New Horizons Ahead for Dean Jeannette Taylor

A reception at the Kingsgate Conference Center honored the service of the University of Cincinnati's first African American female dean. Jeannette C. Taylor was appointed dean of the Division of Continuing Education in 1979 and became dean of the College of Evening and Continuing Education (CECE) in 1989. Taylor is stepping down from the deanship and will take a year of administrative leave before returning to the University to take a professorship in the School of Social Work.

Faculty, staff and administrative leaders, including President Joseph A. Steger and Senior Vice President and Provost for Baccalaureate and Graduate Education Anthony Perzigian attended the celebration, as well as city council members and other community leaders, and members of the Morning Star Baptist Church of which Taylor is a member.

President Steger praised Taylor for her leadership and vision. "She had a lot of courage, a lot of insight. I always could count on her."

"You have opened countless doors for countless students and have made countless dreams possible," said Perzigian, who called Taylor the "mother of distance education" at the university. "Jeannette led all the lay committees, she was the visionary from the get-go and now other colleges are working to model CECE's (distance learning) success."

In recognition of her innovative leadership and service, CECE, University College and the Board of Trustees approved the naming of the French Hall second floor multipurpose room in Taylor's honor. An oil-painted portrait of Taylor was unveiled at the "transition" celebration.

The portrait will hang in a new gallery of deans for the College. Velta Kelly-Foster, assistant dean, announced a new Jeannette C. Taylor Scholarship Fund, established by UC and CECE.

Lawrence Anthony, academic director of Addiction Studies and Social Work, CECE, announced that a commemorative brick in Taylor's honor will be included in Cincinnati's new Center for Chemical Addictions Treatment. Anthony said it was Taylor's vision that led to the distance-learning program that enabled students to obtain a bachelor's degree with a focus in addiction studies. "The extension of Jeannette Taylor has reached people in the clinical and treatment community. Her vision demonstrated a tremendous need for this type of program and the program is now reaching many colleges."

"I am so humbled and so grateful for all your expressions of love and kindness," said Taylor. "I leave the position of dean feeling very wealthy and very blessed, that we have shared significance and that it has impacted us mutually."

Taylor can also look ahead to one more gift...an all expense-paid cruise.