In memory of Dr. Mary Cay Sengstock, 1936-2014

Mary Cay Sengstock, professor of sociology at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, died on May 8, 2014, at the age of 78, after a 19-year battle with cancer.

Mary Cay has been an active member of the Wayne State sociology faculty since 1966. She earned her A.M. at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her Ph.D. at Washington University-St. Louis. She was an applied sociologist, certified social worker, and clinical sociologist. Mary Cay is well known for her research on Chaldean Americans, multiculturalism, diversity and elder abuse/neglect identification and intervention. At the time of her death, she was planning her next research project that involved interviewing persons with multiple episodes of cancer.

She was a two-time winner of the Wayne State Board of Governors' Faculty Recognition Award, in 1984 for her book, Chaldean Americans (Center for Migration Studies, 1982), and in 2010 for her book, Voices of Diversity: Multiculturalism in America (Springer Press, 2009). She was the recipient of the Lester F. Award from the Sociological Practice Association, the Marvin Olsen Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan Sociological Association, and the Cultural Award from the Chaldean Federation of America in recognition of her continuous support and dedication to the Chaldean Community. She was a public sociologist, presenting numerous lectures on elder abuse, diversity and the Chaldean community to professional as well as lay audiences.

Mary Cay also loved to teach and her devotion to students was impressive. Her favorite courses were Violence in the Family, Law and Society, Society and Aging, and Social Inequality. She received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Wayne State's College of Liberal Arts in 1999. She served as director of graduate studies in sociology for 12 years. Mary Cay supervised 16 Ph.D. dissertations and 25 M.A. essays and theses, and on her deathbed wrote comments for a student who successfully defended his dissertation on the day she died. Mary Cay was committed to helping non-traditional students succeed in graduate programs, especially women and those from under-represented racial and ethnic groups. Her strong record of advising minority graduate students is partially responsible for the fact that our department is one of the leading producers of minority Ph.D. students outside of historically Black colleges and universities.

Mary Cay served Wayne State University in many other capacities, including chairing both the Departments of Sociology and Criminal Justice and mentoring junior faculty. She was grievance coordinator for the American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers for 17 years during turbulent times, and served tirelessly on the Academic Senate, including four years as president, for 41 years. At the national level, she was a board member of the Commission on Applied Sociology and the Sociological Practice Association. She served as secretary-treasurer for the Sociological Practice Section of the ASA.

Her devotion to promoting the education of diverse students was manifest in 2010 when she anonymously created "The Endowed Scholarship for the Promotion of Diversity" for graduate students. Mary Cay wrote, "In view of the fact that sociologists must be keenly sensitive to the diversity of groups and cultures in modern society, this endowed scholarship is established to provide assistance to students who contribute to this diversity. Award recipients will be graduate students who contribute to the knowledge and promotion of social and cultural diversity." Upon her death, the endowment was renamed "The Mary Cay Sengstock Diversity Scholarship." She is survived by her husband, two sons and a daughter, two stepdaughters and three grandchildren.

Mary Cay will be remembered for her sustained efforts to mentor women and minority group members. Not only did she produce significant research in the area of diversity and elder abuse, but she applied her knowledge and made a difference in the university community as well as the community at large.

Contributions to "The Mary Cay Sengstock Diversity Scholarship" can be made by sending a check payable to Wayne State University and mailing it to: Wayne State University Fund Office, 5475 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202. The memo line should reflect #060589 Sengstock Sociology.

– Janet Hankin and Heather Dillaway, Wayne State University