Deceased: May 11, 1995, Omaha, Neb.

Birth: Nov. 22, 1942, Sheridan Wyo.

Parents: Marvin Russell Hayhome and Annie Catherine (McPhee) Hayhome.

Barbara Hayhome earned her Ph.D. in biology at Chicago University in 1970 and went on to teach at California State College at Chico. In 1972 she accepted a three-year research assistantship at Creighton University Medical School, and in 1975 she became a member of the biology faculty at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Neb.

In 1978, when Hayhome accepted a faculty appointment in the biology department of UNO, the debate over gender equity had gained public prominence but the percentage of women in the sciences remained largely unchanged, perhaps improving by 1 or 2 percent during the previous decade.

In 1984 Hayhome was appointed chair of the biology department and held that position until she was appointed assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and associate dean for graduate studies in 1989. During her time in these posts Hayhome is credited with increasing the number of women faculty hired and for helping women faculty advance in their careers.

She was honored for those efforts by the Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women at UNO in 1995. She also is credited as the driving force in the creation of the undergraduate biotechnology program. Hayhome was a member of the Phycological Society of America, the International Phycological Society, the International Society for Evolutionary Protistology, Sigma Xi, AAAS, AIBS, Botanical Society of America, Genetics Society of America, and the American Microscopical Society. In 1995 Hayhome died of cancer.

Her colleague, Dr. David Sutherland writes, "Aware that she was losing the battle against cancer, Barbara Hayhome decided to make a substantial bequest to establish an undergraduate scholarship in biology. "She had to be persuaded to let the scholarship bear her name, but just before her death suggested that donations to the fund be encouraged as the best kind of memorial she could imagine.

"Having spent most of her life as instructor, scientist, and administrator, Professor Hayhome placed the highest value on the pursuit of knowledge and fairness, viewing formal education as the best path to individual and social improvement, awareness of the wider world, and the keen pleasures of purposeful, useful work and the life of the mind. "Assisting a capable, aspiring student along that path, as the scholarship was designed to do, is an appropriate Hayhome legacy that honors her memory and honors the students who will benefit from Barbara's generosity and that of her friends and associates." The scholarship was established through the University of Nebraska Foundation and has been awarded regularly since 1997. University of Nebraska Omaha Alum, Spring 2007