July 24, 2018
Please join the Ursuline College community in praying for the repose of the soul of beloved artist, educator and innovator Sister Kathleen Burke, OSU, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC-S, who died on July 24 after a brief illness.
Sister Kathleen began teaching art at Ursuline College in 1972. In 1986, she and three other long-time faculty members founded Ursuline's master’s degree program in Counseling and Art Therapy as the only graduate art therapy program in Ohio. Sister Kathleen had the foresight to see the value of art therapy, which combines the therapeutic use of art and the power of images to heal.
In the summer of 2016, the College celebrated the 30th anniversary of the founding of the program with an exhibition in its Florence O’Donnell Wasmer Gallery titled "Healing Imagination." Sister Kathleen retired from the faculty later that year. Her framed photographs, notably a series she took in Ireland, are displayed across the Ursuline College campus.
Sister Kathleen earned a bachelor of science degree in education from St. John College in 1962, and a master of arts in art education in 1972 in a joint program of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Institute of Art. She earned a PhD in art/art therapy from the Union Graduate School in 1985.
Across the country, her former students use the healing power of art to bring comfort and peace to those they serve.
In 1999, a scholarship fund was established in honor of Sister Kathleen's contributions to the field of art therapy. Once this scholarship fund grows to the endowment amount, it will benefit students seeking a master’s degree in Counseling and Art Therapy. To make a donation to that fund in her memory, click here.
Read more about Sister Kathleen's life and view funeral arrangements here.
