‘Blain’ Scholarship to Assist Sociology Majors at Boise State

The family of the late Dr. Michael and Angeline Kearns Blain recently established a new scholarship at Boise State University to honor their parents’ legacy of promoting peace and social justice.

The Dr. Michael and Angeline Kearns Blain Sociology Scholarship supports eligible Boise State students and encourages their academic growth as they pursue their undergraduate studies. Students can apply for the scholarship if they have a declared major in sociology, junior or senior class status, and a minimum GPA of 3.0.

“Our parents sought to live in a world that was peaceful, good, fair and just for all. They espoused and practiced those ideals for many years through their teaching, activism and service. We want to acknowledge and honor that legacy,” said Stephen Lyon, who created the scholarship with his brothers Robert and Edward. The three brothers are Michael’s stepsons and Angeline’s sons.

Dr. Michael Blain was a member of the sociology faculty at Boise State for 40 years and served as its department chair for four terms. His research interests and participation in professional sociology organizations took him to all parts of the globe. Over four decades, he conducted research and wrote and compiled a substantial body of published scholarship.

Dr. Blain also was a distinguished teacher. He lectured with wide-ranging knowledge, insight and even humor. His areas of interest and teaching included Contemporary Social Theory, Research Methods, Drugs, Violence, and Peace and War. His “Drugs and Society” class was influential and became so popular that it grew a lengthy waiting list. While he held students to high standards, requiring them to work for top grades and exhorting them to develop critical thinking skills, he always treated them with compassion and mutual respect.

Dr. Blain devoted his time and energy to mentoring students, many of whom continued their sociology studies beyond Boise State. They attended top graduate programs with his encouragement and guidance and pursued successful careers. They point to Dr. Blain for igniting the spark of intellectual curiosity, changing their worldview, transforming their lives, and inculcating in them a passion for sociology.

Angeline Kearns Blain credited her own success with access to public education. She grew up during hardscrabble times in Dublin, Ireland, where she left school at age 13 to earn money for the household. Many years after immigrating to the U.S., marrying, and raising a family, she pursued the education denied to her in Ireland. She earned her GED at age 38 and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boise State. She wrote her master’s thesis on the history of the Boise Peace Quilt Project, which was published as a book called “Tactical Textiles: A Genealogy of the Boise Peace Quilt Project.”

Angeline became an active university community member in the late 1980s and 1990s. She taught sociology classes as an adjunct professor and became involved with many issues and organizations on and off campus. The scholarship established in their name will extend their legacy and empower other members of the Boise State community, said Boise State Sociology Department Chair Sharon Paterson. 

“Michael and Angeline made indelible marks on students’ views of the world and their place in it,” she said. “With this scholarship, their intellectual curiosities and drive for acquiring knowledge will live on with students, the department, and the community.”

With Michael’s encouragement and her determination, Angeline chronicled her impoverished childhood in Dublin in a widely acclaimed memoir, “Stealing Sunlight: Growing up in Irishtown” (2000). A second memoir, “I Used to be Irish: Leaving Ireland, Becoming American,” told the story of immigrating to the U.S. and starting a new life abroad.

 She was interviewed in 2004 for a Boise State publication called “Women Making Herstory.” The author noted that Angeline was “committed to studying and documenting how women, individually and collectively, have been peacemakers. In the process she had become a peacemaker and activist herself.”

“As an immigrant, our mother believed strongly in the public education system and the opportunities it offered to all. Her academic and professional success is a testament to her resilience, desire, and intellect,” Lyon said.

Michael and Angeline were longtime Boise residents involved in many causes and organizations advocating for peace and social justice. Their legacy lives on through their teaching, research, writing, advocacy, actions, and service — and now through an endowed scholarship named in their honor.