Brother Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V. papers

Collection

Identifier: DPUA0103

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection includes materials transferred to DePaul's Special Collections and Archives from the Clerics of St. Viator by Br. Ryan's assistant after his death. These materials primarily reflect Br. Ryan's involvement with DePaul after he retired from teaching. Much of the material is correspondence between Br. Ryan and DePaul staff or advisory board personnel involved with the Leo V. Ryan Center for Creativity and Innovation and the Brother Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V. Endowed Scholarship. Included are letters, emails, meeting agenda and minutes, reports, and press clippings. Also included are personal and various professional topical correspondence with DePaul staff.

Br. Ryan transferred more than twenty accessions of materials to DePaul's Special Collections and Archives between the 1980s and 2016. Most of his earlier materials were generated in his capacity as dean of the College of Commerce and professor in the Department of Management. Some of these accessions were previously divided to populate the DePaul University Driehaus College of Business records, the Department of Management records, the Business Ethics Institute records, the Driehaus College of Business Dean post-1980 records, and the Department of Accountancy records. This collection was created as a separate entity to house the mix of personal and professional documents Br. Ryan retained after he retired from his DePaul professorship in 1999.

Dates

1988-2016
Majority of material found within 2004-2014

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Biographical / Historical

Brother Leo Ryan, C.S.V, (1927-2016) was a DePaul professor and the longtime dean of the College of Commerce.

Before his educational career, Ryan served in the U.S. Army Infantry, testing nuclear material from 1945-1947. After graduating from Marquette University College of Business in 1949 with a Bachelor of Art in Business Administration, he entered the Clerics of St. Viator in Chicago and took vows in 1950. He attended the DePaul University School of Education and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences before receiving a Master of Business Administration in 1953 as part of the College of Commerce's second graduate student class. He earned a PhD in Management from Saint Louis University in 1958.

Br. Ryan served as associate dean of business at Marquette university from 1957-1965. After serving as chair of Loyola University Chicago's management department (1965), he became director of the Peace Corps in Nigeria (1966-1968). Ryan spent 1968-1970 in Rome as assistant general of the Clerics of St. Viator, and later served as provincial counselor in Illinois. Br. Ryan became president of St. Viator High School in 1972, and moved on to act as dean of the University of Notre Dame College of Business from 1975-1980.

Br. Ryan served as dean of the DePaul College of Business from 1980-1989, and taught in the Department of Management. He continued teaching at the College of Business until 1999. Br. Ryan split his time at DePaul with international appointments. He spent 10 years part-time with the Helsinki School of Economics, International BBA Program, in Mikkili, Finland and taught the first English language American business courses in Poland at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Br. Ryan continued to teach in Poland after his DePaul retirement until 2007.

In 1989, DePaul established the Brother Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V. Endowed Scholarship in Management, awarded for an academic year of study to an undergraduate management student exhibiting merit in coursework or extracurricular activity.

In 1998, DePaul established the Leo V. Ryan Center for Creativity and Innovation within the College of Commerce (renamed the Driehaus College of Business in 2012). The center developed programs and conferences in support of creative business and management strategies and education. In 2007, Br. Ryan resigned from an advisory position with the center. The institution became the Center for Innovation.

Br. Ryan was involved with many aspects of DePaul culture and administration from his dean appointment in 1980 until his death in 2016. He was involved with fundraising efforts with the Office of Advancement, supported and donated materials to the DePaul Art Museum, was a regular contributor to Special Collections and Archives, and gave frequent ceremonial invocations at College of Commerce events and commencement activities. He also frequently communicated with Ryan Scholarship recipients and involved former students and business associates with DePaul advisory councils and gift-giving opportunities.

(some biographical information taken from the Brother Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V Endowed Scholarship website, accessed April 27, 2017)

Extent

1.50 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is organized into seven series: 1. Advancement; 2. College of Commerce; 3. Events; 4. Invocations; 5. Personal and Topical Correspondence; 6. Leo V. Ryan Center for Creativity and Innovation; and 7. Br. Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V. Scholarship. Most series are organized chronologically, with some organized alphabetically by subject. See individual series level descriptions for arrangement details.

Physical Location

4/3/H

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession 2016.072

Related Materials

DePaul University Driehaus College of Business records; DePaul University Department of Management records; DePaul University Business Ethics Institute records; DePaul University Driehaus College of Business Dean post-1980 records; DePaul University Department of Accountancy records