EHE News
Ruth Weimer Mount legacy nurtures student leaders
Ruth Weimer Mount
She came to Ohio State to make a difference in the lives of students. She inspired them so they could make a difference in the lives of others.
She had tried a career in business but she missed the students. Working in student services was her life's blood.
This is how colleagues and relatives remember Ruth Weimer Mount, who brought her youth, independent strength and compassion to Ohio State's Office of the Dean of Women in 1953.
For 16 years, she modeled the leader's role by turning vision into reality. Students and colleagues alike admired her remarkable leadership skill, her calm, unruffled self-possession, her direct eye contact and firm handshake.
Most notably, she rose to become the first dean of students at Ohio State in 1968, making her the first woman to serve in that role at a major U.S. university.
Imagine giving it all up for the man she loved. Except she didn't. True, she resigned her deanship in August 1969 to become the wife of John T. Mount, vice president of student affairs. University policy of the time did not permit a husband and wife to work in the same department.
But she gave up nothing, instead guiding students with Ohio State's Mortar Board and volunteering with the Alumni Association. Over 28 years, she also served as a leader with a mind-boggling list of community organizations, including groups such as Buckeye Boys Ranch and Franklin County Children's Services.
Ruth's passion for cultivating young leaders is important. It signifies why, after her unexpected death in 1997, Mac Stewart and Tom Minnick, her friends and former colleagues of John Mount in the University College dean's office, led the creation of the Ruth Weimer Mount Fellowship. They wanted the endowed fund to support graduate fellows in the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program in the School of Educational Policy and Leadership, from which Stewart earned his PhD in 1973.
Graduate fellows carry on the Ruth Weimer Mount legacy
Judy Guion-Utsler, the 2010 Ruth Weimer Mount Fellow, describes the need for leaders who are allies for social justice, the change she sees in students during the leadership course she teaches and the value of the Ruth Weimer Mount Fellowship to her. Watch the video.
Judy Guion-Utsler, the Ruth Weimer Mount Fellow for 2010, tells a story so similar to Ruth's, it's uncanny. Guion-Utsler loved her campus work with youth while attending Boston University to become an ordained pastor.
Upon graduation, her work with the United Methodist Church involved mostly adults. She missed the curiosity and questioning minds of youth. So she applied to the HESA PhD program.
Now at the start of her dissertation, she also teaches Ed P&L 271: Leadership in Community Service. More than 200 students have broadened their perspectives during her 10 quarters of teaching the course. Many belong to the university's Ruth Mount Leadership Society.
For all, Guion-Utsler has three goals:
- To gain a new understanding of leadership as more than a top down, one-person-in-charge model
- To understand what is meant by the common good and explore the concept in multiple settings
- To explore issues of social justice (e.g., race, poverty, class, homophobia, gender) in a forum that encourages deep discussions and multiple perspectives
Students wrestle with challenging issues through reading, reflection and discussion. Guion-Utsler also guides them in their three hours of community service per week. They meet people whose lives are very different from theirs as they serve at inner-city organizations, such as after-school tutoring programs and food pantries.
"When students become aware of the issues, they gain the skills to become allies to those who do not have privilege," Guion-Utsler says. "The best development is when students lose their certainty about their position on a subject, enough to begin to engage with different perspectives."
Vice President and Dean Emeritus John Mount, who served the university for 46 years, is one of the best loved, most recognized of Ohio State philanthropists. He attends the college's scholarship celebration each year to meet the students who receive his wife's fellowship. He met Judy Guion-Utsler in 2009.
"It is a joy to attend the scholarship celebration and meet the recipients of Ruth's fellowship," Mount says. "Ruth would say the tribute is to those who use the resources to become the professional leaders we can all be proud of. Ruth's joy was in seeing those students and professional colleagues grow to their fullest hopes and prayers. They have a vision of how to make a difference.
"Take Judy, for example. Her care in teaching that class spreads across all the students in the Ruth Mount Leadership Society. And Brian Janssen, the 2011 recipient, demonstrates this same kind of caring for others. I'll be watching them and their contributions, on behalf of Ruth and the others who funded the fellowship."
Help make a difference with a gift to the college
You can make a difference with your gift to the college.
To contribute to the Ruth Weimer Mount Fellowship, choose fund #645066.
To contribute where the need is greatest, choose fund #301705, the College of Education and Human Ecology Dean's Discretionary Fund.
If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Kirby, Senior Director of Development, at (614) 292-5538 or trkirby@ehe.osu.edu.
© 2011 The Ohio State University - College of Education and Human Ecology. All Rights Reserved.
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