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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
NEWS
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ington was still segregated in the 1950s y-Little was growing up there. In spite he said, the only time she really experi- regation was when she left the neigh- She said she didn't have one particular to share showing that segregation dur-ildhood really affected her choices in
on growing up and the difficulties she orden an education reveals something personality and how she approaches and challenges. She said certain things did be considered challenges in retro- not at first.
"They want to a scholar Pennsylvanum," Gra
could say it was a challenge to leave a in North Carolina and get a college at a time when I came from a small and my parents were not able to contrib- ing to my education," Gray-Little said. It consider that a challenge, but at the is just something that you worked on done. It's hard for me to pull things out because at the time I didn't experience challenge."
Gray-Li from Wash uate degrition in Per
tittle attended an all girls Catholic here nuns served as teachers, from to her senior year of high school. Herray, remembered her intelligence and nuns took notice when the subject of me about. Without scholarships, Grayidn't have been able to afford college I have been limited to working a blue-eyed entering a convent, Gray said.
said, 'Bernadette, you're bright. If you get an education we could get you ship at Marywood up in Scranton,onia and you don't have to become a said.
little received scholarships and movedington to Scranton for her undergraduate in psychology. She said the segregansylvania was not the same as it was
growing up in Washington. Segregation in terms of stores and other public places was not there, but in terms of neighborhoods it still was.
From Marywood University she went to St Louis University in St. Louis, Mo. for her master's and doctorate in clinical psychology.
After that, she was offered a few professorships, including one at the University and at UNC. She took the position at UNC in 1971 as a professor of psychology and has been moving up in rank there ever since.
LIFE AT UNC
Her office didn't reveal she was in the process of moving. Excellently clean, barely anything covering her desk, with a single packing box in the middle of it.
"She ran a university and she would run the University of Kansas with such order and precision that shed have ten pieces of paper on her desk," Gray said. "Just ten. Just ten."
the Office of Univ
ior Robert Hema
Working as provost, Gray-Little's latest job at UNC, meant she was in charge of personnel and money. One would expect her office to be filled with clutter from all the responsibilities that fall under that, but it was so well kempt it looked like an office from a model home.
While at UNC, Gray-Little accomplished much as she worked her way up the academic totem pole.
Starting out as a professor, she later ran departments, served as the executive associate provost, a dean and the executive vice chancellor and provost.
Karen Gil, dean of the college of arts and sciences at UNC, spoke highly of the work Gray-Little had done and said she thought Gray-Little accomplished a lot in every position she held.
Gray-Little spearheaded two prominent programs in 1999 when she was senior associate dean for undergraduate education.
"Some of these programs were her legacy here at North Carolina," Gil said.
One was the office of undergraduate research, where undergraduates were encouraged to use UNC as a research institution. Undergraduates prepared works focused on pressing issues locally, nationally and internationally. This was a focus of Gray-Little's at UNC, and may be at the University as well, as she has made references to increasing research here.
The other program she started was a first-year seminar that all freshmen were required to take. A class of about 20 students met with a professor and studied that professor's expertise. Gil, for instance, taught a class on stress management, her area of expertise, to 20 freshmen who found the subject interesting. The idea behind the seminar was not only to encourage freshmen to learn about things that interested them, but also to build substantial relationships with professors in a close environment.
She made it a point to have undergraduates understand what research is and how it can be conducted.
HOME LIFE
Shade grew up in Washington as well, and was called a math genius by several people in Chapel Hill. At the moment, he doesn't plan on teaching at the University when the couple arrives, but Gray-Little said he wouldn't be sitting still for too long.
Mark is doing postdoctoral work at Duke and is a consultant for the business school at UNC. Maura just finished her master's in fine arts at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is also a choreographer and runs a dance company and is planning to relocate her dance company to Kansas.
Gray-Little has two children, Mark Little and Maura Garcia, and a husband, Shade Little.
From what Mark said, his mother and father are quite different from one another.
"He's been banned from thrift stores." Mark said. "No going to them in Kansas."
Mark said his mother preferred very nice things, while Shade enjoyed things purchased in thrift stores. He said that she was style conscious, didn't go to thrift stores and dressed well — her shoes and jewelry go together.
Though she and Shade are different, Mark said he thought it was complimentary rather than problematic.
Gray-Little, even at home, is quiet. But Mark said that even with the contemplative side her colleagues describe, she's actually a bit silly, Gray-Little and Shade didn't allow TV in their house on weekdays for the kids. If Mark ever had on a silly movie or TV show she'd tell him to turn it off, but would still laugh at it.
"People have a list of adjectives to describe her," Mark said. "In our home context the first thing that comes to mind, she's a very silly person. None of those people would use that word; it wouldn't come to mind."
In comparison, Shade is said to be someone who likes to speak his mind.
"My father is very loud." Mark said. "I used to run track. You can't hear anything, but I could always hear my father yelling 'Run!' because he's so loud. It's like night and day."
Gray, her brother, doesn't remember too much about growing up with Gray-Little. She went off to her first year in college when he was in first or second grade, though he does remember meeting Shade for the first time when Gray was in his early teens.
"I was easily bought off," Gray said. "He bought me off with a quart of milk."
Visit Kansan.com to read the rest of the in-depth story on Bernadette Gray-Little.
iversity Relations
Courtesy of the Office of University Relations
Incoming Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little greets Chris Reine, a 2009 KU graduate, at a press conference.
Courtesy of the Office of University Relations
Incoming Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little leaves after a press conference.