Image: The University of Georgia proposes to name the Science Library as the Shirley Mathis McBay Science Library. McBay earned a doctorate in math from the university in 1966, after earning master’s degrees in math and chemistry from Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). She began her career as a math professor at Spelman College, and then went on to become MIT’s dean for student affairs and chair of the National Science Foundation’s committee on equal opportunity in science and engineering. She later launched the Quality Education for Minorities Network (QEM), a nonprofit that she led for more than 20 years. McBay championed the need for diversity in the STEM fields throughout her life and was the subject of a Georgia Groundbreaker profile by the university earlier this year. She died on Nov. 27, 2021, at the age of 86. Read More: UGA recommends naming two facilities for African American alumni
