Saundra L. Taylor
Rarely have I met a woman who combines Saunie Taylor's qualities of strength grace dedication to high values and the kind of internal beauty that is externally visible. She embodies the purposes of our Women's Plaza of Honor. Many people who see Saunie as a lovely and gracious lady have no idea how tough she is or how fiercely committed to the noble causes celebrated by the Women's Plaza of Honor. As a black woman rising to the status of Senior Vice President for Campus Life at the University of Arizona, she has learned to reveal her passions selectively at the right time and place to be most effective in advancing our common cause. I am very proud of the role I have been able to play in her professional life making it safe for her to realize her full leadership potential. With her loving husband Kit Saunie finds time to work in Tucson's soup kitchens and to entertain friends at her home with stone soup. She connects beautifully with students who initially approach her with awe. She relates in fact to human beings in all stations of life treating everyone with respect and dignity. Saunie never seems to lose her composure or her quiet sense of humor. There have been rough patches in her life, but she seems remarkably unscarred. Experiences that others internalize as anger have created in Saunie only wisdom and compassion. Saunie Taylor was recently honored as a Phenomenal Woman. I cannot find better words than Phenomenal Woman. -- Peter Likins Saunie is also honored in the Plaza on the African American Women's Arch.