STEUBENVILLE, OHIO—On December 10, the Franciscan University of Steubenville Founders’ Association presented the 2022 Founders’ Awards to its Board of Advisors, a group of local civic and business leaders, for their work to “strengthen the bond between Franciscan University and the city it calls home” and to Nicholas J. Healy, a former vice president of University Relations, for his “key role in founding the study abroad program in Gaming, Austria.”

Board of Advisors chair Dr. Thomas Matanzo ’81 accepted the award from University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, on behalf of the entire board.

Matanzo said, “The Board of Advisors have always taken our job as ambassadors for the University. We’re out in the community, we’re all businesspeople, dentists, doctors. … Whenever people had questions about the University, we stood in as advisors and said, ‘We’ll get that answer to you.’”

He also recalled that when he first opened his Wintersville dental practice, the late John Madigan personally invited him to serve first on the Century Club and then on the Board of Advisors.

“The board had many, many great people, like the Madigans, over the years who have served. On behalf of all of them, I want to thank you for this award,” Matanzo concluded.

Founded in 1949 by the first president, Father Daniel Egan, TOR, the Board of Advisors was organized initially as a source of advice and encouragement for the school and was originally comprised of 21 members. Board members served both as confidants and sounding boards for Father Egan and for subsequent presidents and administrators, and over the decades, their committee work supported areas such as athletics, alumni outreach, public relations, fine arts, and student internships.

Nicholas J. Healy, a maritime lawyer who joined Franciscan University’s Board of Trustees in 1985 at the invitation of then-President Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, became a University vice president responsible for fundraising and evangelization in 1988.

In his acceptance remarks, Healy recounted his inspiring personal history and the fascinating history of his two most noteworthy achievements at Franciscan: the founding of the Austrian Study Abroad Program, which has given 8,400 students the opportunity to explore the cultural and spiritual treasures of Europe, and the establishment of the Language and Catechetical Institute, which has trained over 500 students from 30 former Communist countries and Asia as catechists.

Healy confessed that he used to think about himself as the founder of the Austrian Campus, until he heard a talk by a successful religious liberties lawyer who said, “’These are not my victories; these are God’s victories. God does not need me to win my cases, but he lets me help him.’”

Healy concluded his remarks saying, “I gratefully accept this award while acknowledging it belongs to God. This is a time of great crisis in our nation and in our Church. Let us all pray that we rightly discern the heavenly Father’s purposes, and we pray he will let us help him. I have no doubt that he is prepared to let Franciscan University help him in very, very significant ways.”

Father Pivonka added his thanks and honors to the award recipients.

Calling the University’s relationship with the local community a “marriage made in heaven,” Father Pivonka said, “We wouldn’t be who we are if we were in Pittsburgh, we wouldn’t be who we are if we were in Cleveland. We are the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and I am profoundly grateful to the many men and women who have been part of the Board of Advisors. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for you. … You’ve challenged us when we’ve needed it and encouraged us when we’ve also needed it.”

He also said he remembered Father Scanlan and Healy from his years as a student and young Franciscan friar.

“It was often Father Mike and Nick… and I remember the stories of Father Mike ‘and’—the ‘and’ could have been Nick, it could have been John Green, it could have been Madigan, or Kissinger, or Healy, but it was always Father Mike ‘and,’” Father Pivonka explained. “Without the other side of the ‘and,’ Franciscan University wouldn’t be who it is. We get a lot of the credit, but we know—believe me, we know—that it’s because of the people on the other side of the ‘and.’ I’m grateful for the ‘and’ that Nick has been. …Thank you, Nick, for your efforts and for listening to the Lord and ultimately desiring to be more faithful to him.”