Alum Dr. Elizabeth D. Liddy was the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award for Advancement in Career.
Reflecting on her time at the college, she explained that, “the faculty were outstanding and the expectations of students were high, and I believe that the expectations that were made of me and all students pushed me to do my best and prepared me for a very engaged, successful career I was then able to pursue.”
After graduating from Rosary Hill College with a bachelor’s degree in English literature, Liddy earned a master’s degree and became a faculty librarian, and also taught at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. She later became the first part-time Ph.D. student in Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and went on to receive a doctoral degree.
Among her many accomplishments, Liddy founded TextWise, a semantic-based search engine company where she earned six patents. She then established the Center for Natural Language Processing at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies.
She most recently served as dean of Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and also held the role of interim provost at the university. Under her leadership at the school, the undergraduate program grew from 14 to 42 percent in female students.
Now retired, Liddy resides in Syracuse where she serves on various boards while enjoying spending time with her children and grandchildren.