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Cedar Crest College's President, Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney, Dies
By Melanie Hughes and Genevieve Marshall Of The Morning Call
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5blan eyjul11,0,6598481.story?coll=all
-newslocal-hed
J uly 11, 2006
Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney, who for 17 years as president of Cedar Crest
College championed the cause of elevating the education of women to
the same rigorous academic achievement once reserved only for men,
died about 5 p.m. Monday in her home on campus, a college spokesman
said. She was 65.
Blaney, who took over the Allentown women's college in 1989 when it
was struggling and gave it new stature and renewed vigor, had been
battling cervical cancer for two years.
Michael Traupman, director of college relations, and Blaney's husband,
Joseph, said the family and college will issue a statement about her
death today.
"She was a courageous woman, a visionary leader who accomplished a
tremendous amount for the college she loved so much," Muhlenberg
College President Randy Helm said. "I will miss her deeply as
a friend."
During Blaney's tenure, the college's enrollment doubled from 700
to more than 1,400 students, the number of honor students rose 35
percent, and the endowment grew fourfold, with annual giving rising
from $1.2 million to $5.7 million. This year's goal is $3.5 million.
Since the early 1990s, Cedar Crest has consistently ranked in the
top 15 liberal arts colleges in the Northeast in the U.S. News &
World Report annual listing.
For almost all her career at the 139-year-old school, she contributed
opinion columns to The Morning Call, writing on women's and local
issues. When Playboy magazine sought Cedar Crest students for a
pictorial on the women of women's colleges in 1990, she wrote that
Cedar Crest's women are more likely to be leaders than centerfolds.
In the past year, many of Blaney's columns focused on cancer.
"She was a dynamic woman, a superb president, and she put up a valiant
battle with cancer," said David V. Voellinger, who is on the executive
committee of the college's Board of Associates. "It's quite a loss
for Cedar Crest."
Blaney had dreamed of changing the world since growing up in
Plainfield, N.J., reading Shakespeare or Dickens aloud on the porch
with her family as a 6-year-old.
After graduating from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, she completed
her bachelor's degree with high honors in comparative literature at
Cornell University, where two teachers persuaded her to pursue her goal
as a teacher. She later completed her doctorate in English literature
at the State University of New York, studied at the University of
California at Berkeley and taught at Webster College in Geneva,
Switzerland.
During the ceremony that made her Cedar Crest's 11th president, she
told the crowd to "transform knowledge into wisdom and wisdom into
action. We need to expand our minds to embrace the diversity of other
cultures and the ideas of the world."
One of her goals was to more aggressively recruit students from
other countries and have the college become known as a place for
women throughout the world.
On Monday night, Blaney's office inside the administration and
admissions building, Blaney Hall, was empty, as were most of the
offices in the building.
College security had blocked off an area of parking spaces in front
of Moore Hall, preparing for a possible gathering of mourners. Signs
posted on orange cones in front of the spaces read: "Reserved for
president's family and friends."
Traupman said Provost Carol Pulham issued a brief statement via
e-mail about Blaney's death to students and staff. Pulham will assume
all presidential duties as outlined in the college charter until a
replacement is named.
Blaney was chairwoman of the Women's Sports Foundation, which was
founded by tennis star Billie Jean King and promotes girls and women
in sports and fitness.
Blaney was diagnosed with cancer in June 2004. She announced in a
Morning Call column three months ago that her outlook on the disease
had taken on new meaning, moving from teariness to triumph, celebrating
the army of people helping to care for her and the spirit of Lance
Armstrong and others like him.
Tom Tenges, president of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent
Colleges, said, "I knew she was slipping quickly, but it's been many
months since I've last seen her. ... Dorothy is someone I had a high
regard for. She was a supporter and believer in our consortium. Her
strength came in finding a valuable focus for Cedar Crest College.
"She made the natural science a very strong, important part of the
curriculum. She was a great conversationalist and had a vast knowledge
of many things beyond education."
Helm, the Muhlenberg president, said, "I'm very, very grief stricken
to hear about her passing, though it's not unexpected. ... We often
got together and shared our dreams and frustrations. I'm really just
flattened by this. I've been expecting to hear this for some time,
but it doesn't make it any easier.
"She was someone I could turn to for advice and comfort," Helm
said. "She made health a theme for the campus. She was such a
passionate believer in its mission. My heart goes out to her family
and the school. They're a wonderful school and wonderful neighbors."
By Melanie Hughes and Genevieve Marshall Of The Morning Call
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5blan eyjul11,0,6598481.story?coll=all
-newslocal-hed
J uly 11, 2006
Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney, who for 17 years as president of Cedar Crest
College championed the cause of elevating the education of women to
the same rigorous academic achievement once reserved only for men,
died about 5 p.m. Monday in her home on campus, a college spokesman
said. She was 65.
Blaney, who took over the Allentown women's college in 1989 when it
was struggling and gave it new stature and renewed vigor, had been
battling cervical cancer for two years.
Michael Traupman, director of college relations, and Blaney's husband,
Joseph, said the family and college will issue a statement about her
death today.
"She was a courageous woman, a visionary leader who accomplished a
tremendous amount for the college she loved so much," Muhlenberg
College President Randy Helm said. "I will miss her deeply as
a friend."
During Blaney's tenure, the college's enrollment doubled from 700
to more than 1,400 students, the number of honor students rose 35
percent, and the endowment grew fourfold, with annual giving rising
from $1.2 million to $5.7 million. This year's goal is $3.5 million.
Since the early 1990s, Cedar Crest has consistently ranked in the
top 15 liberal arts colleges in the Northeast in the U.S. News &
World Report annual listing.
For almost all her career at the 139-year-old school, she contributed
opinion columns to The Morning Call, writing on women's and local
issues. When Playboy magazine sought Cedar Crest students for a
pictorial on the women of women's colleges in 1990, she wrote that
Cedar Crest's women are more likely to be leaders than centerfolds.
In the past year, many of Blaney's columns focused on cancer.
"She was a dynamic woman, a superb president, and she put up a valiant
battle with cancer," said David V. Voellinger, who is on the executive
committee of the college's Board of Associates. "It's quite a loss
for Cedar Crest."
Blaney had dreamed of changing the world since growing up in
Plainfield, N.J., reading Shakespeare or Dickens aloud on the porch
with her family as a 6-year-old.
After graduating from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, she completed
her bachelor's degree with high honors in comparative literature at
Cornell University, where two teachers persuaded her to pursue her goal
as a teacher. She later completed her doctorate in English literature
at the State University of New York, studied at the University of
California at Berkeley and taught at Webster College in Geneva,
Switzerland.
During the ceremony that made her Cedar Crest's 11th president, she
told the crowd to "transform knowledge into wisdom and wisdom into
action. We need to expand our minds to embrace the diversity of other
cultures and the ideas of the world."
One of her goals was to more aggressively recruit students from
other countries and have the college become known as a place for
women throughout the world.
On Monday night, Blaney's office inside the administration and
admissions building, Blaney Hall, was empty, as were most of the
offices in the building.
College security had blocked off an area of parking spaces in front
of Moore Hall, preparing for a possible gathering of mourners. Signs
posted on orange cones in front of the spaces read: "Reserved for
president's family and friends."
Traupman said Provost Carol Pulham issued a brief statement via
e-mail about Blaney's death to students and staff. Pulham will assume
all presidential duties as outlined in the college charter until a
replacement is named.
Blaney was chairwoman of the Women's Sports Foundation, which was
founded by tennis star Billie Jean King and promotes girls and women
in sports and fitness.
Blaney was diagnosed with cancer in June 2004. She announced in a
Morning Call column three months ago that her outlook on the disease
had taken on new meaning, moving from teariness to triumph, celebrating
the army of people helping to care for her and the spirit of Lance
Armstrong and others like him.
Tom Tenges, president of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent
Colleges, said, "I knew she was slipping quickly, but it's been many
months since I've last seen her. ... Dorothy is someone I had a high
regard for. She was a supporter and believer in our consortium. Her
strength came in finding a valuable focus for Cedar Crest College.
"She made the natural science a very strong, important part of the
curriculum. She was a great conversationalist and had a vast knowledge
of many things beyond education."
Helm, the Muhlenberg president, said, "I'm very, very grief stricken
to hear about her passing, though it's not unexpected. ... We often
got together and shared our dreams and frustrations. I'm really just
flattened by this. I've been expecting to hear this for some time,
but it doesn't make it any easier.
"She was someone I could turn to for advice and comfort," Helm
said. "She made health a theme for the campus. She was such a
passionate believer in its mission. My heart goes out to her family
and the school. They're a wonderful school and wonderful neighbors."