A Woman of
Many Firsts
Darlyne Bailey ’74 takes on new challenges
as dean at the University of Minnesota.
By Kevin Gray
Photography by Patrick O'Leary
As she charts a new course at the University of Minnesota, Darlyne Bailey ’74 is grateful for the
experiences that have helped her forge her career and her life.
Bailey became dean of the College of Education and Human Development and assistant to the president in October. The college
was formed as part of a realignment incorporating the General College and the College of Human Ecology’s School of Social Work. 
“I’m responsible for approximately 7,000 students and 200 full-time faculty,” she says. “This is an amazing opportunity to help cocreate
a multidisciplinary college. In my role as assistant to the president,
I help oversee two universitywide consortia that focus on children,
youth, families, and post-secondary education. That part is truly a
social worker’s dream.”
Bailey is University of Minnesota’s first African American female
dean. It’s an opportunity she is both familiar with and embraces.
Bailey notes that she was the first African American female dean
at Case Western Reserve University and the first African American female vice president and dean at Columbia’s Teachers College.
She also was the first woman and African American to be awarded Lafayette’s George Washington Kidd 1836 Award for distinguished professional achievement. She has helped pave the way for those who follow her by sponsoring Lafayette’s Darlyne Bailey ’74 Award for Excellence in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
“As I look back, I’m mindful of the fact that I have been a ‘first’ in
a lot of situations,” she says. “The scale may get larger and larger in terms of overall responsibility, but I have gotten used to the pioneer role. I feel a lot of responsibility in making sure I do it in a way to punch through some stereotypes. I want to make sure that not only
is the door wide open, but that my hand is stretched out to others
who may follow.”
Bailey’s trailblazing got its start at Lafayette where, in the early 1970s, she was one of a few people of color and one of the few women.
“I came from a public school system in New Jersey that was one
of the first in the country to desegregate its schools,” she explains.
“I was used to looking around the room and seeing different hues.”
According to Bailey, a member of Council of Lafayette Women and former member of the College’s Board of Trustees, the faculty at Lafayette was “phenomenal.” A psychology graduate who also earned a certificate of secondary education, she cites the support of the late David A. Portlock, former associate dean and director of international education, and K. Roald Bergethon, then Lafayette’s president.
“It was at the time of black power,” recalls Bailey, who has
coauthored two books. “We talked a lot about what it felt like to
not ‘see yourself’ in your classes. We also spoke with white students about how they felt about having students of color in class with
them for the first time.
“It was an incredible opportunity to break through stereotypes, to deeply empathize, and to not only have a much deeper understanding of what ‘differences’ meant, but also to understand what ‘similarities’ meant. I found Lafayette to be the perfect experience for me at that point in my life.”
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