Former dean launches graduate fellowship for practicing teachers seeking advanced degree

As a parting gift to the UK College of Education, former dean Shirley C. Raines established an endowed fellowship for teachers seeking to earn their graduate degrees. Her contribution was one of the last acts Raines made as dean of the College of Education and vice chancellor for academic services for the Lexington Campus. Raines left UK in July to become president of the University of Memphis in Tennessee.

President Raines served five years as the seventh dean of the College of Education and four years as vice chancellor. Her leadership made an indelible mark on the college as it positioned itself as a leader in implementing Kentucky education reforms. During her tenure, the college acquired its first ever endowed chair and its first endowed professorship.

Raines is the author of nine books related to early childhood and primary education as well as a former primary school teacher herself. Her first love has always been teaching which makes the endowment she established all the more appropriate. The Shirley C. Raines Endowed Graduate Fellowship for Teachers provides support for teachers seeking an advanced degree in any of the college’s six academic departments. The fellowship is available to any P-12 classroom teacher seeking full-time or part-time graduate study in the College of Education.

The Raines fellowship will help teachers achieve their academic goals and improve on their instruction. The college’s fellowship committee will award the fellowship to those eligible teachers who demonstrate outstanding potential for academic and professional success.

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