University of New England

UNE honors four prominent Maine women with Deborah Morton Awards

Four prominent Maine women were honored on Sept. 26th as recipients of the 2006 Deborah Morton Awards at a ceremony held at Ludcke Auditorium on the University of New Englands Westbrook College Campus.

The recipients were Bridget D. Healy, program coordinator, The Baxter Society and Maine Women Writers Collection advisory board member; Theodora J. Kalikow, president of the University of Maine at Farmington; Elizabeth Carter Warren 68, former Westbrook College trustee; and Grace A. Valenzuela, assistant to the superintendent for multicultural affairs, Portland Public Schools.

Bridget D. Healy, Grace A. Valenzuela, UNE President Danielle N. Ripich, and Theodora J. Kalikow. Recipient Elizabeth Carter Warren was unable to attend the ceremony.

Award History
The Deborah Morton Awards are presented each year by the trustees of the University of New England to outstanding women who have achieved high distinction in their careers and public service or whose leadership in civic, cultural or social causes has been exceptional.

The Deborah Morton Award, first presented at Westbrook College in 1961, was the first annual award in Maine to honor women's achievements. It was named in memory of Deborah Morton of Round Pond, Maine, valedictorian of the 1879 class of the Westbrook Seminary - the forerunner of Westbrook College, which merged with the University of New England in 1996. Morton was a teacher, dean, linguist, historian and prominent Portland civic leader whose service to Westbrook College spanned more than 60 years. Since 1961, more than 150 distinguished women have been honored with the award.

Bridget D. Healy, Freeport
Bridget Healy is currently a member of the Maine Women Writers Collection Advisory Board. She is involved with the University of New England in many ways, having assisted with fundraising for the MWWC and also serving on the Abplanalp Library Campaign Committee at UNE.

She is currently a program coordinator for the Baxter Society (a bibliophilic/book arts society), is on the board of directors at Midcoast Hospital and is a trustee for the Freeport Historical Society and Maine Community Colleges. In the past she served on a wide variety of civic boards including the Maine Historical Society, Maine Medical Center, North Yarmouth Academy and the Maine Cancer Foundation.

In addition, she has been very active in the Freeport community having served on their School Committee, Planning Board, Womens Club and Republican Town Committee. Healy has also received many awards including those from the YMCA, Women in Philanthropy and the Maine Vocational Institute Foundation.

Healy earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Connecticut College for Women in New London, Conn. and her Master of Arts in Teaching degree in history from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She is married to Michael Healy and has three children: Nora, Abigail and Joseph. Healy is also the daughter-in-law of Dorothy Healy who was co-founder (with Edward Blewett, Ph.D.) of the Deborah Morton Award, and a 1962 awardee.

Theodora J. Kalikow, Farmington
Theodora J. Kalikow has been president of the University of Maine at Farmington since 1994 and is an important guiding force in Maines educational and civic life. Under her leadership, UMF has received top regional rankings in US News & World Report for the last 9 years in a row and is also one of 20 universities nation-wide to be recognized and studied for enhancing student success by Project DEEP (Documenting Effective Educational Practice).

Dr. Kalikow is currently a member of the Board of Directors of FAME (Finance Authority of Maine), the Maine Humanities Council and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and also chairs the University of Maine System's Diversity Committee. She also leads the Maine Academic Management Institute, a leadership training program for Maine women in higher education, under the auspices of the Maine chapter of The Network (American Council on Education, Office of Women).

Dr. Kalikow is a former board member and chair of the Western Mountains Alliance and has also served on the boards of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, the American Council on Education's Commission on Women and the Millennium Economic Development Advisory Committee formed by Maine Senator Olympia Snowe.

In 2000, she was honored with the Maryann Hartman Award from the University of Maine and was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2002. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University in 1974, her Sc.M. in philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970 and her bachelors degree in chemistry from Wellesley College in 1962.

Grace A. Valenzuela, Portland
Grace Valenzuela has worked with the Portland Public Schools since 1987 and is currently the Assistant to the Superintendent for Multicultural Affairs. Having emigrated from the Philippines, Grace has made Portland her home since 1986. Prior to her arrival in the Portland Public Schools she worked in various international educational settings, as a high school English teacher in the Philippines, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and teacher trainer in Mexico and as a teacher supervisor of ESL teachers in a United Nations and U.S. State Department-sponsored language and cultural training program in the Philippines for adult refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Valenzuela is a community activist involved in many civic and community organizations concerned with social justice, equity and community empowerment. She has either served or is currently serving on the boards of the Childrens Museum of Maine, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Institute for Civic Leadership, Language Access for New Americans, United Way Diversity Cabinet and the World Affairs Council.

She is also the President and Co-founder of the Asian American Heritage Foundation. In 1998-99, she was a regular contributor to the Portland Press Heralds Community Voices column. She earned her masters degree in Teaching ESL from the School for International Training in Vermont and has recently finished her Advanced Study in Educational Leadership at the University of Southern Maine. 

Elizabeth Carter Warren 68, Bangor
Born in Caribou, Elizabeth Carter Warren has been an active volunteer in many Maine communities, including Westbrook College where she received her AA degree in 1968. Warren served on Westbrook Colleges Board of Trustees from 1981 to 1987, and from 1991 to 1994.

She is actively involved with the Bangor Theological Seminary and serves on their capital campaign steering committee. In addition, she is an active board member of Eastern Maine Medical Center and Merrill Merchants Bank. In the past, Warren has served on the boards for Husson College, Acadia Hospital and the Maine Center for the Arts. She has also chaired the American Heart Associations Annual Heart Ball, delivers Meals for ME and volunteers at the St. Johns Episcopal Church soup kitchen. Her community activities have not gone unnoticed, as she has received the Norbert X. Dowd Award from the Bangor Chamber of Commerce and the Gold Heart Award from the American Heart Association.

She is married to Richard Jordan Warren, the Publisher of the Bangor Daily News, and has three children: Courtney, Anne and George. She is a strong advocate for sign language and organizations that support the disabled, and devotes much of her time tending to her hearing-impaired son, George. Her mother-in-law was Joanne Jordan Van Namee, a Westbrook College graduate from the class of 1943, who passed away this March.

(Press release updated Sept. 26, 2006)