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January 26, 2016, Miami Shores, Florida – Sister Linda Bevilacqua, OP, PhD, president of Barry University since 2004, has been named Citizen of the Year by the Greater Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce. She will receive the award during a special dinner, held February 10, 2016, at the Miami Shores Country Club.

A native of Queens, New York, Sister Linda has deep roots in the Miami area, where her family has lived since 1958. She graduated magna cum laude from Barry in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, and that year entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation. She also holds a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Siena Heights College (University) in 1969.

Sister Linda spent much of her ministerial life serving in higher education: as assistant dean of student affairs at Barry in 1969 and as dean of student affairs from 1970 to 1978. After earning her PhD in higher education administration and leadership from Michigan State University in 1980, she served again at Barry, directing the school’s alternative programs. She was then Barry’s associate vice president for academic affairs and then dean of the School of Professional and Career Education.

Sister Linda was elected in 1986 to the Congregation’s General Council, serving under Sister Nadine Foley, OP, Prioress, until 1992. She was president of Gwynedd Mercy College, in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, from 1993 until 2002. 

Founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Barry University offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate, professional, and doctoral degree programs and celebrates its Catholic, Dominican identity while welcoming students of all faiths.