Congratulations to Mary Helen Kashuba SSJ, DML

Mary Helen Kashuba, SSJ, DML, has been given the highest academic honor in France. She was promoted from Officer to Commandeur, by The Ministry of National Education of the Republic of France.

Most Chestnut Hill College students know Sister Mary Helen from one of her countless foreign language classes or literature classes, or just from seeing her around campus. Sister Mary Helen began teaching at Chestnut Hill College in 1963 making her Chestnut Hill College’s longest tenured professor.

“Learning any language is going to enrich a student’s experience because they are learning how another culture expresses itself. It’s a means of communication, a discipline, and a way of learning critical thinking, and it’s a way of understanding another culture because I think that one of the main failings in America is that we don’t understand other people in other cultures, and we think of ourselves often as superior,” says Sister Mary Helen in a News Center article.

She continues, “We have to learn diversity, and you learn diversity through studying another language. You are enriched. You are able to read their literature. You are able to find out about the important people in the society. It’s a benefit.”