Sister JoAnn (Ann Joseph) Mark, ASC, celebrated 65 years as an Adorer of the Blood of Christ at the Wichita Center on May 12, 2024. She marked her anniversary with the Eucharist and a meal with the ASC community. She made her first profession on July 1, 1959, and her final vows on July 1, 1964.
Sister JoAnn was born in Platte Center, NE, one of five children in the family of Gilbert and Evelyn Mark. Her family attended St. Francis Parish in Humphrey, NE. She received her BA in English from Sacred Heart College, now Newman University, in Wichita, KS in 1962, her MS in Mathematics in 1968, and her Doctorate in Education in Mathematics in 1973, both from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK.
Sister JoAnn’s ministry in education spanned more than 40 years. She began teaching upper grades at St. Joseph School in McPherson, then at St. Paul District School in Angelus, both in Kansas. Her positions at Newman University in Wichita included Professor of Math, Chair of the Natural Science and Math Departments, Vice-President, Academic Dean, Director of Orientation, Advising, Institutional Research, and Transfer Student Activities. She was also a member of the Newman Alumni Board.
Sister JoAnn served at Mt. St. Clare College in Clinton, IA, and Mehary Medical College in Nashville, TN. She was Academic Dean and Vice-President of Academic Affairs at Brescia College in Owensboro, KY. Her international teaching experience included summer teaching in Bucharest, Romania, and a year in Tanzania, instructing young ASC sisters in English.
In addition to teaching and serving as administrator in higher education, Sr. JoAnn served as Director of the Office for consecrated Life in the Archdiocese of Omaha, NE, and Regional Councilor on the first ASC Leadership Team of the newly formed Region of the three United States provinces. More recently, she held the position of Director of the Partnership for Global Justice in Bethpage, NY. After moving back to the Wichita Center, she coordinated the Center’s hospitality to asylum seekers, while also working part-time in the Institutional Research Office at Newman University.
Sister JoAnn currently resides at the Wichita Center where she is Living Mission in Later Life.