Shirley Malone is no longer with us. The former Director of Scholastic Activities for Minority Students left in late August to become coordinator of the academic advising program and assistant professor of psychology at Wheelock College in Boston.

Miss Malone meant much to Western, much more than dollars or even thank-you’s can measure.

A Western alumna, Malone was hired as a counseling learning specialist here in 1981. She was appointed assistant to the dean of scholastic development and was promoted to director of scholastic activities for minority students in 1986.

Miss Malone spent innumerable hours recruiting outstanding black students to Western. And she supported them when they arrived.

Although she was constantly on the run trying to improve life for students her door was always open, her ears always listening, her hands always ready to help.

The number and quality of black students at Western today is testament to her wise planning, hard work and boundless energy.

Phyllis Gatewood, a friend and director of minority recruitment, said Malone “made coming into a newly created job a lot easier.”

”She was one of the best support people I had among university personnel when I began my new position,” Gatewood said.

”I think she extended herself to students very much beyond her responsibilities written on paper. She was people-committed, regardless of whether it was black students or whoever,” Gatewood said.

”I don’t know of anybody who has left the university who people have said such good things about,” Gatewood added. “She should feel very good that her years here were productive.”

We wish Miss Malone success and happiness in her new home and new job. Another school’s gain is our loss, and we will miss her greatly. Indeed, Western is diminished with her departure.

See also - Minorities at WKU Bibliography

These and other sources are available in the Harrison-Baird Reading Room at the Kentucky Museum & Library.