WESTBROOK – A Bangor community leader was one of four women honored Tuesday by the University of New England.

Elizabeth Carter Warren received the Deborah Morton Award Tuesday at a ceremony on the university’s Westbrook campus. She was honored for her 10 years of service on the board of trustees for Westbrook College, which merged with UNE in 1996, and her volunteer activities in Bangor.

Warren, a Caribou native and the wife of Bangor Daily News publisher Richard J. Warren, received her Associate of Arts degree from Westbrook College in 1968. She served as a trustee for her alma mater from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1991 to 1994.

Warren serves on the boards of Eastern Maine Medical Center and Merrill Merchants Bank, both in Bangor. She also is actively involved with Bangor Theological Seminary, serving on its capital campaign steering committee.

She is a strong advocate for sign language and organizations that support the disabled. Other 2006 Morton awardees included:

. Bridget D. Healy of Freeport, program coordinator for the Baxter Society and a member of the Maine Women Writers Collection Advisory Board.

. Theodora J. Kalikow of Farmington, president of the University of Maine at Farmington since 1994.

. Grace A. Valenzuela of Portland, the assistant superintendent for multicultural affairs in the Portland Public Schools.

The Deborah Morton Awards are presented each year by the trustees of UNE to outstanding women who have achieved high distinction in their careers and public service or whose leadership in civic, cultural or social causes has been exceptional.

The award was named in memory of Deborah Morton of Round Pond. Morton, the valedictorian of the 1879 class of the Westbrook Seminary, the forerunner of the college, was a teacher, dean, linguist, historian and prominent Portland civic leader whose service to Westbrook College spanned more than 60 years.

Since 1961, more than 150 women have been honored with the award. It first was given in 1961 at Westbrook College.