It is with deep sadness that we note the death of Dr. Shirley Seaton, who passed away on July 29, 2020. Born in Cleveland in 1924, Dr. Seaton began her long association with John Carroll University in 1989 as Assistant Director in the Office of Minority (later Multicultural) Affairs. She eventually became its Associate Director, stepping down from that position in 2003. For the next thirteen years, until her retirement in 2016, she served as a consultant to the University and its students with the title of Liaison for Community Affairs. In that capacity she kept John Carroll apprised of contemporary issues, ideas, and personalities—especially as they related to the Cleveland area—which merited attention in our academic curriculum and campus programming.
Dr. Seaton’s connections to the wider community—in Cleveland and beyond—were unmatched. Over the years, she brought to John Carroll’s campus speakers of international prominence, including Coretta Scott King, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Paul Robeson, Jr., Randall Robinson, and Cornel West. To honor Dr. Seaton’s singular success in this regard, the Cultural Awareness Series was named after her in 2006. She was also instrumental in organizing an on-campus conference to observe the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 2004, a month-long festival commemorating the tenth anniversary of the end of apartheid in South Africa, and a multifaceted curricular project focused on the Harlem Renaissance. In addition, Dr. Seaton promoted the University’s participation in “We the People,” a service-learning program that recruits John Carroll undergraduates as tutors of school students in Cleveland and East Cleveland on the Constitution and active citizenship. As the designated liaison for Congressional District 11, she advocated for inclusion of “We the People” in elementary, middle and high school classrooms. For her efforts, the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education (OCLRE) presented Dr. Seaton with its highest honor, the Founders’ Award, in 2010.
It is anticipated that a memorial service for Dr. Seaton will be held sometime next year.
A personal remembrance of Dr. Seaton by Salo Rodezno, director of the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, is available here.