Sr. Eleanor Spring Receives Distinguished Alumni Award

About Eleanor Spring, SSJ

Sr. Eleanor Spring has been closely connected with the Elms from her time as a student through much of her professional career. She was a full-time faculty member in the 1970's, a part-time faculty member at other times and a trustee of the college from 1998 through 2009. She served on the recent search committee for the Vice President of Student Affairs. Sr. Eleanor is also the class agent for her class of 1963, and is invited to the donor-scholar reception each spring to represent the class of '63 scholarship.

In 2006, Sr. Eleanor received the Mary Killeen Bennett Human Service Worker Award from the Elms in recognition of her work with Weston Rehabilitation Associates. That same year she received the "Dream, Believe, Achieve: Pathways to Success Award" from Bill Cosby. The YWCA honored her with its "Women of Achievement" award in 1993, when she was a program manager of the women's unit at the Hampden County House of Correction.

Sr. Eleanor's career path has centered on using her training in education and psychology in the service of others, particularly the marginalized in our society. During the year after her graduation from the Elms, Sr. Eleanor taught eighth grade in the Springfield Public School System. In the following year she joined the Sisters of St. Joseph. Sr. Eleanor taught psychology in the Education Department at the Elms starting in 1973. She completed her Ph.D. in psychology from Fordham University in 1978. She was a member of the order's executive council for eight years during and after her time on the Elms faculty. She then went to work for the Hampden County Sheriff's Department in the female offender program to provide services to Hampden County women incarcerated at Framingham State Prison. This became the springboard for the ministry that has been her central focus for the past 19 years.

Sr. Eleanor has been the co-director of Weston Rehabilitation Associates since 1992. The organization, founded by her and Sr. Shirley Campbell, provides employment and comprehensive rehabilitation services for women as they leave incarceration and are in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. The program, based at Mont Marie in Holyoke, began with assembly work subcontracted from local manufacturers and has grown to include custom screened-printed, embroidered or appliquéd apparel and accessories. The program serves about 20 women annually, most coming from the Chicopee women's correctional facility. The Weston program provides services that are comprehensive enough for long enough duration to effect positive outcomes in the lives of the participants. In short, Sr. Eleanor has been a principled and creative bearer of the Elms tradition of service throughout her professional life.