Cynthia Collin Stong ’62 AM

Cynthia Collin Stong ’62 AM, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Nov. 14. After earning a degree in zoology from Wellesley College and attending a marine biology summer program at Woods Hole, she graduated from Brown with a master’s in biology and moved to Ohio, where she became an instructor in the biological sciences department of Bowling Green State University. She developed marine biology courses and led an annual undergraduate trip to the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (Miss.) to collect marine specimens to bring back to the lab at BGSU. In 1984, she was a guest researcher at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. During her tenure at BGSU she was honored with a Master Teacher Award and a Distinguished Educator Award. In the late 1980s, she was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to develop an ocean-focused curriculum for elementary, middle, and high school teachers. In collaboration with her honors students, she produced a children’s ocean activity book titled Sea Sense and Fun Sense. Nearly a decade after her retirement, BGSU awarded her a 2005 honorary doctorate in marine science education for her “dedication to students and teaching, leadership in marine biology education, service to BGSU, and a lifetime of achievements in her field.” She is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, a sister and brother-in-law, and a brother and sister-in-law.