In August, Governor Tom Ridge congratulated his budget secretary, Robert A. Bittenbender ’63, for receiving the prestigious Gloria Timmer Award from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). Bittenbender has served on Albright’s Board since 1995.

Governor Ridge applauded Bittenbender by saying, “Bob has served Pennsylvania with distinction for nearly four decades. He has forged a record of strategic fiscal management and fiscal policy leadership that is unmatched in Pennsylvania and, I suspect, the nation.”

An honorary lifetime member of the National Association of State Budget Officers, Bittenbender has been involved in NASBO activities since 1967, including service as NASBO president.

Edith Morrow Brown Douds, Ph.D., professor emerita of French, died on October 1, 2001 at the age of 95. Dr. Douds taught at Albright for 22 years. During her tenure at Albright she served as chair of the French department and as assistant professor of English. In 1964, she was awarded Albright’s Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, and in 1993, received the Alumni Association Service Award.

She was married to the late John B. Douds, professor emeritus of English. Together, they served as hosts and benefactors to many foreign students as well as generations of Albrightians.

Dr. Douds was a 1925 graduate of the University of Mississippi. She received her master’s degree from the University of Mississippi in 1926 and her doctorate from Cornell University in 1934.

Among her civic leadership roles, she served as chair of the Reading Shade Tree Commission, which honored her as a “friend to trees and students” with a tree planted near Memorial Chapel.

A devoted benefactor of Albright College, she established the Robert Calvin Douds Memorial Scholarship Fund in memory of her late son Robert C. Douds. Among her gifts to the College was her home, now a faculty residence. In 2000, she was inducted into the President’s Council.

A memorial service was held in Memorial Chapel on November 11. Gifts in her memory may be made to the Robert Calvin Douds Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o the Albright College Development Office, 13th & Bern Streets, P.O. Box 15234, Reading, PA 19612-5234.