Sister Betty Marie Dunkel has been a Daughter of Charity since 1963. She started her work in social ministries in 1968 as a Family Case Worker at Guardian Angel Settlement in St. Louis Missouri where she lived and worked in the Darst-Webbe Housing Projects where the Daughters of Charity operated a daycare center, after-school programs, senior programs and a family service agency. She later served as Assistant Executive Director at Mt. St. Joseph in San Francisco which was a residential treatment center for adolescent girls. From 1977 to 1993, she served as Executive Director for St. Vincent’s in Santa Barbara which was a residential treatment center and educational facility for about 100 children with developmental disabilities. She later joined the Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico as Executive Director of Catholic Charities and served there for nine years. There she oversaw operations for six local offices in Arizona and New Mexico, which provided services to people in need, with several offices either on or adjacent to Native American reservations. From 2005-2009, Sister served as Executive Director of Maryvale, a residential treatment center in Rosemead which provides a high level of care and intensive therapy for up to 80 girls in the foster care system aged six through 18.
She currently serves as Councillor of Social Ministries and oversees the social ministries of the Daughters of Charity in five states (California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Alaska) and the Cook Islands, assuring that services provided to children and families are of the highest quality and carried out with respect and compassion.
Sister earned a Masters in Public Administration from California State University, Hayward in 1996; a Masters in Social Work from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City in 1973; and a Bachelor of Arts from Marillac College in St. Louis, Missouri in 1968.