ABSTRACT
Mary F. Lenox, born 1944, is a notable scholar, library school leader, Kellogg National Fellow 1982, school librarian in Chicago (MLS Rosary College), and ardent poet. Best known as the first Black dean at the University of Missouri, Dr. Lenox has many accomplishments before, within, and after that post meriting parallel recognition. She is a role model for Black students and faculty across the campus, and for her compeers nationwide – colleagues in ALA’s then-Young Adult Services Division and readers of her poetry in two books (2015, 2019), spoken at TEDx San Diego, or on the airwaves anew after the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. In our study of Dr. Lenox’s LIS educator career we draw together her leadership of the school librarianship study program and grants, her successful organizing against proposed budget cuts and selection as dean, and her scholarship on libraries in African American life, youth services, and cooperative multimedia-collection building.
