School of Education

EDUCATORS IMPACTING THE WORLD

Advancing teaching, learning and service in Mississippi and beyond.

The vision of the School of Education is nothing short of changing the future of Mississippi and beyond. As the largest producer of classroom teachers, school administrators, school counselors, inclusive educators, and higher education professionals in Mississippi, our faculty, graduates and students have an exponential impact now and ever.

By increasing support for scholarships, fellowships, faculty, innovative programs, and expansion of our national models for early childhood education, Now and Ever: The Campaign for Ole Miss – with your support – will create a brighter future for children, families, our communities, Mississippi and the world.

Give to the School of Education

Kelly N. Smith Marion

Director of Development, School of Education

(662) 915-2007

ksmith13@olemiss.edu

Jacob Ferguson

Development Associate, School of Education

662-915-2836

jacobf@olemiss.edu

Campaign Priorities

GROW EDUCATORS WHO TRANSFORM LIVES

Our innovative scholarship and fellowship programs are building the pipeline of diverse and talented educators for Mississippi, developing leaders for our public schools and attracting new populations to teaching, especially underrepresented men.

With your support, now and ever we can:

Increase the number of educators dedicated to teaching in Mississippi schools and continue to build a national model for teacher preparation and retention through the growth of our premier scholarship program – the Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program. This important initiative attracts high-achieving students, reduces financial barriers to success, has a 92% retention rate, and produces new teachers who commit to teach in Mississippi public schools for five years.
Make careers in education more accessible to community college transfer students with increased funding for the new Transfer to Teach program. Your support will also grow a pipeline of educators committed to serving in Mississippi public schools for at least three years following graduation.
Transform classroom teachers into K-12 leaders who are equipped to guide children, teachers and schools to success by growing our Principal Corps. Your support will allow more leaders to graduate and fulfill their commitment to work in Mississippi schools for at least 5 years after graduation.

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Faculty Support

Beyond educating graduates who power the classrooms, curriculum, and educational technology of the entire region, our dynamic and diverse faculty advance knowledge nationally through the dissemination of data and scholarship, spur professional development at all levels of education, and attract promising students from diverse backgrounds.

To attract and retain a diverse and much sought-after superior faculty – to literally assemble the best, most innovative faculty in the nation, we must build the resources to secure a competitive edge over universities with far greater resources. Named professorships and endowed chairs will allow us to offer competitive salaries, as well as travel and research funds to compete with other flagship SEC schools with greater endowments, as well as with the most-respected universities across the country.

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EXPAND NATIONAL MODELS FOR CLOSING ACHIEVEMENT GAPS AND MORE

Our Centers of Excellence and Special Initiatives make direct and lasting impacts in the local community, state, and nation and provide important research that guides the advancement of education. Many of our initiatives focus on the issues at home in Mississippi, because we know that what we accomplish in Mississippi is a model for the nation and the world.

For example, we know that children who enter school prepared need fewer special education services. They also have more positive attitudes toward school, a greater likelihood of graduating high school and greater potential for securing meaningful employment later in life. However, two thirds of Mississippi children are considered unprepared to enter kindergarten which can create a ripple effect of negative outcomes.

Your support can strengthen programs that address today’s early childhood education needs and create new solutions for setting tomorrow’s students on a path to success including:

Growing Healthy Minds, Bodies, and Communities, founded in 2018, brings innovative and integrated curriculum, community outreach and engagement, and parental involvement to North MS and Sunflower County. To date, help 700+ preschool children have prepared for school and improved their overall well-being (social, emotional, physical, intellectual).
Willie Price Lab School, a national model for innovation pre-school education, provides an important service to the surrounding community and a real-life laboratory for our students and faculty in the School of Education and across the campus. Support is needed to move the School to the South Oxford Campus to ignite the power of collaboration with other campus programs such as nutrition and speech pathology; add more modern facilities that encourage wellness and learning; give all children in the region with special needs access to the school; and create one of the happiest places on campus. Additional support could help replicate the Lab School at other locations such as the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Now and Ever: The Campaign for Ole Miss will also build a stronger pipeline of educators and counselors for children with special needs, expand our expertise in literacy instruction, and improve math and science education. With your support for professorships, graduate assistants, stipends and scholarships we will grow degree programs and centers including:

Applied Behavior Analysis
Counselor Education Clinic
Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction
Center for Math and Science Education

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ACCELERATE THE IMPACT AND ELEVATE THE PROMINENCE OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity exists to change the future for generations of teachers, educational leaders, and higher education professionals while affirming the important role of education to the world. The most impactful gift – one that will resonate nationwide, affirm Ole Miss’s well-earned reputation among the top Schools of Education in the SEC, and assure its ascendency into the top-ranked schools of education in the country – will be the naming of the School of Education.

The surety of attracting nationally renowned faculty, the ability to establish robustly funded flagship programs, and the dream to financially lift-up the most talented students from Mississippi and around the country, will be possible and enduring. Naming of the School of Education will lift aspirations and create brighter futures now and ever.

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School of Education Stories

Supporting Future Mississippi Teachers

A thank you note from a scholarship recipient inspired University of Mississippi alumni Phil and Emily Bailey to create a scholarship to support future teachers.

The Phillip J. and Emily G. Bailey Education Scholarship will support entering freshmen in the School of Education who intend to teach in Mississippi following graduation. Recipients may retain the $1,000 annual scholarship for up to eight semesters. Keep Reading