Susan Armstrong Henry, the first woman to lead the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, passed away on March 7. She was 79 years old.
Born in Alexandria, Virginia, and raised in the Washington, D.C., area, Dr. Henry earned her bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Maryland and her Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley. After completing her doctorate, she joined the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, ultimately rising to the rank of professor. Dr. Henry then moved to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where she served as head of biological sciences and later as dean of the Mellon College of Science.
In 2000, Dr. Henry was named the Ronald P. Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, making her the college’s first woman dean. Over the course of her deanship, she oversaw the completion of numerous facilities, such as the Cornell Teaching Winery and the Riley-Robb Biofuels Laboratory, as well as renovations to Cornell’s Mann Library. Dr. Henry helped to establish four new majors and several academic partnerships with international universities. She stepped down from her deanship in 2010 but continued to serve on the Cornell faculty as dean emerita until 2020.
As a professor of molecular biology and genetics, Dr. Henry developed new methodologies for using yeast to understand the genetics of many organisms, including humans. She also conducted extensive research that revealed insights into how cells build their membranes. In addition to her affiliation with the New York Farm Bureau, Dr. Henry was a member of multiple scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Genetics Society of America, the American Society of Biological Chemists, and the American Society of Microbiologists.