Duren, Almetris Marsh

Almetris Marsh Duren was a key figure in University of Texas at Austin life from 1958 through 1981. Known as "Mama Duren" or "Mama D," Duren was a mentor, counselor, adviser and inspiration to young people for four decades. She began her career as a housemother and served as a University student development specialist and adviser in the Dean of Students Office from 1968 through 1981. Duren served as student advisor and house mother for the first African American students at the University of Texas at Austin. She helped establish Project Info, UT Austin's first minority recruitment program, and was founder of the Innervisions Gospel Choir. She also helped recruit minority faculty.

A graduate of Tillotson College, Duren began her influence on the UT Austin campus in 1958, when she got a job as a housemother for black women students in off-campus housing known as the Modified Co-op. Earlier she had worked as a resident hostess at Eliza Dee Hall, a Methodist dorm at Huston-Tillotson, then the only residence hall for Austin's black female college students. In 1968, she joined the staff of the Dean of Students Office, as a counselor and adviser to students and student groups.

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