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College of Education
Dean Richard Andrews calls the gift a “vote of confidence”
in MU’s work to create a school culture focused on
improving student performance. Photo by Rob Hill
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Education
Receives
$2 Million Gift
By Jeremy Diener
The University of Missouri-Columbia announced
today the largest gift ever bestowed upon the College
of Education. The $2 million gift, made by Harold and Joanne
Hook, establishes the first endowed dean’s chair in the
history of MU along with a new center that will further position
the college as an innovator in fostering cutting-edge approaches
for Missouri public schools.
“It’s a real statement and vote
of confidence from Harold and Joanne about what we’re doing
here in the college in helping the educational enterprise transform
its focus from maintaining existing order to creating a culture
focused solely on improving student performance,” said Richard
Andrews, dean of the College of Education.
The first component of the gift is $1.1 million
to establish the Joanne Hook Dean’s Chair in Educational
Renewal. This represents the first endowed dean’s chair
in the history of MU, and places the University among just a handful
of public comprehensive universities in the nation that have endowed
deanships. The chair will provide the energizing force to bring
together all crucial personnel (teachers, leaders, school psychologists
and others) to improve student performance. Andrews will serve
as the first Chair.
Harold Hook, BS BA ’53,
M Acc ’54, is a recognized leader in innovative management
techniques. His wife, Joanne, earned her bachelor’s
degree in education at MU in 1955. Photo by Steve Morse
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Andrews has made the college a national leader
in educational renewal, a concept that places an emphasis on improving
the way colleges of education educate and develop teachers, who
then go out and create better learning environments for children.
To help further this focus, the second component
of the gift is $900,000 to establish the Hook Center for Educational
Leadership and District Renewal. One of the goals of the center
will be to develop assessment tools based on examples in management
systems such as “Model-Netics,”
which was created by Hook and responsible for helping revive the
ailing Houston public school system in Houston, Texas.
“The center allows our department to
focus on preparation of leaders for schools,” Andrews said.
“It will be important because these ideas were just now
beginning to spread into the educational enterprise. There is
a wealth of information that suggests administrators aren’t
introduced to this type of thinking through their formal education.”
Harold Hook, BS BA, ’53, M Acc, ’54,
founder and president of Main
Event Management, a management consulting firm, is a recognized
leader in innovative management techniques. His wife, Joanne,
earned her bachelor’s degree in education from MU in 1955.
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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