Dr. Mary Louise McBee '46
1973 Outstanding Alumna
Dr. McBee earned a B.S. Degree from ETSU in 1946, her M.A. degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Her career in academe began with a year of high school teaching in Marion, Va., followed by 11 years at ETSU in a variety of posts, including Assistant Dean of Women and Dean of Women. McBee also taught English overseas in Rotterdam in a university preparatory high school for girls. She further served as Dean of Students and Professor of Psychology with World Campus Afloat on an around-the-world trip with a shipload of college students.From 1963 until her retirement in 1988, McBee was affiliated with The University of Georgia through positions as Associate Professor of Higher Education, Dean of Women, Associate Dean of Students, Dean of Students, Assistant Vice President for Instruction, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Senior Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Among her scholarly works are four books she wrote or co-authored and numerous articles in refereed journals.
McBee's honors and awards include a Fulbright Grant to The Netherlands, University of Georgia Alumni Faculty Service Award, Athens Branch of the American Association of University Women "Influential Woman Award," The University of Georgia Blue Key Award, and Emory University/Wesley Woods Heroes, Saints and Legends Award. Among other accolades are the Athens Woman of the Year Award, Girl Scout Woman of Achievement Award, Abraham Baldwin Award of the Georgia Alumni Society, and the Athens Chamber of Commerce Athena Award.
Active in professional organizations, McBee counts among her memberships the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors, the American Association of University Women, and numerous honorary societies.
McBee's service over the past three decades includes many of the major political and service agencies in her area ranging from the Red Cross Board to the Athens-Clarke County Charter Commission. Her current community service encompasses the Salvation Army Board, the Executive Advisory Council of the Athens Area Vocational Technical School, The University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences Board of Visitors, the Northeast Georgia Girl Scout Council Endowment Trust, the Lanier Gardens Advisory Board, the Athens Justice Project, the Board of Directors of the Georgia Museum of Natural History, the Foothills Area Health Education Center Board of Directors, trustee for the First United Methodist Church, and acting as a mentor at Clarke Middle School.
McBee has traveled extensively for pleasure and with church mission groups -- journeys that have taken her worldwide. Her most notable adventure, among many, occurred in the summer of 1988 when, as a member of the Georgia Expedition to Mt. Everest, McBee became the oldest woman at that time to have climbed to the base camp on the east face of Everest, some 18,000 feet.