Dr. Marianne Evans Mount
Co-Founder and President Emeritus, Catholic International University (2008-2023)
The Cardinal Newman Society gratefully presents the Saint John Henry Newman Award to Dr. Marianne Evans Mount, one of the founding leaders of Catholic International University in 1983 and long-serving president from 2008 to 2023. Dr. Mount has been a pioneer in distance and now online learning, ensuring that families have access to quality, faithful Catholic education from their homes anywhere around the world. On behalf of Catholic families, we recognize Dr. Marianne Evans Mount for her many years of entrepreneurial leadership in building and advancing online Catholic education and uphold her and Catholic International University as models of faithful Newman Guide Recommended education.
From Dr. Mount’s idea for a Catholic correspondence course in religious education, the Catholic Home Study Institute was founded under Bishop Thomas Welsh of the Diocese of Arlington in 1983. It was the first institute in the United States approved by the Vatican to award a catechetical diploma earned by correspondence, and the Vatican praised its highly innovative methods. It started small, with two professors offering one course on the Apostles’ Creed, based on tape recordings from Jesuit Father John Hardon. By 1986 it earned regional accreditation, launched a master’s program in religious studies in 2000, added a bachelor’s degree in 2005, and changed its name to Catholic Distance University.
Under Dr. Mount’s 15-year leadership, Catholic Distance University grew to 1,500 students from 49 states and 24 countries, with 9 percent of students from outside the United States. The University secured accreditation from the Distance Education Accrediting Commission and the Higher Learning Commission, and it was the first fully online school accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. In 2023, Forbes ranked Catholic Distance University as the top Catholic option for earning a theology degree online.
In an interview Dr. Mount attested, “Our curriculum is rooted in a strong Catholic identity that fosters a transformative encounter with the living word of God.” That is in large part due to her own faithful devotion to authentic Catholic education. Even after her retirement, she remained on the University’s board for two more years, when it was renamed Catholic International University to emphasize the global reach of its online programs.
Dr. Mount is serving a five-year term as consultor to the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education, and she previously served four years on the Board of Commissioners of the Association of Theological Schools and six years on the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council. She is a supernumerary in Opus Dei, a Dame of Malta, and a member of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.
Her honors also include Christendom College’s St. Catherine of Siena Award for Distinguished Service to the Church and Catholic Higher Education, DETC Distinguished Service Award, Loudoun County Woman of the Year for Education Award, Mount St. Mary’s University’s Bicentennial Medal, and the Outstanding Graduate Research Award at the 27th Annual Research to Practice Conference.
Marianne and her late husband have two children, and she has three step-children with her second late husband, and 10 grandchildren.
