Thanks to a $16 million estate gift for scholarships, scores of high-achieving UO students on the path to becoming public school teachers will be spending less time worrying about debt and more time focused on becoming outstanding educators.
The R.H. and Jane Logan Scholarship program is for students with financial need who seek a degree in education and intend to teach in public schools. The endowment will generate $640,000 annually in scholarships for freshmen and sophomores majoring in pre-education, juniors and seniors majoring in educational foundations (a focus area for elementary education), and graduate students in both the UOTeach licensure program and special education.
Teacher education at the UO
Pre-education is a freshman and sophomore major for students who intend to teach elementary school, but it is not a requirement for the educational foundations major. Educational foundations is for juniors and seniors who intend to teach elementary school and have completed their general education requirements. Most educational foundations graduates enter a K-12 teaching licensure program such as UOTeach, which is a five-term master's program with strands for elementary multiple subjects and middle/high school education, or the master’s degree programs in special education.
“This generous gift will change the trajectory of our teacher education programs,” said Randy Kamphaus, dean of the highly ranked College of Education. “These scholarships will enable us to recruit teacher candidates who represent more diverse linguistic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, are even better qualified academically, and are able to teach in high-need areas such as mathematics and the sciences.”
“Our collaboration with the College of Education helps maximize this scholarship’s impact,” said Vice President for Enrollment Management Roger Thompson. “From my position, and as a parent of two daughters, the importance of quality K-12 teaching is hard to overstate. The Logan Scholarship enables UO students at any stage of their educational journey to envision a meaningful career as a K-12 teacher. In so doing, we help clear the way for our graduates to positively influence the lives of young people in Oregon and around the world.”
Starting in the 2017-18 school year, 90 undergraduate recipients will be chosen by enrollment management and awarded $6,000 each, renewable for as many years as remain in their four-year bachelor’s program. Graduate recipients are already benefitting from the funding; as of 2016-17, 10 graduate awards made annually provide $10,000 each to recipients selected by college department heads. As a requirement of the scholarship, they will establish formal mentorships with undergraduate students and be referred to as Logan Graduate Mentors.
Suzanne Barrientos is a first-year graduate student from Salem and a first-generation college student who is among the first Logan Scholars.
“I am thrilled and thankful to the Logan family for supporting and in turn encouraging me to focus my all on building stronger communities through a life in teaching and education,” she said.
The Logan Scholarship is the result of a planned gift from the late Jane and R.H. “Rock” Logan, San Francisco Bay Area philanthropists who also established similar endowments at his alma mater, Washington State University; Heritage University, also in the state of Washington; and Holy Names College in Oakland, California.
Rock Logan was a founding partner of the Oakland Raiders NFL franchise and a supporter of the San Francisco 49ers. He made his fortune as a builder and developer.
Full details about the Logan Scholarship, including application information, can be found at http://financialaid.uoregon.edu/logan_scholarship.