1982 Law School Alumna is First Woman to Head the Board

Chicago Library Commissioner Mary A. Dempsey, a DePaul University College of Law graduate and a trustee for the past decade, has been elected to chair the board. When she calls her first meeting to order next October, she will become the first woman in DePaul’s history to chair the university’s top governing body.

“Mary is respected for her expert public sector management and principled political instincts,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president. “I have great expectations for the many ways in which she will help shape DePaul’s future.”

Dempsey’s journey from student to chairman of the board was fueled by her passion for libraries, education and community building. A classic DePaul graduate, she was a first-generation college student who worked part-time while studying law and benefited from a scholarship to help pay for school.

Dempsey ascends to the position from her role as vice chair, succeeding John Simon, a partner at Jenner & Block who led the board for the past four years. She has been a champion for improving academic quality, expanding the availability of financial aid and ensuring that DePaul students have facilities that are well-equipped and conducive to learning.

“Like Vincent de Paul, Mary moves often and easily between rooms of the most powerful citizens and those with few resources, and she does so with a passion for a better future that is infectious,” Fr. Holtschneider said.

Outside DePaul, she is a highly regarded community servant. Since her appointment to library commissioner by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1994, she has guided the 79-location, 1,300-employee Chicago Public Library system through two strategic plans.

At 55, Dempsey has a passion for leadership that is well-honed as one of the longest serving commissioners in the Daley administration. “Being a woman has never been a barrier for me,” Dempsey said. She is the third woman to head the library system, and her management team is filled with women leaders.

In 2001 the Mayor asked her to succeed Paul Vallas as Chicago Public Schools CEO, but she chose to stay at the library she loves. “I truly believe in the library system and the power of reading.” She has opened 40 new libraries during her tenure, bringing reading within the reach of some of Chicago’s poorest communities.

In 2005, Daley asked her to take a temporary assignment as the city’s interim chief procurement officer to rectify issues with its minority contract set-aside program and now-defunct hired truck service, after which she returned to the library. A Chicago Tribune editorial called Dempsey “one of (Daley’s) most competent allies.”

“It’s a great privilege and joy to live in this city,” said Dempsey, who recalls advice her husband, lawyer Philip H. Corboy, gave her. He said “‘If you have the talent and the ability to help the people of this city to grow, you have the responsibility to do it.’” She has taken that duty to heart, dedicating herself to such professional causes as the Urban Libraries Council and personal causes like Mercy Home and Misericordia.

Like so many Chicagoans, Dempsey isn’t the only DePaul graduate in her family. Her brother Bill has a law degree and nephew Conor graduated with a degree in digital media and English. In addition, her husband's son and partner, Philip H. Corboy Jr., is a DePaul law graduate.

Dempsey earned her bachelor’s degree with honors from St. Mary’s University and a master’s in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her contributions to the city and her profession are well recognized with 20 honors and awards noting her distinguished public service and library advocacy, including four honorary degrees. She’s also been a member of 20 boards and commissions addressing a range of city, state, Catholic, civic and educational issues.

DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the nation, enrolling more than 23,000 students. The university’s strategic plan sets six key goals for the future: enriching academic quality, preparing student to be socially responsible leaders and engaged alumni, serving as a model of diversity, selectively increasing enrollment, further strengthening finances and institutionalizing DePaul’s Vincentian and Catholic identity.