UF HONORS 47 ALUMNAE DURING COEDUCATION 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Sept. 15, 1997
Writer: Edward Hunter, ehunter@ufl.edu

GAINESVILLE --- The University of Florida this week honors 47 outstanding alumnae as part of the recognition of the 50th anniversary of coeducation at the state's oldest university.

The alumnae will be honored in a special convocation Friday at 10 a.m. in University Memorial Auditorium, during which each woman will receive a medallion. Two of the honorees are on the program. Terry Dozier, former National Teacher of the Year and current special adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley will make a few brief comments. Composer and pianist Stella Sung will play her original work "Orange and Blue Ragtime."

UF selected 47 Alumnae of Outstanding Achievement to represent 1947, the year UF officially became coeducational. During that half century, some 85,000 women have passed through the campus.

UF President John Lombardi said it was no coincidence that these outstanding women graduates will be honored during a major football weekend: the Florida-Tennessee game.

"We picked an important weekend that would lend itself to the maximum attendance and focus on these exemplary graduates of our university," Lombardi said. "The Alumnae of Distinction, however, is an event we could have held on any weekend in our year and drawn a big crowd.

"These are exceptional representatives of our university, and we are very proud of what they have accomplished," he said.

Terry Hynes, dean of UF's College of Journalism, agreed with Lombardi. Hynes chaired the committee that selected the honorees, and she described the women as extraordinary.

"The 50th anniversary of full coeducational status for women at UF is a wonderful time to recognize these 47 extraordinary women," Hynes said. "They are distinguished themselves, and they re also examples of the outstanding records many UF alumnae have achieved."

Forty of the 47 women are expected to attend the festivities, which will begin with a dinner Thursday evening. Immediately following Friday's convocation, a plaque commemorating the anniversary will be unveiled in the plaza in front of the auditorium. Many colleges will host their alumnae for lunch, afternoon seminars and meetings with current students and faculty.

The celebration continues Friday night with the alumnae and their guests attending the "Soiree in the Swamp," the black-tie public announcement of the university s $500 million "It s Performance That Counts" capital campaign.

A special breakfast for the honorees Saturday precedes the Florida-Tennessee kickoff.

Among those expected in Gainesville for the celebrations are Adele Khoury Graham, a noted advocate for historic preservation, school volunteerism and programs to assist older Floridians; U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman, who represents Florida's 5th Congressional District; and Judge Rosemary Barkett of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which serves Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

The women were selected based on their job excellence and outstanding contributions to their fields of service, the university, their communities and the state.

The women are:

• Grace E. Agee-McWhorter of Birmingham, Ala., the first U.S. black female to receive a doctorate in agriculture from UF, has been a member of Florida A&M University faculty, University of Alabama-Birmingham and Children's Hospital in Birmingham;

• Linda H. Aiken of Philadelphia, faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and national leader in nursing and health care economics;

• Deborah Amos of New York, duPont/Columbia award-winning journalist/international correspondent and author, now ABC News correspondent;

• Sharyl T. Attkisson of Washington, D.C., Emmy award-winning journalist, CBS correspondent and anchor;

• Rosemary Barkett, a West Palm Beach judge, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Florida's first female state Supreme Court justice;

• Martha W. Barnett of Tallahassee, lawyer, serves on Holland and Knight's Directors Committee and chairs the firm's public law department, first woman to chair American Bar Association's House of Delegates, the policy-making body for ABA;

• Dr. Jean L. Bennett of Dunedin, leading Florida pediatrician and member of first class of College of Medicine;

• Susan H. Black of Jacksonville, judge, 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and Florida's first female federal judge;

• Carol Browner of Washington, D.C., administrator, Environmental Protection Agency;

• Fran S. Carlton of Orlando, Orange County Clerk of Court, first female president of the UF National Alumni Association and former state legislator;

• Marjorie H. Carr of Gainesville, founder and longtime president of Florida Defenders of the Environment;

• Sara E. Conlon of Washington, D.C., director of the National Clearinghouse for Professionals in Speech Education and the state's first speech consultant;

• Catherine P. Cornelius of Avon Park, president of South Florida Community College in Avon Park;

• Gay Culverhouse of New York, former vice president and president of Tampa Bay Buccaneers, owner of C&W Cattle Co.;

• Kathleen A. Deagan of Gainesville, distinguished research curator at UF's Florida Museum of Natural History, faculty member and premier archaeologist of colonial Caribbean and St. Augustine;

• Karen DeYoung of Washington, D.C., assistant managing editor of news at The Washington Post;

• Micki Dickoff of Los Angeles, writer, director, producer, winner of two Emmy Awards, works include ABC Sunday night movies;

• Molly Crocker Dougherty of Hillsborough, N.C., distinguished professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, significant researcher focusing on women's health issues;

• Therese Knecht Dozier of Fairfax, Va., National Teacher of the Year in 1985, now special advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education;

• Merrill J. Gerber of Sierra Madre, Calif., award-winning author of six novels and four collections of short stories;

• Adele K. Graham of Miami Lakes, leader for historic preservation, school volunteerism;

• Rebecca Bowles Hawkins of Washington, D.C., attorney, first woman to serve as assistant attorney general in Florida, president of Florida and national associations of women lawyers;

• Shere Hite of New York, internationally known for her writings on sexual behavior in the U.S. and author of "The Hite Report on Female Sexuality;"

• Marjorie Sewell Holt of Severna Park, Md., lawyer, first woman from Maryland to be elected to Congress;

• Elizabeth A. McCague of Nashville, Tenn., first woman to be chair, CEO and president of First Union Bank of Tennessee, formerly with First Union in Jacksonville;

• Martha M. McCarthy of Bloomington, Ind., chancellor and professor of education at Indiana University;

• Diane McFarlin of Sarasota, executive editor of Sarasota Herald-Tribune, president of Florida Society of Newspaper Editors;

• Megan L. Neyer of Chamblee, Ga., chief of diversity management at the U.S. Air Force Academy, former diver, chair of Olympic Committee Athlete Support Program;

• Nandini Nimbkar of Maharashtra, India, president of NARI, private agricultural university in Indiana;

• Patricia O'Connor of Cincinnati, Ohio, distinguished service professor at the University of Cincinnati, honored by Royal Spanish Academy of Language;

• Amegda J. Overman of Bradenton, has spent 40 years of solving nematode-related crop production problems;

• Arva Moore Parks of Miami, Florida historian and author of numerous books, including "Miami: The Magic City;"

• Donna Lee Pastore of Columbus, Ohio, associate professor of physical education at Ohio State University and president of National Association for Girls and Women in Sport ( 96);

• Maryly Vanleer Peck of Winter Haven, president of Polk Community College, first woman president of public institution of higher education in state;

• Dr. Marsha Raulerson of Brewton, Ala., physician, created Partners for Tomorrow Program, teaching parenting to 200 rural Alabama families;

• Joan D. Ruffier of Orlando, businesswoman, past member and chair of Board of Regents, will be first female president of the University of Florida Foundation;

• Linda W. Sanders of Pomona, Calif., professor and dean, College of Architecture, California Polytechnic State University;

• Elfi S. Schlegel of Oakville, Ontario, NBC network gymnast analyst;

• Rosalia N. Scripa of Vestavia, Ala., professor, University of Alabama-Birmingham, first recipient of Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from National Association of Women Engineers;

• Eleanor C. Smeal of Annadale, Va., former president of the National Association for Women, activist and authority on women's rights;

• Dianne Snedaker of Kentfield, Calif., president of Ketchum Advertising Agency, first woman to head a major advertising agency on the west coast;

• Tracy Caulkins Stockwell of Queensland, Australia, Olympic gold medal swimmer, five-time world record holder and president of Womensport Queensland;

• Margretta Madden Styles of Largo, professor and dean of schools of nursing at University of California, San Francisco; Wayne State University and University of Texas at Austin, author of five books;

• Stella Sung of Orlando, pianist, composer, professor of music at University of Central Florida;

• Karen Thurman, U.S. congresswoman from Inverness;

• Julia Underwood-Young of Miami, Ohio, dean, Miami University School of Education, nationally known children's advocate;

• E. Jean Walker of New Orleans, president, Virginia Highlands Community College.

Return To Archived Releases.
Go To Current UF News.