Robert G. LeBlanc International Resource Library Dedicated
 
By Lori Wright, Media Relations

The Center for International Education recently dedicated the Robert G. LeBlanc International Resource Library on the second floor of Hood House.

LeBlanc, professor emeritus of geography, was on board United Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Andrea LeBlanc, center, attends the dedication of the library in honor of her husband. (Katelyn Dolan/Media Relations)

Until his death, LeBlanc was a faculty study abroad advisor in the Center for International Education. The resource library now bearing his name is used by students, faculty and staff for study abroad program research and advising.

A plaque with a photo of LeBlanc has been placed over the fireplace, and an an endowment has been established through the UNH Foundation to provide funds for an annual study abroad scholarship in LeBlanc's name. 
 
Attendees at the dedication included LeBlanc's widow, Andrea LeBlanc, family members and friends, faculty and staff with whom he worked, Provost Bruce Mallory and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Alan Ray, members of the University Committee on Study Abroad and University Committee on International Studies, and representatives of the Canadian Consulate.

LeBlanc earned his bachelor's degree at UNH and his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. A cultural geographer, he began his career at UNH in 1963 and served with distinction until his retirement in 1999. He served as acting chair and chair of the department for nearly 10 years.

Attendees remember LeBlanc through pictures and conversation. (Katelyn Dolan/Media Relations)

LeBlanc was a scholar in Canadian studies, studying Franco-American communities in New England mill towns. He traveled the world and brought his experiences back to Durham, sharing them with the hundreds of students he taught over his career.

He was honored as a Whiting Foundation Fellow in 1983, received the 1988 Distinguished Service Award of the New England Geography Society in 1988, and participated in the N.H. Council for the Humanities Franco-American Project, the New Hampshire Council for Canadian Studies and served as incorporator of the Franco-American Center of Manchester.