Henry Durand, longtime mentor and inspiration to underrepresented students, dies at 70

Henry J. Durand Jr., who for more than two decades oversaw UB’s programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who demonstrated academic potential, died Dec. 27 in Buffalo after a hard-fought struggle with leukemia. He was 70.

Durand arrived at UB in 1990 as director of the university’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), now the Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program.  

“Over the course of his 24-year UB (administrative) career, Henry held many positions, culminating in senior associate vice provost of academic affairs and executive director of Cora P. Maloney College,” said Graham Hammill, vice provost for educational affairs and dean of the Graduate School. “His dedication to EOP was longstanding.

“Henry was a friend, mentor and inspiration to many people across the university and the state of New York. The positive impact of his life will be felt by family, friends, colleagues and students for many years to come,” Hammill said.

Bonita Durand said Henry Durand never saw his students as under-prepared or academically at risk.

“My husband believed they were not or they would have never made it into UB,” Durand said. “He was known to call his students ‘students of promise, who may have entered UB with a disadvantage but did not leave or graduate with one.’ Their barriers were social and economic.”

Durand cared deeply about his family, his students and the importance of advocacy, support and opportunity programs, said Nathan J. Daun-Barnett, associate professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy in the Graduate School of Education. Durand had a significant impact on graduate students, especially at the PhD level, and was a member of the GSE faculty at the time of his death.

“Over the past several months, we spoke frequently about his students — both those that were a part of his legacy and those that were still in the process,” Daun-Barnett said. “Henry was determined to see each and every one of them finish, and he had a plan.

“He felt the same way about students who were in his courses,” he said. “He finished his work with every student he had in class, including a student who had difficulty completing their final exam online less than a week ago.”

Durand spoke with joy about the EOP and his work as president of the Tri-State Consortium of Opportunity Programs in Higher Education, Daun-Barnett said.

“He was proud of the fact that students enrolled in those programs were more successful than the average student population, despite the challenges many of them faced,” he said.  

The Durand scholarship, established in 2013 in Durand’s honor, provides financial support to Cora P. Maloney College students who might otherwise be unable to obtain their degree from UB due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a family tragedy, loss of a job, health crisis or unexpected financial obligations.

“Like many UB students, I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Henry Durand,” said Letitia L. Thomas, director of UB STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) diversity programs. “‘Dr. D.’ motivated me to pursue a PhD and helped shape my philosophy of higher education.

“He was a tireless champion for students, especially those who were first-generation and/or low income. Working for him over the years was an honor and I learned so much. He will truly be missed,” Thomas said.

UB alumna Naniette H. Coleman, now a PhD student in the Sociology Department at the University of California, Berkeley, recalled a research methods class she took in 1999 with Durand — her first — and said it changed her life.

"I still have the textbook, and can vividly picture it in my head, alongside hearing him talk about t-tests and the null hypothesis in his booming classroom voice: ‘The null hypothesis is the hypothesis of no difference,’” said Coleman, who is also a 2016-17 Graduate Division, Mentored Research Fellow at UC Berkeley and recipient of a master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Coleman, who received a BA in communication and MA in economics from UB, said that as her McNair Scholars Program mentor and adviser, Durand was one of the first persons — if not the first — who told her she should pursue a PhD.

“Dr. Durand’s PhD and Harvard Education School Executive Program certificate smiled down at me during all of our meetings in his office on the second floor of Capen Hall,” she said.

“Between his academic achievements and his role as head of the EOP program at UB, I was inspired to dream about who I might be and what I might do,” she said.

In June 2014, members of the UB community gathered to honor Durand following his decision to retire from his administrative positions to take a full-time appointment as a clinical associate professor in the Graduate School of Education.

Outside of UB, Durand served as president of the Tri-State Consortium of Opportunity Programs in Higher Education, the professional organization for all college-level opportunity program personnel in the states of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and helped guide opportunity programs across the region.  

He was a founding member of Opportunity Programs United, the joint advocacy organization for New York State opportunity programs, and also served for more than a decade as president of the SUNY Council of Educational Opportunity Program Directors.

As a researcher, Durand specialized in educational sociology, and taught classes in “American Pluralism,” “Education and Social Class,” “African-American Students in Higher Education,” “Race and Ethnic Relations,” and related subjects.

Durand held a BA from Denison University, a MEd from Xavier University in Cincinnati and a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati. He was a graduate of the executive programs of both the Harvard Management Development Institute and American Management Association.

Donations in his honor can be made to the Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship.