In Memoriam

Janet E. McClain (1950-2010)

Janet McClain, who spent 34 years on the faculty of Northern Iowa University in Cedar Falls, has died after a battle with cancer. She was 60 years old.

Professor McClain taught in the department of curriculum and instruction in the university’s College of Education and was director of the college’s Minorities in Teaching program.

A native of Chicago, Professor McClain was a graduate of Northern Illinois University. She held a master’s degree from the University of Dayton.

Anna Fay Vaughn-Cooke (1947-2010)

Anna Vaughn-Cooke, a linguist and associate provost and dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, died from vasculitis last month at a hospice facility in Washington, D.C. She was 63 years old.

Dr. Vaughn-Cooke was a native of Turrell, Arkansas. In 1968 she graduated from the University of Missouri at Kansas City with a degree in speech pathology. She held a master’s degree in speech pathology from the University of Maryland and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in linguistics from Georgetown University.

D. Vaughn-Cooke spent nearly a quarter of a century on the faculty of the University of the District of Columbia. She was considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on African-American dialects and on language development among black youth. In 1998 she became dean of graduate studies at Florida A&M University. From 2003 to 2006 she served as vice president of academic affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. In 2008 she was named associate provost at FAMU.