Shirley Strum Kenny, the first woman president of both Queens College and Stony Brook University, passed away on September 3. She was 92 years old.
Born in Tyler, Texas, Dr. Kenny was valedictorian of her graduating class at John Tyler High School. She went on to earn bachelor’s degrees in English and journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Following a year as a Fulbright Scholar in England, Dr. Kenny earned her master’s degree in English literature from the University of Minnesota and her Ph.D. in English with a focus on Restoration and eighteenth-century British drama from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Kenny’s career in academia began at Gallaudet College (now University) and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She then joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, where she would serve as chair of the English department, and later as provost for six years.
In 1985, Dr. Kenny was named the seventh president of Queens College of the City University of New York. She was the college’s first woman president and the fourth woman to serve as a president in the CUNY system. During her tenure, she was instrumental in founding the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona.
In 1994, Dr. Kenny became the first woman president of Stony Brook University in New York. Four years into her presidency, she helped form the Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA), a partnership between Stony Book and Battelle Memorial Institute to manage the Brookhaven National Laboratory on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Kenny served as the first chair of the BSA board of directors.
Over the course of Dr. Kenny’s 15-year presidency, Stony Brook significantly enhanced its athletics program, transitioning to NCAA Division I status in 1999. The university also completed numerous campus beautification projects and infrastructure improvements, including a $300 million modernization and expansion of the university’s hospital.
Dr. Kenny retired from Stony Book in 2009. Three years later, she had a stint as interim president of what is now Augusta University in Georgia.