Berkley Center

Sister Luise Ahrens is a Catholic nun who has devoted her life to education, specifically in Cambodia. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Sister Louise earned her B.A. in English from Manhattanville College in 1960, and then entered the Maryknoll Order. She was a teacher at Mary Rogers College and Maryknoll High School. Ahrens earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from Fordham University in 1973 and went on to teach at Universitas Padjajaran in Indonesia. After temporarily serving on the Maryknoll Sisters Central Governing Board, she was elected president of the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation from 1984 to 1990. In 1991, she was assigned to Cambodia to reestablish the Royal University of Phnom Penh after the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror, which left only two educators and 36 students alive. Sister Luise Ahrens continues to support the English language program and library at the Royal University and collaborates in planning for Cambodia's national higher education system.