* Alice Janet Thurston; College Educator

A memorial service has been scheduled for Alice Janet Thurston, president of Valley College from 1976 to 1981, college officials announced Thursday.

Thurston suffered a fatal heart attack late last month at a Cincinnati hospital, according to a statement. She was 80.

Just weeks before her death, she had sold her North Hollywood home and moved east to be near her son, Robert, a professor at Miami University in Ohio.

Born Alice Stouffer in Milwaukee on March 20, 1916, Thurston was encouraged to learn and to teach by her father, who was also a teacher.

In 1937, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. A year later, she received a master’s degree in counseling from Northwestern University. In 1959, she was awarded her doctorate in counseling psychology from George Washington University.

Thurston’s administrative career included stints at community colleges in Cleveland, Kansas City, Mo., Chicago, Takoma Park, Md., and Boston, her last stop before heading west.

Over the years, Thurston published dozens of articles, including “A Woman President?” and “New Directions for Community Colleges: Counseling, a Critical Function for the ‘80s.”

After retiring from Valley College, Thurston served as a volunteer with the Juvenile Justice Connection Project and lectured on educational psychology and educational administration at CSUN. She was also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s doctoral program in community college administration.

Thurston’s honors include the Distinguished Alumni Award from Denison University, the Decade of Thanks Award from L.A. County, and a listing in “Who’s Who in America.”

Mindful that her experiences as a female college administrator might help other women, Thurston had begun writing her autobiography, according to longtime friend and colleague Austin Conover, curator of the Valley College Historical Museum.

“She was a remarkable person who was a pathfinder inasmuch as she was trying to help women attain the higher levels of university administration,” said Conover.

In addition to her son, Thurston is also survived by a daughter, Anne Thurston of London, and two grandchildren.

The memorial service will be held Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. at the Studio City Unitarian Church, 12355 Moorpark St., Studio City.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the church.