UA Little Rock Dedicates Pauline Graves Wyatt Education Classroom
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has dedicated an education classroom that was named in honor of a UA Little Rock alumna and longtime educator who spent her career helping second graders accelerate at reading.
The classroom in the UA Little Rock School of Education is named in memory of Pauline Graves Wyatt, who served as an elementary school educator in Pulaski County Special School District for more than 30 years.
Wyatt’s daughter, Dr. Paula Wyatt Morris, who is also an alumna of UA Little Rock and a member of the UA Little Rock Heritage Society, gave a donation that was used to update technology and materials for hands-on learning in the classroom. Additionally, the gift will create an endowed scholarship in Wyatt’s name that will provide scholarships for education students at UA Little Rock.
“My mother was the epitome of the ‘nontraditional’ student,” Morris said. “She attended college at night, on weekends, and in the summer sessions while she worked full time and raised a family. Often it was quite a struggle. Hopefully, this scholarship will make the road easier for the students that receive it.”
Wyatt graduated from UA Little Rock’s predecessor, Little Rock University, in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She earned her degree while working full-time and raising a family and is similar to many of today’s nontraditional students who sacrifice a lot to go back to school.
“Many of our graduates have persevered financially to earn their degree, so you are truly helping put skilled teachers into the classroom sooner,” said Dr. Rachel Eells, Windgate Endowed Director of the School of Education. “I’m sure there are students who would have been excellent teachers, but who faced barriers to the completion of their degrees. I know your mom worked double-duty to earn her degree, and 30 years of second grade students benefited from her doing so. You can imagine that the need for day-one ready educators is even greater today.”
Dr. Sarah Beth Estes, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, remarked that UA Little Rock’s goal to educate and equip the next generation of impactful educators remains as strong today as it was when Wyatt received her diploma from this program.
“In higher education, we are all keenly aware of our mission: to educate the leaders and workforce of tomorrow,” Estes said. “In the School of Education, our responsibility is even more profound. Not only are we shaping future teachers, we also impact the young minds they will educate. We take that responsibility very seriously, knowing that a student’s success begins with a skilled educator. We all certainly appreciate your mother’s (Wyatt’s) fierce dedication to literacy, and that remains a top priority for us as well.”
Inside the J. Pauline Graves Wyatt Classroom in Education, a space that is dedicated to Wyatt’s honor contains a portrait of Wyatt along with a child’s chair that was once a part of Wyatt’s reading circle.
“It is my hope that in honoring my mother through this scholarship, students in the School of Education will be able to follow in her footsteps,” Morris said. “She strove for excellence as a student and as a teacher. Her belief that reading was the basis for all learning continues to be true. As new teachers in training pass through her named classroom and see the little reading circle chair, I hope that this concept will be instilled in their approach to classroom teaching.”
For 30 years, the reading circle is where Wyatt engaged young minds, sparked her students’ imaginations, and worked to foster a lifelong love of learning. Wyatt’s family donated the chair to encourage future educators to keep literacy and the love of reading at the forefront of their own careers for the benefit of the students whose lives they will impact.
“She incorporated reading into every subject and held two reading classes with every student every day,” UA Little Rock Provost Ann Bain said. “Her goal was to ensure that every one of her students was reading at grade level by the end of the year. That was no small feat. Equally important, Mrs. Wyatt hoped that she had fostered in her students a love of reading at the same time. Thank you, Dr. Morris, for your investment in our students, mirroring the commitment your mother made to hers.”
