A University of Georgia alumni couple has established a teacher education scholarship fund to assist future teachers from underrepresented populations.
Johnny Sanders Jr. and Rubye Coleman-Sanders, who both received doctoral degrees from the UGA College of Education, created the scholarship fund to help underrepresented college students at UGA who aspire to teach in communities that struggle to retain high quality teachers. The Sanders couple sees the scholarship as a way to give back to the UGA College of Education while also helping to advance the careers of current students.
"We worked in higher education, and we know how difficult it is, especially now, for students to come up with the money to go to school. We wanted to pay it forward," said Sanders. "We instilled in our son the same values our parents instilled in us-to try and achieve at your highest level, and then give back."
In the UGA College of Education, nearly half of the undergraduate students struggle with financing their own education. Students worry about paying for tuition and other financial fees such as housing and transportation.
"We are humbled by the commitment that Johnny and Rubye have shown to future educators coming to the College of Education," said Craig H. Kennedy, dean of the college. "This scholarship will change the lives of the students it will serve."
Sanders was an educator at the high school and college-level for 33 years. As a professor of counseling and development in the College of Education, he was the first African-American man to become a full tenured professor. At Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Sanders was the first counselor educator to receive the South Carolina Counseling Association's Counselor Educator of the Year award. He retired as a professor emeritus from Winthrop in 2008.
Coleman-Sanders, who specialized in both business and education, spent 30 years in higher education. At Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina, she became the first African-American woman to become a full tenured professor.
The UGA alumni couple want to use their financial gift to change the lives of students taught at UGA as well as the future students of those pursuing education degrees.