For her role as the “face of the School of Education,” Mary Beatty was honored Tuesday with the Olean Zonta Club’s Yellow Rose Award.

The administrative assistant to the school’s dean since 2013, Beatty was surprised with a yellow rose by Dr. René Hauser, interim dean of the School of Education and Zonta member.

“Mary is the first person many people interact with in the school,” Hauser said. “She’s the person with all the answers and all the keys who works tirelessly to support faculty, students and staff.”

Beatty won the university’s President’s Staff Award for Excellence for Customer Support in 2020.

Olean Zonta is a club under the auspice of Zonta International, an international women’s advocacy organization.

Since 1999, the yellow rose has been the inspiration and symbol of Zonta Rose Day, which falls on March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day. The yellow rose also served as a symbol of the pro-suffrage movement.

Past recipients of the award from St. Bonaventure include Betsy Cashing, an adjunct in the School of Education, and Dr. Pauline Hoffmann, associate professor and former dean in the Jandoli School of Communication.

Founded in 1919, Zonta International is a women’s advocacy organization that has more than 29,000 members in 63 countries. The mission of Zonta clubs around the world is to make a global and a local impact.

The Olean Zonta chapter has raised tens of thousands of dollars locally to support women undergoing treatment for breast cancer as well as supporting breast cancer research. The chapter also provides support for local women through donations of hygiene products to local food banks.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.