Sister Mary Frances Taymans, SND, is a native Washingtonian and has always retained her interest in the many faces and events that are part of life in the nation’s capital.

 

Her education includes a bachelor of science in chemistry from Notre Dame College of Cleveland, Ohio; a master of science in chemistry from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN; and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from The George Washington University, Washington, DC.

 

As a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame her teaching assignments took her to Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina.  Subsequently Sr. Mary Frances served as principal of Cardinal Gibbons High School, one of three Catholic high schools in North Carolina and then Clearwater Central Catholic in Florida.

 

Returning to Washington, she taught in the career change teacher education program and directed the Office of Laboratory Experience at The George Washington University and then served as Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education for the Archdiocese of Washington.

 

Presently, as the executive director of the secondary schools department of NCEA, Sr. Mary Frances directs the comprehensive agenda of the department and works particularly in the areas of faith development, leadership and advocacy. The department recently concluded CHS2000, a six part study of American Catholic high schools. She represents Catholic and private education in the U.S. on the National Assessment Governing Board and the International Confederation of Principals Council.

 

She was a contributing author for NCEA’s Sharing the Faith program and author of Validating the Vision, a protocol for Catholic high schools for institutional strategic planning and accreditation.

 

Established in 1904, the NCEA is the largest private professional education organization in the world, representing 200,000 Catholic educators serving 7.6 million students in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, in religious education programs, in seminaries and in colleges and universities.