When Barbara Kerr graduated from UCR, she loved the university. “But I love it even more now,” Kerr said. “Because of the way UCR takes care of its students.” Since a concern for the overall well-being of each student is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the UCR School of Education (SOE), it seems natural that Barbara Kerr would bequest 40% of her estate to the SOE. Her gift specifically designates 10% to the Barbara Kerr Endowed Scholarship, 5% to R’Pantry and 85% of the gift for SOE unrestricted funds, a rare and highly valuable contribution to the academic, social and professional success of SOE students. 

“I know infrastructure is important, and universities need money for buildings,” Kerr said. “But the gift that I am making will provide vital support that will directly support student success.” Amongst the programs that Kerr’s gift will support are the SOE Research and Writing Support Center and the Community Engaged Learning Program. The writing and support center provides one-on-one support and online workshops to help SOE students advance their research and writing skills. The support center goes beyond academics as it also helps students with professional writing, grant writing and applications for graduate school. It is the only support center of its kind on campus, singularly devoted just to students who are pursuing their degree in Education. 

Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is also unique to the SOE. CEL is a degree requirement for each SOE student, requiring 40 hours of community engaged learning before graduation. The CEL team works with each student to identify an opportunity to work and network outside of the classroom in order to connect with the community, develop professional skills and ultimately learn more about their own career ambitions. Amongst the programs where students are placed include RUSD schools, Fight for Autism, Center for Early Childhood Education, Project Access and Coachella Valley Free Clinic. 

“We know we are part of a large, prestigious, state university system and we encourage our students to take advantage of all those big university college experiences,” said Joi A. Spencer, dean of the School of Education. “However, at the SOE, our culture is to nurture and support each student in a way where each student gets the best of both worlds: the resources of a major university but the personal attention of a small college.” 

The gift from Barbara Kerr will allow the SOE to maintain and build upon its small college culture. For instance, the SOE provides Learning Communities for incoming students and even offers its own student programs such as Somos SOE and Welcome Black to the SOE. “We know our school is unique. But so is each and every one of our students. Barbara’s generosity allows us to offer programs that support the whole student, in and out of the classroom and, for that, we are extremely grateful.” said Spencer. 

Kerr acknowledges her life as a teacher as the inspiration for this gift. She worked as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher from 1969 to 1995. She then served as an officer and president of the California Teachers Association, an organization that represents more than 300,000 educators statewide. In 2005, the Los Angeles Times named her the third most powerful person in California. 

“As teachers, we want to be remembered for making the world a better place,” Kerr said. “I can’t think of a better way to extend that memory than to support the continuing success of each student who plans to make the world a better place after earning their degree at the UCR School of Education.” 

***** 

For more information, visit education.ucr.edu