Northern Illinois University

Northern Today

august 16, 2007 - EXTRA

Wilma D. StricklinTrailblazing academic
Stricklin dead at 81

As a communication professor, Lois Self conducted her fair share of interviews, but few were as difficult as the one with Wilma Stricklin in 1995.

The Northern Illinois University Presidential Commission on the Status of Women had just renamed its Award for Enhancing the Climate on Campus for Women in honor of Stricklin, a retired administrator and professor of management. Her accomplishments were so great and contributions so many that the vote was unanimous.

The only person who seemed to question the wisdom of creating the Wilma D. Stricklin Award was Stricklin, which is what made Self’s job so awkward.

“It was very difficult,” said Self. “Wilma couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.”

Such modesty was typical, friends and colleagues said this week as they recalled Stricklin, who died Tuesday, Aug. 7, at her home in Whiteville, N.C. She was 81.

Yet those who knew her were happy to tell stories on her behalf.

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