In Review

It was elbow-to-elbow in the Meliora Grand Ballroom last April as President and CEO Joel Seligman remarked, “This is an amazing turnout for the right reasons.”

The occasion was the retirement of Suzanne Jagel O’Brien ’59 after 55 years at the University—and nearly 60 years since she first arrived on campus as a freshman from Queens, New York. Rising to speak, O’Brien responded, “I hope I don’t disappear in a puddle of tears.”

From her first job at the University, as a secretary, O’Brien advanced to become founding director of the College Center for Advising Services and associate dean of the College, where she played pivotal roles in two of the institution’s most distinctive features: the Rochester Curriculum and the Take Five Scholars Program.

Her career path was not as easy as it may have looked, according to Beth Jörgensen, a professor of Spanish, who worked closely with O’Brien as chair of the College’s Board on Academic Honesty. “Suzanne came up through this university as a non-faculty member, as a non-PhD, as a woman, when that was not an easy way to make your gifts, your contributions, really valued,” Jörgensen told the gathering.

O’Brien served alongside faculty members on the College curriculum committee for nearly her entire tenure as CCAS director. “I’ve had a front seat from which to view the academic changes that have taken place,” she said. She called the Rochester Curriculum “the most revolutionary” change she’d participated in, and added, wryly, that it positions the College “still ahead of most everyone else, trapped as they are in their narrow, prescriptive curricula.” She noted that she was especially proud of having served on the committee that recommended the establishment of the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies.

O’Brien’s hands-on role in building and mentoring a staff of professional advisors, as well as her practically Talmudic mastery of the complex rules of the College, made her something of a legend on the River Campus. Summing up that legacy was Richard Feldman, professor of philosophy and dean of the College.

“I’m pretty much of a soft touch, willing to bend almost any rule as a result of a passionate appeal from a student,” Feldman admitted. “Suzanne repeatedly reminds me to think of all the other students who might have made similar requests if they had only thought to appeal. She is unwavering in her commitment to fairness and equity, adamant that we stick to our principles.

“But at the same time, she’s routinely able to find some hitherto-unknown—to me, at least—rule to invoke in order to deal in a fair and principled way with students who have genuine needs. She has an unmatched combination of integrity and compassion.

“To a rare leader who embodies the spirit of Meliora in the most profound way,” he concluded in a final toast, “thank you for your extraordinary service.” —Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)