Dr. Suanne Davis Roueche
The list of the attendees at the memorial service read like a who’s who of the world of community colleges. There were former and current community college presidents, thought leaders, former students and colleagues, who, on a Saturday morning in February, arrived at the Renaissance Arboretum Hotel in Austin to celebrate the life of their friend and comrade, Dr. Suanne Davis Roueche.
Roueche — a prolific educator, administrator and researcher — passed away in December after a courageous battle with lung cancer. She was 75.
When it was his turn to speak, Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, the president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges reflected on the years — spanning four decades — that he knew and worked with Roueche.
“I had a front row seat in working with Suanne,” says Bumphus. “Suanne was the difference maker for female [students] and students of color as they were navigating their doctoral program.”
Bumphus would certainly know.
In the 1980s, he was one of Roueche’s doctoral students and would later become her supervisor during his tenure as chair of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin.
