$1.2M gift funds Education professorship

A $1.2 million gift in support of the Make It Real Campaign for VCU will be used to create the Anna Lou Schaberg Professorship of Practice in Education. The new faculty position in the School of Education will concentrate on the theory and implementation of pedagogical practices that can transform a classroom, a school and a child’s education.

The gift from The Bob and Anna Lou Schaberg Fund at the Virginia Nonprofit Housing Coalition is the largest single donation in the history of the School of Education and will create the school’s first distinguished endowed professorship.

“My hope is that the professor of practice will prepare teachers not only to manage classrooms and instructional objectives, but to engage students in the learning and thinking process,” Anna Lou Schaberg (B.S.’66/H&S; M.Ed.’70/E) says.

Schaberg worked with Richmond Public Schools for 29 years, notably coordinating programs for gifted students from 1977 to 2000.

“I remember my first week as a teacher. It was one of the scariest times of my life,” she said. “[The goal of this professor of practice] will be to prepare teachers for not just their first day in the classroom but also for their fifth year, so that they are still enthusiastic and excited about teaching.”

Since her retirement in 2000, Schaberg has served as executive director of The Bob and Anna Lou Schaberg Fund at VNHC. The fund supports nonprofit organizations and institutions that successfully help vulnerable populations become stable and thriving. Her husband, Bob Schaberg, created the fund and manages its finances. While it began on a small scale, it now supports numerous organizations in greater Richmond with grant, gift and capacity-building programs.

The Anna Lou Schaberg Professor of Practice in Education will join the School of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning in 2019.

A version of this article was previously published by VCU News.

To learn more about the School of Education, contact Ed Kardos, senior director of development, at (804) 828-4692 or egkardos@vcu.edu