O'Leary graduated from Fisk University, a historically Black institution, with a bachelor's degree, laying the foundation for her legal and public service career.
Around June 1959, Hazel R. O'Leary completed her undergraduate studies at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the nation's most prestigious historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). While the exact commencement date is not documented in available sources, spring graduations at Fisk traditionally occurred in late May or early June, making this an approximate date.
Fisk University had a long tradition of educating Black leaders, and O'Leary's time there placed her among a network of alumni who went on to shape American civil rights, academia, and public life. Her education at Fisk instilled in her both academic rigor and a strong sense of racial identity and purpose that would inform her later career in law and public service.
This achievement is particularly significant in retrospect: decades later, O'Leary would return to Fisk not as a student but as its president, making her educational journey come full circle. Her undergraduate years at Fisk represent the first major stepping stone toward a career that would eventually place her at the highest levels of the U.S. federal government.