BOONE—A $100,000 commitment from the Anne Cannon Trust will help students from under-represented populations pursue a degree in education at Appalachian State University.

The Anne Cannon Scholars Program in Appalachian’s Reich College of Education will award 20 scholarships a year for the next four years, ranging from $1,200 to $2,000.

The first awards will be made this fall to five incoming freshmen, and five rising sophomores, juniors and seniors. The awards will go to under-represented groups and students with financial need.

The trust was created by the late Anne Cannon Forsyth who died in 2003. The Anne Cannon Scholars Program honors the philanthropist’s life’s work of providing educational opportunities for minority students.

Anne Cannon Forsyth was the daughter of Z. Smith Reynolds and a granddaughter of R.J. Reynolds. During her lifetime, she focused her attention on the problems of poverty and racism in the South. She was a founder and later president of the North Carolina Fund, created after Gov. Terry Sanford urged the state’s citizens to join the “war on poverty.”

Forsyth also created the Stauffer Foundation, in honor of her mother, which sent more than 100 minority students to prestigious southern private academies. She also created the Awards Committee for Education (ACE). ACE provided scholarships for summer programs to high school students from Appalachia and those who were African American and Native American who scored in the top 1 and 2 percentiles on the California Achievement Test.

“My mother always championed the under-represented population,” said Zach Tate, Forsyth’s son and executive director of the Anne Cannon Trust. “My wife, Linda, and I wish to honor my mother’s interests with the trust she established. We knew of the need to increase the number of teachers in the public schools, and Appalachian’s efforts to address the growing shortage of teachers. This seemed like a way to encourage under-represented students to attend Appalachian.”

Tate earned an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in business administration from Appalachian. He grew up in Blowing Rock and Winston-Salem. The Tates are associate brokers with Blowing Rock Realty.

There is a growing gap between the numbers of teachers and students from under-represented groups in the public schools, according to Dr. Charles Duke, dean of the Reich College of Education.

“It’s a challenge nationwide to attract minorities into the teaching profession and keep pace with changing demographics in the public schools,” said Duke. “Financial aid of this sort could have a significant impact on our success attracting more under-represented students to Appalachian’s teaching program and addressing the shortage of minority teachers in the schools.”

Duke said about 40 percent of the student population in N.C. public schools is comprised of minorities; the teaching force is only about 14 percent minorities.

“We are particularly pleased that this fund is set up so that it not only is available to freshmen, but sophomores, juniors and seniors as well, which makes it possible to provide for students to continue to receive financial aid as they move through the program,” Duke said.

Approximately 4 percent of education majors at Appalachian are from under-represented populations. Approximately 10 percent of the total student body is comprised of under-represented groups, including African-American, Hispanic and Asian students.

The Reich College of Education and the university’s diversity program have pledged up to $24,000 in scholarship and faculty development support to establish mentoring and academic and social support workshops for students receiving the award. The college also will conduct faculty development activities related to diversity and create teaching and learning environments that address the needs and interests of students from under-represented groups.

Photo Caption: A $100,000 commitment from the Anne Cannon Trust to the Appalachian State University Foundation will help students from under-represented populations earn a degree in education. Zach Tate, third from left, is executive director of the Anne Cannon Trust and son of the late Anne Cannon Forsyth. Also pictured are, from left, Dr. Harry Williams, associate vice chancellor for diversity; Dolly Bandura Farrell, fundraiser for the Reich College of Education; Tate and wife Linda Tate; and Dr. Charles Duke, dean of the Reich College of Education. (Appalachian photo by University Photographer Mike Rominger)

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