HUNTINGTON â When Betty Jane Cleckley graduated from Douglass High School in Huntington, she had to leave the city to further her education because Marshall University was still segregated.
So she left. She earned a bachelorâs degree from Marquette University in 1958 and then a masterâs degree in social work from Smith College. She was awarded a doctorate from Brandeis University and followed that up with a postdoctoral certificate in higher education management from Harvard University.
In 1989, she came home after being hired at the university she could not attend. Shortly after, she worked hard and fought hard to establish the Office of Multicultural Affairs, now called Intercultural Affairs, but is still creating diversity on campus and providing a home away from home for minority students.