The family of former Miss Grambling State University Carolyn Collier has established an endowment to Grambling State University in her honor.
“Mrs. Collier was the epitome of Grambling State University,” said Marc Newman, vice president of Institutional Advancement at Grambling State University. “She breathed Grambling every day and establishing this endowment is a great way to let her live on.”
Collier died on Jan. 15. She was 66.
A named endowment at GSU can be established for a minimum gift of $10,000, and interest from the fund will be used to sustain a scholarship to help students with tuition, books, room or board.
Born in Arcadia, La., but raised in Grambling and educated in the Lincoln Parish school system, Carolyn Douglas-Collier was the university’s first campus queen to be crowned from the city of Grambling in 1974.
“It was a great honor. I’m very pleased to be in the list of successful women,” Collier said in a Oct. 13, 2013 article in The Gramblinite.
Even after graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Grambling State University in 1974, Collier continued to serve as an ambassadress for the university.
Collier held a range of positions at GSU, including human resources, a first-year experience instructor, a sociology instructor, Director of Admissions, Executive Director of Alumni Affairs and the Director of Eddie G. Robinson Museum.
Collier was active in the Grambling community.
She was a member of the numerous civic organizations, including the Grambling Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Monroe-Grambling chapter of the Links, Inc., the Grambling Housing Authority. She also previously served as president of the Pinkie C. Wilkerson Life Development Center.
The family asked for donations to the endowment in lieu of flowers. Anyone wishing to donate should send checks payable to the Grambling University Foundation Inc., with Carolyn Douglas Collier Endowed Scholarship in the memo field, and mail to P.O. Box 587, Grambling, La. 71245.