De Vinne was born in 1949.[1] She was raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and attended Saint Ann School and Beaumont School.[2] She joined the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland after high school.[3][2] She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics, summa cum laude, from Ursuline College in 1973.[3][2] De Vinne was a school teacher in parish elementary schools at Christ the King in East Cleveland, Saint Clare in Lyndhurst, and Saint Mary Magdalene in Willowick from 1973 to 1985.[2] In 1985 she earned a M.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame.[2] She became an assistant principal at the Beaumont School following her graduation.[2]
De Vinne completed a Ph.D. in English from the Ohio State University in 1996.[2] Her dissertation was titled, Confessional Narrative: the Rhetoric of Guilt in American Autobiography.[1] James Phelan was her doctoral advisor.[1] In 1996, she then joined the English department and Ursuline studies program at Ursuline College.[2] She directed the program from 1999 to 2001.[2] From 2001 to 2010, she was dean of the school of arts and sciences.[2] From 2010 to 2015, she served as the vice president for academic affairs at the Notre Dame of Maryland University.[4][3] On July 1, 2015, De Vinne became the 17th president of Ursuline College.[5] She succeeded Diana Stano.[4] She served as president of the American Name Society.[2] De Vinne retires from Ursuline College on June 30, 2024.[3]
