Donned in the elegant regalia reserved for university presidents, Francine McNairy-Nelson delivered the commencement speech at Millersville University, where she had served as the campus leader for a decade. She cited a favorite line from the musical “Wicked.”
“People come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them.”
Throughout an impressive career in higher education, McNairy-Nelson has not only heeded that advice, but she also has helped many to grow and learn.
McNairy was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She is the daughter of a steelworker with an eighth-grade education and a mother, who, despite not having had the opportunity to attend college herself, became the president of the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Education and served as a member of the Pitt Board of Trustees.
She served as a faculty member and dean of academic support services at Clarion University, an associate provost at West Chester University, and eventually became provost and then president at Millersville. The university honored her many contributions by naming its library the Francine G. McNairy Library.
She was the first African American woman to head one of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities. She has received numerous awards, including having been named a University of Pittsburgh Legacy Laureate.
McNairy-Nelson is a true light of learning and below she answers a few questions about her educational and professional journey.
Why were you motivated to attend college?
As the child of a supportive, working-class African American family, attending college was not one of my options. It was the ONLY option. We never discussed if I wanted to go to college. I just knew that I would attend college after graduating from high school. We didn’t know how I would pay for college; we just knew that, somehow, we would find the money.
Attending college was the beginning and end of the sentence—we never had a discussion about attending college in order to become an educated and successful professional The DREAM was that I would be the first in our family to not only attend college, but to also graduate. The few professions that were major options for African American women at that time were teaching, musician, nursing and social work. Neither my high school counselor nor college advisor ever really discussed careers beyond those for me. As I look back at it now, it appeared that “Going to College” was the career goal. That might seem weird in today’s world; but at the time, in the mid-60s, sending a child to college was the goal for many African American families. My parents firmly believed in education and felt that if I wanted to have a career, college would be the only way to make that happen.
What obstacles did you overcome in achieving your educational and career goals?
As I stated earlier, I really didn’t have a career goal as an undergraduate student. Graduating from college was THE goal. For me, as well as thousands of African American students across the country, GRADUATING was the goal. When I began my freshman year at Pitt, I saw basically one or two students who looked like me in my freshman classes. If I arrived in class early, no one sat next to me. So I learned to arrive right before class began so that I would at least be sitting next to someone who would talk to me. I commuted to college because my family couldn’t afford for me to stay on campus. Taking out a student loan was kept as a backup plan for emergencies only. Those first weeks at Pitt, I quickly felt alone and lonely in that large university. One day, I got lost in the Cathedral of Learning and discovered a commuter cafeteria, the Tuck Shop. I entered the Tuck Shop and looked around and there they were, “Black Folks.” I think I literally ran towards them just to feel connected.
As I regularly interacted with the other African American students, I learned that, at best, there were 50 or 60 of us at the University. I met two doctoral students, Jack Daniel and Ed McKinney. Jack and Ed were the mentors for all of us. Years later, Jack would become my advisor when I pursued the doctorate. Because of the support system among the students of color, I learned more how to navigate through the academic and cultural systems at the University. I pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., which was the first African American sorority established at Howard University in 1908. Becoming a member of the sorority immediately helped me to establish a sisterhood with women throughout the world. I also joined the Heinz Chapel Concert Choir, which provided a wonderful musical and social outlet for me. Because of the sorority and the choir, I developed friendships and a heartfelt desire to do well in college. That adjustment took time, but by my junior year, I was solidly established as a college student who could help others following me.
As I look back on my college days at Pitt, it wasn’t until I pursued the master’s degree in social work that I began to formulate a professional goal. The enrollment in social work courses was small. That enabled the students to interact more with each other and the faculty. I was impressed with the student/faculty ratio and the attention that faculty gave to all the students.
How did your Pitt education serve you in pursuing your personal and professional ambitions?
My two years in the Graduate School of Social Work were two of the happiest years of my life. I knew every single student in my class of 100, all the faculty and administrators. I saw how they taught, and it became clear to me in 1970 that I wanted to teach at the collegiate level. Now I must admit, not everything was perfect. At the time, the master’s program was a two-year program, and each year enrolled a new class of 100. In my class, there were 17 African American students. It was important that the School of Social Work do more to increase the number of students and faculty of color. The group of 17 African American students worked with the faculty and administrators to aggressively diversify the enrollment. We created an Office of Minority Recruitment and Enrollment, which became my first year’s social work field placement. Another class member, Mary Baltimore, was my partner in the office. In cooperation with the administration, we successfully recruited and ultimately 50 African American students enrolled that next year with full financial aid. The school continued that effort for the next two or three years. More faculty of color were hired. The next dean of the school was African American.
The faculty pushed and pulled us. They set high expectations for us. We were learning beyond what was in the textbooks. Each of the faculty had worked in various social work settings, which contributed substantially to what they taught and what we were learning. I found this to be true also when I pursued my doctorate. The faculty were stretching us. I’ll never forget my research professor, Dr. Egolf, when I was in the midst of preparing my comprehensive examinations. He developed research questions for me that in my mind were much more challenging than those he gave to my classmates. When I confronted him, he admitted it and then he said, “I want to see how you think.” I thought about his response and decided that he respected my mind and wanted me to challenge myself. I had a similar experience when I was drafting the first chapter of my dissertation. I submitted it to my advisor, Dr. Jack Daniel, who put it in the palm of his hand, and asked, “What is it?”
I arrogantly responded, “That is my first chapter.”
Dr. Daniel calmly stated, “I’m not even going to read it.” Then for the next three hours, he asked me question after question about my topic, why I wanted to examine it, how I planned to approach the study, what I anticipated my findings would be, etc. When we finished talking, he then said, “Now go and write your first draft.”
Again, I was being pushed to think—think deeper and wider. Those challenges from Dr. Egolf and Dr. Daniel made me value my learning and my relationships with faculty. They reaffirmed my professional goal of teaching and, someday, serving as an administrator in a college or university. As I look back on my entire educational experience at the University of Pittsburgh, I know that I grew and developed intellectually, emotionally and socially. I learned how to live and work in both an environment that needed to aggressively enhance its diversity and one that became very diverse. I learned how to recruit and mentor students in an educational institution. I developed strong planning, administrative and organizational skills. I strengthened my verbal and written communication skills. I found that I had the ability to bring people together for effective problem-solving efforts. I had an opportunity to work with an organization to enhance its diversity and, simultaneously, its quality. I felt that I was equipped to become a faculty member (which I did in 1975) and eventually joined the administrative ranks of a university in 1983. Most importantly, I wanted to be in a position to enhance the learning opportunities for students, regardless of race; such a position is in the classroom and within the purview of administration.