On October 31, 2025, Sybil Novinski died in her sleep at age 89. Novinski was the mother of Stefan Novinski, professor of Drama at the University of Dallas.
Dr. Bernadette Waterman Ward, professor of English, said: “Sybil Novinski died yesterday, just in time for the Feast of All Saints. I wonder if she’s organizing the party for the seraphim.”
Novinski occupied numerous positions at the University of Dallas since her employment by the university in 1960. “Before most of these things had names, let alone vice presidents and departments, Sybil Novinski was Recruitment, Advancement, Conference Planning, Registrar, Retention, Advisement, Student Success, and Dean of Women — when there were separate deans for men and women,” said Waterman Ward.
Novinski’s husband Lyle was one of the first professors of the Art department and contributed various works of art found on campus, including in the Church of the Incarnation, before his death in 2023. The Novinskis moved to Dallas in 1960 and joined the University of Dallas faculty. The university is 74 years old, having been founded in 1956.
“I think that the world of UD conversation really begins with the two of them, to a great extent,” said Dr. Greg Roper, Dean of Students.
Sybil Novinski worked as the University Historian from 2003-2025 and was the author of “50 Years of Vision and Courage: 1956-2006”, published in 2016.
“She came to recognize that there was a lack of somebody who was collecting important artifacts and documents with respect to the University of Dallas, and I think she created the position [of University Archivist] in conversation with other leaders because somebody needed to start organizing and paying attention to those details, and part of that was because of the relative youth of the university” said Dr. Jonathan Sanford, President of UD.
Novinski created the University Archive found in the basement of the Cowan-Blakely Memorial Library.
Sanford said: “She remembered a lot […] and realized that if nobody really organized and sifted through those materials, they could be lost forever, because a lot of her colleagues had retired or died. She was able to utilize the particular skills of an archivist that she had through training, but that stretched into a living memory of the relatively young University of Dallas that was moving into its third generation, and she’d been there continuously. So much of what she did was to organize, categorize, to make sure that there was space dedicated to this work, and that position has now become really important within the library.”
Before the university digitized records, university offices were managed through paper records. “Before [Degree Works and the internet], she put together charts to account for core courses and major courses, reviewing academic progress and setting that in motion,” said Sanford.
“The most important thing she did was she solved problems for students. […] She was really adept at finding the particular needs of individuals and helping them solve them, and helping them see potential successful futures and businesses.”
Sybil Novinski was loved by many throughout her 74 years of service to the university. Dr. Greg Roper, Dean of Students, said: “She was the campus mom. And that sounds demeaning in a way […] but at a Catholic university, that should be an incredible honor. And it was because she had this sense that she knew every single student, she knew who you were; she always had a place for you. She always had that sort of ability to know who you were and what you needed at any particular time.”
“Sybil Novinski was that — both giver and gift,” said Waterman Ward.