Flashback
50 years ago
UB’s first registrar retires
Emma Deters (in white coat and gloves) poses with a group of UB women while on vacation in Italy during the 1950s. Photo: UB ARCHIVES
For nearly half a century, Emma E. Deters kept track of more than 100,000 UB students. When she joined UB in 1916 as the first registrar of the College of Arts and Sciences, Deters and Dean Julian Park were the college’s only two administrative personnel. During those early years, she kept student records, made out class schedules and even typed exam questions in her small office in the old Townsend Hall on Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo.
When the office of university registrar was established in 1928, Deters was named to that post and she served UB through several decades of tremendous growth. By all accounts, she was a meticulous record keeper, but her accomplishments extended far beyond the bounds of her position at UB. Deters was actively involved in the Middle States Association of College Registrars, and was elected president of the American Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admissions Officers in 1952.
She also served on numerous educational commissions and received many awards from campus and community groups for her devotion to UB students. Even after her mandatory retirement in 1960, she remained involved in university life, serving as a special adviser to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for five years.
Described as hard working, sensitive and honest by those who knew her, Deters was a graduate of Fosdick-Masten High School in Buffalo and Hurst’s Business School. A long-time resident of Lancaster, she enjoyed cooking, gardening and flower arranging. Her love of fishing prompted one friend to observe that Deters “yielded to no one when it came to snaring the prize small-mouth black bass, year after year, at her summer retreat on Unity Pond, Maine.”
At her retirement in 1960, Emma Deters received an eloquent tribute from her colleague, Emily Webster, who wrote, in part, “The influence of her years as registrar is hard to measure. Hundreds of young men and women, who sought her advice and guidance, had their lives quickened by the gentle encounter with her fine, clear mind, encouraged by the warm, human qualities of the woman who was never too occupied to listen to their problems, and endlessly enriched by the experiences of her friendship.”
In this University Archives photograph, Deters (in white coat and gloves) is pictured while on vacation in Italy during the 1950s. The group includes Adelle Land of the UB Graduate School of Education (in black-and-white check coat); Emily Webster, former assistant vice chancellor for business affairs (in green coat, at right), and Olive Lester of the UB psychology department (in green dress, at right). The contributions of these and other notable UB women faculty, staff and administrators over the past century are highlighted in the online exhibition “Women’s Work: A Tribute to the Women Who Make UB Work.”
—Kathleen Quinlivan, University Libraries
Reader Comments