Cynthia DuBois, a Presidential Fellow and research associate in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, died on January 3 in Chicago. She was 32 years old and had suffered from brain cancer.
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, a professor and director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern call Dr. DuBois “one of the most promising young scholars” she had ever known. “She possessed a high level of raw intellectual power, and coupled it with dogged perseverance and unusual creativity.”
A native of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Dr. DuBois grew up on a ranch. She was a world champion calf roper of the American Quarter Horse Youth Association.
Dr. DuBois was a summa cum laude graduate of Louisiana State University, where she majored in political science. She was named a Truman Scholar as a junior at Louisiana State. Dr. DuBois held a master of public policy degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in human development and social policy from Northwestern University. Her research dealt with “soft” affirmative action where efforts are focused on increasing the diversity of applicant pools rather than giving preferential treatment in hiring decisions.