UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 33, Page 5
May 27, 1993
Fitting tribute; Donations support library in faculty member's honor

     In the minds of her colleagues, students and friends, the late Anne
Mooney continues to impress others with her kindness, knowledge and wisdom,
even after her death.
     In 1990, the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy associate
professor co-authored a report to the legislature on the infant mortality
rate in Delaware that led to increased funding for pre-natal programs and a
reduction in infant deaths in this state. She devoted most of her work as a
researcher to collecting facts about the distribution of public health care
to groups like the homeless, prisoners, low-income mothers and children.
She served on many committees and task forces investigating the
distribution of medical and mental health care to people in poverty. The
courses she taught her graduate students focused on the social and health
care problems of the urban poor.
     That could be why, when she needed help completing a final act of
enrichment, those who knew her  rallied.
     Dr. Mooney was told last fall that the cancer she had been fighting
for years would take her life in less than a year. She was determined to
stay at the University long enough to help her Ph.D. candidate, Audrey
Helfman, through the defense of her dissertation; then, she would retire
and travel. But, first she had to decide what to do with her extensive
library.
     Dr. Mooney learned that the Institute for Development Research at the
University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia was in desperate need of books.
Helfman found this out through correspondence with Aklilu Kidanu, a former
student who was working at the Ethopian agency.
     "The more Anne thought about it," colleague Karen Curtis recalled,
"the more correspondence there was, the clearer it became to her that the
entire library was needed there." Dr. Mooney offered to donate her entire
library to the institute and began doing the countless number of things
involved in arranging the transfer.
     "It was in keeping with her values and philosophy. She was concerned
about the poor, about social justice and access. She had an affinity for
students from underrepresented groups," according to Curtis, associate
scientist in urban affairs and public policy.
     But, by December, Dr. Mooney's health was failing rapidly.
     So, her friends, colleagues and students took over.
     They established the Anne Mooney Library Fund, collected enough money
to transport the books to Ethiopia and buy new ones. They even donated
books of their own.
     When the books arrive, the institute will have an additional 1,558
volumes of information on social epidemiology, international demographics
and community health care that researchers there can use to learn how
better to deal with the growing health and social problems of that
developing nation.
     Between the time she retired last December and this writing, 70
friends, colleagues and students contributed $2,000, plus volunteer time
and volumes of books on international demographics, health care and urban
planning, anthropology and sociology to the project.
     At her retirement party, Dr. Mooney was given a replica of the plaque
that will hang in the "Anne Mooney Library" in Addis Ababa.
     Dr. Mooney died Jan. 21, one week after coaching Helfman through her
dissertation defense.
     Helfman and Curtis, who organized and coordinated the library fund
drive, said that their friend had as special a feeling for her students as
she did for her work.
     "She was devoted to her students and to teaching. As we were putting
her library together, we discovered that she kept almost every student's
dissertation and her correspondence with them," Helfman said.
     Even though the books, portfolios, journals and other materials that
make up the Anne Mooney Library are being shipped in June, donations for
the library are still being accepted. Anyone who would like to donate
books, materials or money to the Anne Mooney Library Fund should contact
Karen Curtis at the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, telephone
831-2394. Checks should be made payable to the Anne Mooney Fund.
                                        -Barbara Garrison