Ruth Johnson Colvin (1917-2024) (B.S., SU, 1959) was the founder of Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) in 1962, a national organization which merged in 2002 with Laubach Literacy International to become ProLiteracy. Colvin had become aware of adult illiteracy in Syracuse, NY, her hometown, when she learned that over 11,000 people in her community could not read. Believing in everyone’s right to literacy, she worked with university reading specialists and community leaders to develop training and organize a tutoring program. Colvin was LVA’s first president, and within 10 years, she had built a nationwide network of affiliates that continues today.

Colvin also helped found the National Coalition for Literacy in the U.S. She also traveled extensively to promote adult literacy internationally (e.g., Madagascar, New Guinea, Tok Pisin, Guatemala, Pakistan, Somalia, China). Her many publications included eight editions of Tutor, READ, five editions of I Speak English, A Way with Words, In the Beginning Was the Word, and My Travels Through Life, Love, and Literacy. Her numerous honors included the U.S.’s National Volunteer Action Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom and induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She received a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and nine honorary doctorates, the last of which was awarded by Le Moyne College following her delivery of the college’s commencement address at the age of 101.  A self-ascribed lifelong learner who regularly declared that “age is just a number,” she continued to serve on and inspire the LVA and ProLiteracy Board of Directors as a staunch literacy advocate until her recent death.