The Frances McClelland Vision Award is given to honor a community leader who has made a lifelong commitment and significant contributions to the well-being of children, youth, and families. The community leader embodies the strength, dedication, vision and passion that Frances McClelland exhibited throughout her life. This award is for a community leader who has dedicated their life and work to helping Frances McClelland’s legacy and vision come to fruition for the people of Southern Arizona and the world.

Edith Sayre Auslander is the consultant to Arizona Assurance at The University of Arizona Foundation. Her previous position for five years was as Vice President and Senior Associate to the President of the UA. 

Auslander is a native Tucsonan who earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Arizona. She had a long career in newspaper work as a reporter, copy editor and section editor for The Arizona Daily Star. She also has been an assistant professor of journalism at The University of Arizona and served as vice president of human resources for Tucson Newspapers for more than 15 years.

She left the UA faculty in 1984 when she was appointed by Gov. Bruce Babbitt to the Arizona Board Regents for an eight-year term. She was elected president of the Board of Regents for the 1989-90 academic year. During her term as president, she initiated the system-wide study on the status of women.

Auslander is one of 15 founders of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has been listed three times in the Hispanic Business magazine as one of 100 influential U.S. Hispanics and in Replica magazine as one 25 Hispanic Women of the Year.

She has been active in several national organizations, including the Editing Program for Minority Journalists and the Multicultural Management Program. She was elected to the board and served as president of the national Media Human Resources Association. She is a past president of the UA Hispanic Alumni Club and of the Hispanic Professional Action Committee.

She was named Tucson’s Woman of the Year in 1986, and received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Arizona in 1997. She was honored six times nationally for her human resources work, and she earned the certification of Senior Professional in Human Resources. She has been named to the halls of fame of the UA Student Media Foundation and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has received the Women on the Move and the Iris Dewhirst awards from the Tucson YWCA.