Peabody Makes a Difference
I am pleased to receive the Reflector and read the cover article, “Ahead of the Pack,” with personal interest. I began studies in 1978 and earned my Ed.D. in 1984. My diploma reads “From George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.” I believe it was the first year of the merger. Some time in 1977 three of us in East Maine District 63, located in suburban Chicago, began meeting in the school district with Art Silverman, dean and professor of policy study and educational leadership at Peabody, to establish the first cohort group to begin doctoral studies in the Chicago area (off-campus, but with an “on-campus” degree). This may possibly have been the first program of this kind for Peabody. Initiators included Lenore Page (now deceased) and me, and our superintendent Alan Gogo. Lenore and I began our studies with about 30 others in the fall of 1978 at the District 63 Administration Center. I am thankful and grateful for the confluence of people and events that gave me the opportunity to work with consummate professionals who were highly prepared in their field, dedicated to students, and kind, supportive and generous with their time despite having to travel back and forth between Nashville and Chicago. I am pleased to say that my time and experiences with the people at Peabody made a difference in my life and hopefully by extension, the lives of many others during my time as superintendent of schools in four systems during the ’80s and ’90s. I am proud of Peabody’s commitment to innovation and continued development of our professional practice along with the politics involved in educational leadership.
Cesare Caldarelli, EdD’84
Peoria, Arizona
Veterans Village Memories
As I thumbed through the Peabody Reflector Fall 2012 issue I stopped on page 21. The picture of Veterans Village brought back a multitude of memories. My parents and I lived in one of those “prefabricated apartments” when I was 4 to 6 years of age. I attended the nursery/kindergarten mentioned in the photo caption and then attended first grade at Peabody Demonstration School. As I turned to page 22 and saw the interior view picture I was overcome by the memory of my father sitting on a couch just as the man in the picture is, but what was lacking in the picture was the little blond girl who sat in his lap and listened as he read his assignments out loud to me. The GI Bill supported my father’s graduate studies in geography. He then taught in higher education in seven states, including 26 years at the University of Central Oklahoma. Upon my return to the Peabody Campus in 1969, I recall taking a “memory walk” across campus and thinking of those Veterans Village days—the movies and concerts on the lawn of the Social Religious Building, playing on the playground at the nursery/kindergarten and learning what the iris means to Peabody. Thank you for the memories of my days on the Peabody campus and of the man who introduced me to life in higher education—it is a wonderful life.
Annelle R. Huggins, MLS’70
Memphis, Tenn.
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