Jordan, Edward Benedict

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JORDAN, EDWARD BENEDICT

Professor, author; b. Dunmore, Pennsylvania, Dec. 17, 1884; d. Washington, D.C., July 19, 1951. He was the son of Patrick F. and Bridget (O'Hara) Jordan. After completing his undergraduate studies at St. Thomas College, Scranton, Pennsylvania (1903) and Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland (1905), he attended the Propaganda University, Rome, receiving the Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1909. He was ordained the same year, and appointed to the faculty of Mt. St. Mary's College, where from 1910 to 1921 he served successively as professor of biology, professor of education, and vice president. In 1921 he came to Washington, D.C., as an instructor in the department of education at The Catholic University of America. He was promoted to the rank of associate professor in 1926, named a domestic prelate by Pius XI in 1936, and became head of the department in 1941. He served also as dean of the Catholic Sisters College after 1936 and was made national director of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae in 1943. That same year he was appointed vice rector of The Catholic University, a post he held until his death. Jordan's writings included translations of Franz de Hovre's works, Philosophy and Education (1931) and Catholicism in Education (1934). At a time when the views of John Dewey and his school were influencing American education, these treatises provided Catholic teachers and students with useful expositions of fundamental principles. Jordan also wrote monographs on the theory of evolution and the philosophy of education.

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