Million Dollar Gift “Raises the Roof” for NSU’s College of Education

Million Dollar Gift Raises the Roof for NSUs College of Education

TAHLEQUAH When Northeastern State Universitys education building was remodeled and the third floor restored earlier this year, college administrators looked at ways to best use the new classroom space. Now, the institutions first $1 million private donationthe largest in NSU historywill provide a reading clinic where young students can overcome reading deficiencies and educators can become better prepared to help them learn to read.

Gregg Wadley, Northeastern class of 1969, and his wife, Dr. Betsy Brackett, pledged the milestone gift in honor of Wadleys mother, Cappitola Cappi Wadley, who passed away in 2005.

We think this will be transformative, Wadley said, following a formal announcement of the gift during NSUs 12th Annual Emerald Ball on Dec. 12. Mother knew that education was the way out of poverty and reading was the foundation of education. Thats why this donation is so important to us.

Speaking to nearly 350 NSU donors and supporters attending the Emerald Ball, NSU President Don Betz commended Wadley and Brackett for perpetuating the legacy of a lifelong educator well-known for her commitment to her students.

This gift will reach into the future and ensure people who are not even born yet will have a place to go and someone there to help them learn to read, Betz said. As a result, they will grow up to be better informed and more well-rounded, productive citizens and will benefit from the work of someone whom they never knew but whose lifes passion was to educate young people.

The pledge made through the NSU Foundation will establish the Cappitola Cappi Wadley Center for Reading and Technology on the third floor of Bagley Hall, which houses the College of Education and will also be used to create two endowed chairs for NSUs reading program, ensuring the regions young people have the resources necessary to improve their reading skills.

The long-term impact on students will be exponential, Wadley noted. The benefits will multiply by the number of teachers who spend time there, learning how to apply techniques that help thousands of children.

Establishing a reading and technology clinic on NSUs main campus in Tahlequah will allow the college to relocate and expand a computer lab and ITV classroom, and replicate elements of a successful new reading clinic on the NSU Broken Arrow campus, according to Dr. Kay Lallier Grant, dean of the College of Education.

Creating an endowment of support to meet reading program needs and providing additional faculty will benefit families of children who have reading difficulties.

Right now some parents have to drive to Tulsa to get special tutoring if a child has reading difficulties, Grant said.

For years it has been our goal to raise the roof at the College of Education, both in terms of bricks and mortar and expanding programs, she noted. The generosity of Gregg Wadley and Dr. Betsy Brackett has made it possible for us to meet our goals and continue the momentum were experiencing at our reading clinic on the Broken Arrow campus. We are honored to be chosen as a way to perpetuate the memory of Cappi Wadley and her dedication to improving the lives of children.

Wadley, whose father was long-time NSU athletic director D.M. Doc Wadley, recalled his mother taking him to the rural school where she taught when he was four or five years old. We would leave early and make the trek in an old, beat-up Chevy. She would stop to pick up kids along the way and one day a little boy who was supposed to be waiting by his mailbox wasn't there. My mother went up to the door and read those parents the riot act. From that day forward, that boy was in school.

Wadley said he and his wife gave careful consideration to how best to continue his mothers life work. We thought about it deeply. The first criteria was that it had to be something that would have made her proud. She loved this University, Tahlequah and eastern Oklahoma.

Brackett described her late mother-in-law, who earned a masters degree from Northeastern in 1955, as a tremendous woman and role model.

She was born in 1916 and earned a bachelors degree and two masters degrees while raising a family. What joy it would have brought her to make something happen here at NSU that would help educate kids and help them to read, Brackett said.

In October, during a reunion of students who attended the former Bagley High School, the education building was rededicated to mark completion of remodeling efforts that restored the third floor and provided a new roof and other infrastructure improvements. Renovations were made possible through bond money approved by the Oklahoma state legislature in 2005.

For more information on how to provide support for NSU programs and activities, contact the NSU Foundation at 918-458-2143 or visit www.nsugiving.com.

12/14/2009

Published: 2009-12-14 00:00:00