Getting an education never came easy for Patricia Newby \u201870 \u2014 not as a high schooler in deeply segregated Little Rock, Arkansas, nor as an undergraduate in Southern California, struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was doing my student teaching, I didn\u2019t have the money to pay rent, buy food, pay for transportation \u2014 and I was taking classes,\u201d she said. \u201cI got ill, and I had to stop something. I didn\u2019t want to give up my education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newby received an emergency grant, which helped her graduate with a bachelor\u2019s degree in elementary education from Cal State LA. She then received a master\u2019s degree in education<\/a> from Cal State Long Beach. Over the next four decades, she built an accomplished career in education, including serving as the first female superintendent of Grand Rapids Public Schools in Michigan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe emergency money made a difference, because I didn\u2019t know whether I would graduate or not,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think any student should have to go through that.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by their struggles of paying for college and wanting to keep the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement alive, Patricia and her husband James \u201870 are giving back to CSULB. Their gift has created an endowment that will help fund the Teachers for Urban Schools Initiative<\/a> in the College of Education<\/a> and the Student Emergency Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are those who just can\u2019t get over the line, because of finances,\u201d Patricia said. \u201cAnd we want students to see their value in working in inner city programs and with the underserved.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A step up\u2019<\/p>\n When she was in 11th grade in 1956, Patricia Evans (now Newby) tried to enroll in Central High School in Little Rock. However, she and a handful of other African American students were denied admission \u2014 a clear instance of school segregation when times were changing. Only one year later, the \u201cLittle Rock Nine\u201d gained admission to the school, and Evans helped pave the way.<\/p>\n Patricia Evans, front and center in a white shirt, in a Life magazine photo, published Feb. 6, 1956. A group of African American students met with Superintendent Virgil Blossom of Little Rock School District in January 1956, but were denied entry to Central High School. Photo by John Bisgood, courtesy of Time Inc. Picture Collection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole action of trying to go to Central High School taught me not to accept no,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n