The University of Miami recently renamed a faculty scholar award in honor of a longtime faculty member, Melanie Rosborough.
Rosborough joined the University of Miami just one year after the university opened its doors in 1926. With a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College in New York and a master’s degree in mathematics from Columbia University, Rosborough hoped to join the faculty as a mathematics instructor. Instead, she was hired in 1927 to teach German, her native language.
Over the course of her 43-year tenure at the university, Dr. Rosborough was instrumental in laying the foundation for what would become the Faculty Senate. She also co-founded and served as the first president of the University of Miami Credit Union, which has since been renamed University Credit Union.
A recent gift from the University Credit Union has endowed the Dr. Melanie Rosborough Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award. First presented in 1988, the award recognizes either a single outstanding scholarly achievement or a lifetime of distinguished accomplishment in any area of research or creative activity.
“University Credit Union made this gift because tradition matters to us. Melanie Rosborough stood at the center of our founding in 1947 as a faculty leader, co-founder, and our first president,” said Al Rose, president of the University Credit Union “Through the leadership of the Faculty Senate, we were invited back into that story, and endowing this award is our way of honoring her legacy and carrying forward the values of service, stewardship, and shared responsibility that have defined us from the beginning.”