Two new endowments are expanding the UW College of Education’s capacity to prepare and sustain teachers throughout their careers. A $1-million gift from Kerry and Linda Killinger establishes the Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies and an as-yet unnamed professorship in education.
The Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies supports faculty and students working in the Center for Multicultural Education. The Killinger professorship provides support for attracting and retaining outstanding faculty. Both activities are top priorities for Transforming Learning, the College of Education’s fund-raising campaign. Kerry and Linda Killinger co-chair the campaign, which is part of Campaign UW: Creating Futures, the University-wide initiative to raise $2 billion in private support. By specifying their campaign contribution to be used for endowments, the Killingers qualified for the UW Matching Initiative, a program that matches gifts for endowments on a one-to-two basis.
Professor James A. Banks, founder of the Center for Multicultural Education, will be the first holder of the Killinger Chair. Banks’ scholarship and research activities examine the impact of cultural influences on race relations and educational equality. His commitment to racial equality grew from his personal experience with segregation as a child in the Arkansas Delta in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Center for Multicultural Education, he says, is a manifestation of his ongoing quest for social justice.
The Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies is also supported by gifts from Washington Mutual—which Kerry Killinger heads as chairman and CEO—and from former Seattle Mayor Norman B. Rice, ’72, and his wife, Constance Rice, ’70; and from Carver Gayton, ’60, ’72, ’76. Kerry Killinger also serves as a member of the UW Business School Advisory Committee, and Linda Killinger is a member of the UW Foundation Board.