enders Island is not only an exemplar of care, but an ally in the fight to confront societal problems and improve lives.”