Janis Jacobs, vice president and dean for undergraduate education at Penn State, died Friday after years of struggle with breast cancer. She was 51.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said Jacobs will be truly missed at the university.

"She left a very big mark on Penn State, through all the different roles she played," Mahon said. "I've seen her fight the disease as well as anybody could fight."

Jacobs came to Penn State in 1996 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to work in the department of human development and family studies, and the department of psychology.

In 1999, she became Penn State's vice president for administration, and in 2002, the vice provost for undergraduate education. In July, Jacobs took over as vice president and dean of undergraduate education.

Jacobs was diagnosed in the summer of 1996 and entered the hospital last Monday when her condition worsened.

Wayne Osgood, Jacobs' husband and a professor of crime, law and justice and sociology at Penn State, said his wife shined as an administrator.

"She really enjoyed being able to interact with people," Osgood said. "She had a great temperament for being an administrator."

Osgood said his wife loved her job.

"She worked right up to the end," he said. "She worked the day she went to the hospital."

He added that she was able to balance working with her home life.

"It wasn't that she only cared about her work," Osgood said. "She was a terrific wife; she cared the world about me and our daughter."

He said her hobbies included outdoor activities and reading.

"We enjoyed camping and river rafting when we were younger," Osgood said. "Jan was also in a reading group with other women from the university."

Jacobs is also survived by her daughter, Logan Osgood-Jacobs.

Penn State President Graham Spanier said in an e-mail message that Jacobs was one of the most effective administrators and leaders at Penn State.

"She took on a broad range of responsibilities and handled them all superbly," he said. "She was a wonderful colleague, was exceedingly flexible, could master any difficult task and had a great sense of humor."

During her tenure at Penn State, Jacobs served on a wide range of boards, commissions and key university committees, including the President's Council, the Budget Task Force, the Tuition Task Force, the Campus Environment Team and the Joint Committee on Academic Integrity.

Osgood said that Jacobs was proud to be a part of an administration that worked for the students.

"She felt their priorities were really about making a great university," he said.

Jacobs also served on national committees including national advisory boards for the Ad Council, Center for Research on Families and Neighborhoods and the Decision Research Institute, as well as on the editorial boards of several academic journals.

Jacobs earned her Bachelor of Science from Colorado State University in 1977 and her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan in 1983 and 1987. She was the author or co-author of more than 50 publications.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. A reception will follow in the Frizzell Room.

The family requests any contributions be directed to the Janis Jacobs Study Abroad Fund, Office of University Development, 1 Old Main, University Park, PA 16802.