'Learning, Leading, and Lighting the World': Celebrating 100 years of Maryknoll-Miriam education

Miriam College, formerly Maryknoll College, celebrates its centennial with the theme, “Learning, Leading, and Lighting the World.”

From its roots in New York to the many milestones that have brought the institution to new heights, the celebration pays tribute to the Maryknoll Sisters' enduring legacy in education and to the lay leaders who have continued to carry this vocation forward.

It also honors every member of the school community—students, alumni, parents, partners, administrators, and employees—whose invaluable contributions have helped shape the institution and bring it to where it is today.

Impact on learning

From Maryknoll to Miriam, the institution’s influence on Philippine education—particularly women’s education—has become an enduring part of the nation’s history.

From its beginnings as a teacher-training school in Malabon, where it produced its first women graduates, the institution has continued to nurture generations of distinguished alumni whose leadership and service have made a lasting impact across diverse fields, both in the Philippines and abroad.

Today, Miriam College continues to expand its mission beyond the walls of its Loyola Heights campus. In 2014, it opened its doors to new communities in the south with the establishment of Miriam College Nuvali.

In 2025, the school further extended its reach to the north by opening its third and newest campus, Miriam College Alviera.

These milestones reflect the institution’s continuing commitment to making its educational mission accessible to more communities while remaining grounded in the values that have shaped it for a century.

Leadership that transforms

The newly installed Miriam College President Maria Regina Lucia M. Lizares, Ph.D., leads the community in ushering in a new century for the school.

Her appointment comes at a time when the educational landscape is rapidly changing, shaped by artificial intelligence, post-pandemic recovery, and evolving attitudes toward education.

Her combined experience and expertise in business administration, corporate leadership, and academic governance offer the institution a distinctive advantage as she guides it into its next chapter of development, growth, and global engagement.

Building on the legacy of the religious and lay women leaders who came before her, she is keen on helping shape the school’s path forward.

“My role is to create the space, discipline, and conditions for a collective, forward-looking strategy to emerge,” says Lizares.

In leading three campuses with shared values and each with its own distinct character, she assures the community that the institution has “real strength.”

This strength, she says, comes from its dedicated employees, engaged alumni, and the example of the Maryknoll Sisters, who consistently stepped into unfamiliar spaces when the moment called for it.

“That combination grounded in values, the capacity to take thoughtful risk, and the willingness to pioneer is very rare,” she shares. “It has carried our institution in the last 100 years, and it is more important now as we forge our hundred years and beyond.”

Lighting the world

Complementing the school’s educational mission are its advocacies, made tangible through the Center for Peace, Child Rights Advocacy Center, Environmental Studies Institute, and Women and Gender Institute.

Their decades-long work with students, non-governmental organizations, schools, and civil society continues to make a far-reaching impact on communities, both regionally and internationally.

The strengths of these centers, combined with the Maryknoll-Miriam Spirituality of “Making God’s Love Visible,” enable the school community to live out its core values of Truth, Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation through meaningful engagement, advocacy, and service.

At the heart of this important chapter in the school’s history is the remembrance of its foundress, Mother Mary Joseph, whose legacy lives on through the 240 Maryknoll Sisters serving around the world today.

Those who continue to serve in the Philippines have always remained close to the school, witnessing every achievement, change, and challenge it has experienced. They remain a constant light, guiding and sustaining a legacy that has endured and thrived.

On its centennial, the Miriam College community expresses gratitude for the past and looks to the future with inspiration, hope, and purpose.

With new leadership, expanded horizons, and a rich legacy, Miriam College is eager to embrace another century of learning, leading, and lighting the world.

* * *

Editor’s Note: This article was provided by Miriam College.