THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Rev. Dr. Patricia Novick
“Being a feminist was really important to me and was a significant part of my life. It wasn’t something I did on the side. It was a consciousness.”
Activist, Organizer, Educator, Ordained Minister. Taught the first Women’s Studies course at Roosevelt University, Chicago. Created the first in the nation, BA and MA in holistic health at DePaul in the College of Professional Studies. Co-founded the Sojourner Truth Child Care Center. Academic Women (1964), Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, Jane, SDS, Staff of SCLC, worked with white policeman’s wives, redlining. National Organization of Women (NOW). The 200 to 2000 project – trained community-based Latinas in self-care skills in a pass-it-on model. Worked on self-care skills for gay males supporting their partners with HIV/AIDS for 15 years. Member of Wall of Mothers. Initiator of Women Alive! A Legacy of Social Justice. Founded Alive Ltd. in 1998. Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for McDonald’s Corporation. Co-Principal Investigator, Northwestern University, Humanities Without Walls project. Senior Research Associate, Keller Science Action Center, Field Museum of Natural History. Senior Research Fellow, Monsignor John J. Egan Urban Center, DePaul University. Belfer Fellow, National Anti-Defamation League, for activities to combat discrimination and advance social justice. Senior Fellow, Harvard Divinity School, Center for the Study of the World’s Religions. Community Fellow, Center for Urban Research and Learning, Loyola University. Scholar in Residence, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Interviewed by Mary Jean Collins, VFA Historian, April 2023

Photo. Pat Novick and her then husband, civil rights leader, Al Raby, November 1967.
More About Patricia:
- “I First Met Chuy García When He Worked with My Husband, Al Raby, on Harold Washington’s Campaign,” by Dr. Patricia Novick
- Patricia Novick: Championing Reproductive Freedom in the post-Roe Era
- “The Janes,” an HBO Original Documentary, 2022
- “Patricia Novick: Seeds of Faith & Justice – You Will Make This Bloom Again,” Women over 70, November 2019
- “Diversity and Inclusion: Why is this ‘White’ Girl so Passionate About it,” by Alison Raby, October 2016
- Patricia’s remarks from the Veteran Feminists of America event, “The Unfinished Business of the Women’s Movement,” Chicago, IL, August, 2004.
- “Reflections on Spirituality and Justice,” by Dr. Patricia Novick, Women Alive! A Legacy of Social Justice: A Tribute to Chicago’s Pioneering Women, August 2003.