Dorothy Bumann Blalock taught at Western for 42 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State College, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota and she pursued graduate studies at Oklahoma State University. The WNMU Board of Regents awarded her an honorary doctorate degree on December 8, 1992.

She has been the recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship. During World War II, she spent two years in the W.A.V.E.S. – United States Naval Reserves. Dorothy Bumann Blalock was appointed as a member of the State of New Mexico’s Board of Economic Advisors by former Governor Jerry Apodaca.

At WNMU, she served as the Faculty Senate President, foreign student advisor, International Students Club advisor and was a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force. She was also responsible for establishing WNMU’s chapter of Pi Gamma Mu, an international honor society of the social sciences. Dorothy Bumann Blalock was the first woman to serve on the National Board of Trustees of Pi Gamma Mu.

She has selflessly devoted countless hours to various community groups such as the Grant County Community Concert Association, Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, Prospectors, Silver City-Grant County Economic Development Corporation (SIGRED), Border Area Mental Health, and the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. She was also instrumental in the acquisition of a grand piano for the Fine Arts Center Theatre.

Dorothy Bumann Blalock is the first WNMU professor to have an Endowed Professorship established in her name.