Annette Shelby, a longtime educator in Washington, D.C. and Alabama, passed away on July 23. She was 86 years old.
Born in Kinston, Alabama, Dr. Shelby began her undergraduate education at what is now the University of Montevallo. After two years, she transferred to the University of Alabama, where she earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in speech. She went on to receive a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. Later in life, she was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of South Alabama.
Dr. Shelby’s career in academia began as an instructor of speech at her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Alabama. She was later promoted to assistant professor in the department of speech and associate professor in the business school.
As the wife of former U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, Dr. Shelby transitioned her career to Washington, D.C., joining the faculty at Georgetown University, where she was the first woman to earn tenure and be promoted to full professor. There, she taught management and corporate and crisis communication for two decades. During summers, she traveled internationally to lecture at the Helsinki School of Economics in Finland, the University of Leipzig in Germany, and the Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade in China. She also directed Georgetown’s program in comparative business at the Univerity of Oxford in England. Upon her retirement, she was conferred the title of professor emerita.
Throughout their careers, Dr. Shelby and Senator Shelby were dedicated supporters of higher education in Alabama. At the University of Alabama, they established the Shelby Endowment for Distinguished Faculty, the Shelby Institute for Policy and Leadership, and the Shelby Hall Research Center. The couple also helped to develop the Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Senator Richard C. and Dr. Annette N. Shelby Center for Engineering Technology at Auburn University, and Shelby Hall at the University of South Alabama. In their hometown of Tuscaloosa, Annette N. Shelby Park sits on the former site of Stafford Elementary School.