By ELIZABETH CARPENTER ’27
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 3 Oct 2025
This Saturday at 10:30 a.m., a portrait of Constance “Connie” Finney will be unveiled in the Recital Hall. Finney graduated from Houghton University (HU) in 1978. Since then, she has served at HU as the field hockey coach, the Resident Director of East Hall, the Director of Student Life at HU’s West Seneca campus, and a professor at both Houghton’s West Seneca campus and main campus. HU commissioned the portrait, done by Kyle Stevenson, to honor Finney for her contributions to the school and the community.
While Finney was a student, she majored in Math and minored in Education, Psychology and Art. She was also very involved on campus, playing on both the field hockey and softball teams and serving as the Resident Assistant (RA) on First Old in East Hall. After graduating, she spent a year teaching middle school math in Cinncinatus, New York. Finney then returned to HU as the Resident Director (RD) of East Hall for two years while she worked on her Master’s degree. When she finished the program, she was hired as a professor at HU’s West Seneca campus, where she taught Finite Math, Educational Psychology and Remedial Study Skills.
Finney’s involvement with Houghton didn’t stop there; after five years in West Seneca, she became a full-time professor at the main Houghton campus in the Education department. She continued to live in Western New York and commuted between Houghton and Buffalo for more than a decade while she pastored a church in Buffalo.
While working at HU, Finney was kind and compassionate, fostering an environment in her classrooms that was welcoming, respectful and fun. Living in Belfast, she would frequently have students over to her house for lunch and told them not to bother with her title. “Call me Connie,” she would say, “and I’ll know if you respect me by the way you treat me.”
When she served as the head coach of the field hockey team, she cultivated the same kind of environment. Dr. Karen Torraca, a current Professor of Chemistry at HU, remembers her seasons coached by Finney fondly. She said, “Connie recognized strengths and weaknesses in each player and helped us to see them as well.” She remembered a program that Finney started where each girl was assigned a “hockey helper,” who would leave anonymous notes, bible verses, and pieces of candy for their teammate. This created a community where everyone was valued and appreciated, and pushed the girls to encourage and help one another, both on and off the field.
“Connie has such a wonderful sense of humor and joy in life,” Torraca said. “I think that helped me to also have an optimistic outlook….There was so much laughter and encouragement.”
Rachel Wright ‘07, the Director of the Office of Vocation and Calling, knew Finney as a professor and a mentor figure. “During college, I served as an RA… and then as the ARD,” Wright said. “Since Connie had been an RD, she provided encouragement and insights about residence life in addition to teaching the course content.” Although Wright wasn’t majoring in Education, she took Educational Psychology because Connie was teaching it.
More recently, Wright facilitates service projects for new students to visit Connie’s house in Belfast and help her with yard work.
Although she is retired now, Finney is still connected to the Houghton community. Emma Illian ‘27 helped with yardwork her freshman year and has since gotten to know Finney through the church they both attend.
“Connie is one of the most enjoyable, hospitable, and loving people I know,” Illian said. “She has spent her entire life serving others and being the hands and feet of Jesus…She loves this place and the people here deeply.”
Honoring over five decades of involvement with HU, this portrait is a fitting tribute to a woman who has put so much time, energy and love into the Houghton community.★
