Paula O. Ashby, a retired University of Maryland, Baltimore County academic adviser, died of cancer Feb. 9 at her Gwynn Oak home. She was 61.

“Paula was one of the most passionate persons I have ever known. She was a special member of our UMBC community,” said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III.

“She was so passionate about getting students into medical school and pulling out their strengths. She was a great storyteller and knew how to get students connected,” Dr. Hrabowski said. “Before Paula died, I told her that her legacy was that she had helped produce hundreds of doctors who helped thousands of patients.”

The daughter of Arvel Owens, an Aberdeen Proving Ground maintenance worker, and Pauline Owens, a city public schools teacher, Paula Owens was born in Baltimore and raised on Westwood Avenue in Northwest Baltimore.

After graduating in 1973 from Western High School, Ms. Ashby graduated cum laude from UMBC in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

She began her academic advising career as a student assistant in the Learning Resources Center during her junior year at UMBC.

Ms. Ashby joined the staff of the old Allied Health Center at UMBC as an academic adviser, where her specialty was working with students seeking to go on to medical school or into other health-related fields.

“She gave everything she could to help our students. When she wanted to fight for someone, she’d come by my office and say, not ‘Maybe we should do this,’ but rather, ‘We have to do this,’?” Dr. Hrabowski said.

“She was strong-willed and determined. When Paula spoke, you listened. And everyone who knew her knew that,” he said. “She was a combination of being strong-willed and compassionate, and if you had Paula on your side, you were OK.”

Ms. Ashby was the program adviser from 1989 to 1997 for the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, established with a $520,000 grant from philanthropists Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, aimed at increasing the number of African-American scientists earning doctorates.

“So far, we have a 100 percent success rate. That is what we are striving for,” Ms. Ashby told The Washington Post in 1993.

She held weekly workshops for seniors that helped them navigate the graduate school application process, including how to write a personal essay and ask professors for letters of recommendation.

As the deadline for applications neared, Ms. Ashby made sure typists were available to the applicants.

“I carried a book of stamps with me and walked around asking, ‘Does anyone need a stamp?’?” she told The Post.

In 1998, she was named assistant director of UMBC’s Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising, where she remained until retiring last year.

Ken Baron, assistant vice provost for academic advising at the university, worked closely with Ms. Ashby for a decade.

“Paula was a member of the search committee that brought me to UMBC, so I connected with her right from the beginning,” said Dr. Baron. “We were working with pre-med students, and we bonded because we shared the same views on helping students get into medical school. She was their advocate.”

Dr. Baron said Ms. Ashby was also extraordinarily helpful in getting students to “see other paths and have backup actions. It was about options and how you go about it. She had a level of empathy for them.”

Ms. Ashby also helped students get the best education possible at UMBC and then helped them “understand the intricacies of the process in applying to graduate school,” Dr. Baron said.

“She wrote thousands of letters, not only to medical schools but also to pharmacy, nursing and dental hygiene schools,” he said.

Ms. Ashby also shared responsibility with Dr. Baron for overseeing UMBC’s orientation program for new students.

“It was a one-on-one experience for the students, and we would individually advise them and march them through the entire process. And this could be as many as 3,000 students who came in the summer and winter,” he said.

“Paula really was the queen of orientation. She was very friendly and kind, and embodied the humanistic approach,” Dr. Baron said. “She was an unflappable presence and left her imprint and spirit at UMBC. It’s amazing the impact she had, not just in this region, but throughout the country and abroad.”

“I had the opportunity to see Paula a few days before she died, and she was calm, at peace, and lucid,” Dr. Hrabowski said.

“As I was leaving, I told her, ‘Thank you for helping us put UMBC on the map,’ and that she was a special, special member of this community,” he said. “Our Paula represented the best of us.”

“She loved current events, the news, and was a big fan of obituaries,” said her fiance, Theodore Laster Jr., who works in the city comptroller’s real estate department. “She also liked to travel and collected teddy bears.”

She was a member of Ames Memorial United Methodist Church.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Epworth United Methodist Church, 3317 St. Lukes Lane, Baltimore.

In addition to her fiance, she is survived by a son, Allen H. Ashby IV of Gwynn Oak; a brother, Dr. Roland Owens of Arlington, Va.; and a granddaughter.

Her marriage to Allen H. Ashby III ended in divorce.

frasmussen@baltsun.com