Cynthia Secor credits perserverance for her accomplishments. The National Association for Women in Education recognized them, awarding Secor a lifetime achievement award in 1997 for her 30 years advancing educational opportunities for women.
“If you have a goal, then you get clear on that goal,” said Secor. “You must have day-to-day persistence.”
That persistence has brought Secor to the national forefront in the struggle for gender equality in America. It has also helped save her life–twice. Secor, who has been called one of the most influential women in higher education, is a two-time cancer survivor.
Secor, 58, is the director and co-founder of an organization designed to improve the status of women in institutions of higher learning. Higher Education Resource Services, known as HERS, uses mentoring programs and short-term training institutes to give women the skills and knowledge to attain top positions in universities around the world.
According to Miriam Chamberlain, founding president of the National Council for Research on Women, there are few counterparts to Secor’s work at the HERS program.
In more than two decades, the program has been a huge success. It has enabled hundreds of women in higher education to gain leadership positions.
“There are numerous women presidents, deans and vice presidents who are there because of Cynthia,” said Lynn Gangone, executive director of the women’s education association. “Cynthia’s name is legendary because early on she developed ways to help women advance in higher education. She lives what she teaches. Cynthia takes risks and doesn’t back down.”
Secor took a systematic approach to achieve change, said Gangone, studying why women weren’t moving up, and then created training programs to give women the hands-on leadership experience they needed.
And while Secor expressed the hope that women will benefit from her programs, she said she has a much broader goal: She wants to transform universities so they reflect and benefit from the full range of women’s contributions.
Secor has never lost sight of this goal, even when she was near death. In 1985, in the midst of a successful career, Secor was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer.
“The cancer was a death sentence,” said Secor. “But I made it my goal to learn everything I could about the illness and pursue all options. I was determined to be the one to survive, and like everything else I do, I just kept at it.”
After a grueling four-year battle, Secor finally felt like herself again. She jumped back into her work as an activist, teaching seminars, consulting and counseling women. Then in 1992, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer, which was found and treated early. Secor is now cancer free.
“Once you face death, you appreciate life and pursue it in a different way,” said Secor. “I can separate the significant from the insignificant. That comes through in my career coaching of other women.”
Today Secor remains vigilant against the cancer, just as she remains wary about changes in society.
“We’ve made progress, but there is still a long way to go,” Secor said. “When I began in this work, I knew this would be at least a 40-year process.
“Young women today take for granted opportunities that weren’t available 25 years ago. If I had been born today, I probably would have been an architect. But back then, the only careers for women were in nursing or education. I chose education.”
The only child of a commercial screenwriter father and a socially active mother, Secor was taught from an early age that every person has a responsibility to contribute to society.
“I grew up in a small Western town in Colorado where my family was very active. There’s an individualistic outlook here in the West. The philosophy of that time was that if something was broke, then you went out and fixed it. So I never had a problem being a leader. That is just what you did.”
After World War II, Secor’s family moved to the Chicago area, where she attended high school in Franklin Park. Secor was one of the first in her family to attend university, and she got her doctorate from Cornell University.
When she began working as an English professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Secor noticed that academic programs overlooked women’s contributions. “Only one woman author appeared in the entire reading list for senior literature majors,” said Secor.
This was unacceptable to Secor, and she began campaigning for change during the early 1970s.
“I’ve always believed that many women don’t have arenas to use their talents and skills. It became my self-chosen work to go after social change.”
Secor, who describes herself as an activist, Westerner, feminist and art lover, said the most effective way to achieve social change is to understand the past and preserve the best of it. Only after doing this is it possible to pursue needed changes, she said.
Secor pioneered the first women’s studies program at the University of Pennsylvania, a program that continues to this day. After that, she began planning ways to help other women achieve their goals.
“Cynthia was an important leader both at the University of Pennsylvania and with several groups of academic women who took the challenge of equality seriously,” said Caryn McTighe Musil, who taught with Secor at the time. “Cynthia moved forcefully and thoughtfully ahead. She worked with feminist scholars to define women’s studies and improved policies for women students, faculty and staff.”
“It’s important to understand and celebrate the vision and contributions that women have brought to different parts of our culture,” said Secor. “Women aren’t better, we’re just acculturated differently. We take care of children and elderly, and this affects our outlook and experiences in life.”
And though Secor has been recognized for her contributions to social change, she said that she “enjoys all parts of a woman’s domain.”
It was in 1975 that Secor became a serious activist. She decided to give up her teaching position and to train women leaders in education. Secor directed the founding of HERS at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work soon gained national recognition.
One of the women Secor helped is Kathy Crowley, director of foundation relations at the University of Denver, where HERS is now based. Crowley attended the Summer Institute for Women in Education, which Secor directs each year.
“The whole program broadened my perspective and prompted me to consider areas I hadn’t thought of as possible before,” said Crowley. “Cynthia is a good role model and wonderful blend of intellectual academic and down-to-earth gal. There is no pretension. She is as comfortable talking about her garden, her god-daughter or her dogs as she is discussing literature or organizational theory.”
Patricia Larsen, director of the Counseling Center at the University of Denver, also feels indebted to Secor.
“When I had professional difficulties last year, Cynthia was there (as a mentor) with caring, intelligent support. I rank her among the two or three people I most admire in the world.”
When she is not offering career-counseling, Secor divides her time between the office of her 1880’s restored Denver home, mentoring at the University of Denver, designing curricula, and speaking to educational groups across the country.
One of Secor’s initiatives, a national networking program, is another way for successful women to help others. In the book she co-authored, “Women in Higher Education Administration” (Jossey-Bass, 1984), Secor stated that “women and minorities who hold senior positions have a special obligation to assist others who aspire to leadership roles.”
The idea of networking is nothing new in business, but this is the first time that it has been formally organized for women in higher education. The goal is simple: If someone knows of an open position, then qualified women professionals need to hear about it.
Secor’s mentoring program is an extension of networking. Many of the women who have gone through Secor’s training give back by participating in a mentoring program, said Karen Andersen, a former lawyer who is now in higher education. More than 90 professional women of all levels are in the program. Those with experience offer guidance and direction to those who are newer in the field.
“The mentoring program has given me the means to articulate and take responsibility for my personal, professional and learning goals,” said Deb Lasich of the Women’s College at the University of Denver.
This is just what Secor had hoped for: achieving social change by influencing one life at a time. “If you’re an activist, your initiatives are your achievements,” she said. Hundreds of successful women across the nation are living testimonials to Secor’s passion and dedication to her calling.
As for the future, Secor has no plans to slow down.
“I’ve chosen to put my life’s work into education. Education opens up more opportunity, and that opportunity can ripple out to others.”
