Tucker Center Newsletter - 2010 Spring
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Learning Our Legacy: Dorothy McNiell Tucker
The Tucker Center is the first interdisciplinary research
center in the world leading a multi-faceted effort to explore how sport
and physical activity affect the lives of girls and women, their
families, and communities. It is fitting that this distinctive and
pioneering research center reflects its namesake—Dorothy McNeill Tucker.
Her $1 million gift to the University of Minnesota in the early 1990s
launched an unprecedented moment within the scientific community among
scholars who studied women’s sports, and her financial generosity became
the foundation for the first endowment of its kind in the United States.
Dr. Tucker’s approach to philanthropy is “one of a kind” as well.
“Anybody can endow a chair in economics or psychology; all universities
have those. But I walk to a different drummer, and I wanted my gift to
have real impact,” states Dr. Tucker. Her gift was particularly timely
because 1992 marked the 20th anniversary of Title IX and participation
opportunities for female athletes had skyrocketed. Scholarship related
to the impact of that participation, however, was lagging behind.
According to Mary Jo Kane, the first and only Director of the Tucker
Center, “What was needed was a research center housed within a major
university, one which recognized the significance of sport and physical
activity in women’s lives. It was Dr. Tucker’s vision and generosity
that made this happen, and look at how many people around the world have
benefited because of what she did.”
What about Dr. Tucker’s background and experience made her so devoted to the University of Minnesota and to women’s sports? For starters, she graduated from the U of M in 1945 where she studied counseling psychology and recreational leadership. “I have great memories of my undergraduate years at Minnesota. The University provided me with a wonderful educational opportunity and helped me pursue a professional career at a time when women weren’t encouraged to do such things.” In the World War II era, few opportunities existed for women to play sports. And though she “loved all kinds of sports,” sorority intramurals were the only sporting option during her time at Minnesota. In spite of this she never complained about gender discrimination. “The inequities were just the way it was back then. It never occurred to us it was going to be any different [in the future].” Being limited in competitive sporting opportunities did not deter her from taking on leadership roles in college. Looking through the pages of Gopher yearbooks, Dr. Tucker was clearly a mover and a shaker on campus. She served as President of her senior class cabinet and was also President of the Panhellenic Council.
After leaving Minnesota, Dr. Tucker went on to earn a Master’s degree in Physical Education from Illinois State University, Normal, and a Doctorate from UCLA. She taught physical education at Western Illinois University and psychology at California State Polytechnic University, where she was the first female faculty member and became the first woman promoted to Full Professor. While at Cal Poly, Dr. Tucker met and married fellow faculty member Elbridge Ashcraft Tucker, who had a second career as a successful industrial appraiser. During their 33 years together, they achieved both professional and personal success. To honor their relationship, Dr. Tucker established the Dorothy McNeill and Elbridge Ashcraft Tucker Chair for Women in Exercise Science & Sport. It remains the only endowed professorship devoted to the study of women’s sports within higher education. Her continued commitment to such causes—not to mention her amazing financial support—has not gone unnoticed by the University of Minnesota. She served with distinction for 12 years on the U of M Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and in 2006 she was named one of the 100 Most Distinguished Alumni of the College of Education and Human Development. Her philosophy of giving is best summed up in the following statement: “I am sure I have received more from the gifts I have given to Minnesota than has the University. The joy of giving is increased tremendously when you can see how your gift is being used during your lifetime.”
It was this sense of “how her gifts were being used” through the accomplishments of the Tucker Center that inspired Dr. Tucker to bequest an additional $1 million endowment in 2001. As a result, we have expanded our research and educational efforts to more thoroughly investigate the various ways sport and physical activity impact females, and to recruit the “best and brightest” faculty and students to come to the U of M. These highly recruited individuals share something in common with Dr. Tucker—a deep and abiding passion for sports. Indeed, Dr. Tucker points out that her love of sports has played an important role in every facet of her life.
After a groundbreaking professional career, Dr. Tucker looked forward to an early retirement so she could spend more time playing golf. “I retired at age 50 and spent the next 15 years being a golf bum! But after one hip and two knee replacements [due to arthritis] my body has betrayed me and I can’t golf anymore.” This has not dampened her love of sports in general and golf in particular. She lives in a house that overlooks a golf course—the very course she and her late husband used to play almost every day. Rest assured that neither retirement nor arthritis has slowed down this energetic and visionary woman: “I’m busier now than ever with my church and community activities.”
Dr. Tucker continues to be busy in other ways as well. This past October, she donated $25,000 to a matching scholarship fund to support graduate studies at the Tucker Center. Her exceptional gift allows us to support outstanding students from around the country to come to the U of M and pursue their graduate work and begin their careers as the next generation of scholars. As Research Assistant and Kinesiology Ph.D. student Austin Calhoun remarks: “Because of the Tucker Center, the U of M was at the top of my list of potential schools to attend, given my research interests in gender and sport. The opportunities I am afforded here are second to none.” As all of us in the Tucker Center know and appreciate, one person really can make a difference!