DBA Congratulates
The Honorable Alice O. McCollum
Retires I
Judge McCollum has received countless awards from the DBA. Most notably, during the DBA Chancery Club Luncheon via Tom Rauch; outdoor photograph with Jesse Beasley and below as Co-Chair of the 2018 DBA Bench Bar with Glen McMurry.
n a career defined by “firsts,” it can be easy to focus only on the historical significance of Judge Alice McCollum’s standing in our profession. After all, she did establish the pre-law program at Wilberforce University, become the first Black woman faculty member at the University of Dayton (teaching in the law clinic), become the first Black woman to preside over the Dayton Bar Association, become the first Black woman to be elected to the Dayton Municipal Court, and later become the first Black woman to be elected to the Montgomery County Probate Court. Despite having broken through these and many other glass ceilings, Judge McCollum has always considered herself a public servant above all else. Although her over four-decade-long legal career has now come to an end, her legacy and impact will continue to be felt for decades to come. Had it not been for her college roommate’s interest in law, we may have lost Judge McCollum to the STEM field. As a mathematics major at the University of North Carolina (Greensboro), she had a job lined up as a systems analyst with no interest whatsoever in the law. As a woman of faith, however, Judge learned quickly that sometimes the plan we have for our lives does not always come to fruition. A combination of divine intervention, history, and an open mind revealed a new path for her life. A mutual friend informed Judge and her roommate about a seminar designed to expose minorities to careers in the law. The Council on Legal Education Opportunity, Inc. (“CLEO”), hosted several seminars across the country, one of which Judge McCollum attended with her roommate. The CLEO seminar was launched in part due to the recent assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and subsequent uprisings in response to his death. The hope was that exposing and integrating more African Americans into the legal profession could help ease racial tensions. While attending the seminar, Judge McCollum developed a new perspective and appreciation for the law and how it shaped every facet of our society. She later attended the University of Cincinnati College of Law where she obtained her J.D. before coming to Dayton to begin her career. Judge McCollum worked in various sectors and positions at the beginning of her career, and although she was open to the idea of becoming a judge someday, she was not prepared to make that transition as quickly as she did. Shortly after becoming eligible to become a judge, she was appointed to the Dayton Municipal Court (“DMC”) in February of 1979 and immediately had to run. Although continued on page 13
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Dayton Bar Briefs May 2021
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