Spring Catholic Heritage Lecture: Women's Contributions to Catholic Social Teaching

Wednesday, May 6, 2026
4:30pm in the LeRoux Room, Student Center 160
Public reception at 3:45pm - please join us!

Keynote: Dr. Carolyn Woo, former CEO of Catholic Relief Services

In 1972, Carolyn Woo came from Hong Kong to Purdue University as a foreign student with only one year of funding. With scholarships and fellowships, she was able to complete her Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.D. in Strategy by 1979. After two years in industry, she was recruited back to the Purdue faculty. Soon after promotion to full professor, she was drafted into administration, fi rst as director of the Master’s programs in Business, and then as Associate Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Under her leadership, the Master’s program achieved a top twenty ranking in BusinessWeek, and she was cited as one of the TOP FORTY LEADERS UNDER FORTY by Change Magazine.

From 1997 to 2011, Carolyn served as dean of the Mendoza College at the University of Notre Dame, focusing on the quality of teaching, curricula innovations, placement of students, and embedding ethics in all business disciplines. These eff orts resulted in #1 rankings for the undergraduate program from Bloomberg/BusinessWeek. She was elected as the first female chair of AACSB International and led the launch of the Principles for Responsible Management program with the United Nations.

Carolyn then joined Catholic Relief Services as CEO from 2012 to 2016. CRS undertakes humanitarian relief and sustainable development in over one hundred countries, serving over a hundred million people each year. CRS designs and implements over a thousand programs annually to reduce poverty, diminish risk, and foster prosperity. The areas include emergency relief, micro-fi nance, health systems, childhood development, education, agricultural productivity, empowerment of women, refugees' resettlement, peace-building, capacity building of partners and benefi ciaries, and impact assessment. In 2013, she was recognized as one of the 500 Most Powerful People on the Planet by Foreign Policy Magazine and one of thirty in the category of A Force for Good.

Carolyn is a member of the boards of AON (UK) and Arabesque (Germany) and on the International Advisory Group of Equinor (Norway). These enterprises cover global risk management, regulated utilities, AI-driven socially responsible investing, as well as fossil-based and clean energy. Her former corporate board service includes fi ve public companies in community banking, utilities, pharmaceutical distribution, electronic retail, and automotive manufacturing. Nonprofi t boards,past and present, have included universities, K12 education, large health systems, faith-based media, and leadership development institutes. Most recently, she coordinated the Vatican Dialogues on Energy Transition, which convened CEOs of energy and the world’s largest investment companies in conversation with each other and the Holy Father.

Carolyn is recognized for her teaching, research, service, and leadership through various awards and honorary doctorates. She also received the top honor for her column on spirituality by the Catholic Press Association. Carolyn is the author of two books, "Working for a Better World" and "Rising: Learning from Women's Leadership in Catholic Ministries." She is married to Dr. David Bartkus and they have two sons, Ryan and Justin Bartkus.