In Celebration of Higher Education at USMC Invocation Ceremony

His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo, Chancellor of the University of St. Michael’s College, awarded attorney, professor, and institutional leader Dr. Colleen Hanycz a Doctor of Sacred Letters, honoris causa, on Monday, August 31, 2026, at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto.  

The Doctor of Sacred Letters (honoris causa) honours career achievement of world-class excellence in one or more areas consonant with the Mission, Vision, and Values of USMC, including: scholarship, arts and culture, service to the human family (Fratelli Tutti) or protection of our common Hume (Laureate Sí). 

At the university’s Invocation ceremony, which marks the beginning of the academic year at St. Michael’s, Dr. David Sylvester, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St. Michael’s College, delivered a citation for Dr. Hanycz alongside Chancellor Frank Cardinal Leo, who conferred the degree and officially welcomed students to the university. 

For over two decades, Dr. Colleen Hanycz has provided strategic and inspired leadership at universities in Canada and the United States. Throughout her career, Dr. Hanycz has been an active proponent of Catholic education as a means to advance the common good and to celebrate the dignity of each person.   

Since 2021, she has served as the 35th President of Xavier University, the Jesuit University of Cincinnati, the first layperson and woman to serve in this role in Xavier’s 195-year history. Previously, Dr. Hanycz served as the 29th President of La Salle University in Philadelphia, also the first layperson and woman to lead in its 163-year history. A native of Toronto, Hanycz graduated from Senator O’Connor College School in North York, and studied at St. Michael’s, where in 1989 she earned her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Toronto. 

After the ceremony, Cardinal Leo met with students at an invocation reception at Hart House at the University of Toronto.