WACO (June 26, 2012)--Baylor University's Associate Dean of the Honors College, Assistant Director of the University Scholars Program and Associate Professor of Literature in the Honors Program, Dr. Susan E. Colón, 39, of Hewitt, passed away on Sunday after a six-month battle with cancer, a university spokesperson said.

Colón received a Bachelor's degree in English at the university, later returning to the school to become a beloved teacher, mentor and associate dean.

She was receiving treatment at Baylor Cancer Hospital in Dallas for an unspecified form of cancer.

According to Baylor's Media Communications Department, a recent Baylor graduate and Dean's List student, Kelsey Jones, said in an interview, "It was she who introduced me to Chesterton and T.S. Eliot, revealed to me that The Lord of the Rings was indeed a Christian writing, and who taught me that there is such a thing as Christian scholarship.

She invited me, my mother, and my sister into her home on Easter Sunday of 2010. She was family to me in more ways than I can count."

The memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday at Dayspring Baptist Church, located at 7900 Renewal Way.

Memorials may be sent to the Susan Colón Scholarship Fund in the Honors College at Baylor University.