U. of Arizona Sr. VP Saundra Lawson Taylor '63 Receives 'Phenomenal Woman Award'

April 30, 2005

April 30, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - Saundra Lawson Taylor, senior vice president for campus life at the University of Arizona and 1963 graduate of DePauw University, was honored yesterday for "her lifelong commitment to public education and racial equality with the Phenomenal Woman Award from the University of Arizona Black Alumni," notes the Arizona Daily Star. Dr. Taylor is UA's highest-ranking female and black administrator.

"Taylor grew up in a family that deeply valued education," Inger Sandal writes. "Her family had expected her to attend Fiske University, a historically black institution. Her uncle, who had a doctorate in physics, later became its president. Instead, Taylor accepted an academic scholarship to DePauw University in Indiana, four hours from her family in Kentucky. 'That's when I decided it was time to be the trailblazer,' she said. 'I was the only black female student when I got there as a freshman.' There were about a dozen black male students, and most of them played sports, she said. Her freshman year was tough, but her parents wanted her to follow through on her decision. She persevered, became active in the community's civil rights movement and grew stronger from the experience. 'I got a great education, too, by the way,' she said."

After graduating from DePauw, Taylor earned her master's degree in clinical psychology from Bowling Green State University in 1965 and her doctorate in clinical psychology from Ohio University in 1969.

Read the complete story at the newspaper's Web site.

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