Dr. Blanche M. Touhill
Educator —

DR. BLANCHE M. TOUHILL was born in St. Louis, Mo. She always wanted to be a teacher. When she started teaching in Missouri, she was the third generation in her family to do so. She had a particular dedication to urban, public, higher education. Touhill received her B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. in history from St. Louis University. She moved to New York City and taught history at Queens College, and was the first woman tenured in that department. Later she returned to St. Louis and taught at the newly founded University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL).

She was the first woman to successfully go through the tenure process at UMSL. Touhill was also the first woman to chair the University Senate, the UMSL governance body. After ten years as a faculty member she became an academic administrator, the first woman to serve in a campus-wide administrative position. One of her goals was to help the academic careers of all women in higher education.

As a Chancellor, Touhill added 30 academic programs and 4 academic centers, 32 endowed professors, and 15 curator/distinguished teaching professors; raised $96.1m in private gifts and $180m in grants and contracts; added 138 acres of land to campus, 17 new buildings, and the first student housing; brought the oldest library in Missouri – the Mercantile Library of St. Louis – to the campus; merged the Barnes Hospital College of Nursing to the campus nursing program; established a joint engineering program between UMSL and Washington Community College; computerized the campus; built a new student center and a performing arts center, the latter being named for her. Touhill has written 4 books, numerous articles and has spoken all over the world.

Over the years she has received over 150 awards. She was the first women to be named St. Louis “Citizen of the Year” in 1997. The name of that annual award was changed from “Man of the Year” to accommodate her selection. Touhill served on over 120 non-profit corporate boards of directors and 6 for-profit boards.