Education Diversity

The Cannon-Clary College of Education is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment for students of all backgrounds to feel supported in order to encourage them to do the same for the students in their own future classrooms.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s 2016 study focusing on race, ethnicity and inclusion in higher education (pdf), campus leadership and a diverse faculty make a significant impact in achieving inclusiveness in higher education institutions. In the same study, students reported the importance of seeing themselves reflected in the faculty and curriculum of their institution because it fosters a sense of belonging and inclusiveness.

In addition to cultivating inclusiveness, there is an increasing need for education majors among students of underrepresented populations in order to bridge the gap between the growing minority student population of America's schools and the shortage of diverse faculty of the schools. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2018 study, America’s public school teachers are far less racially and ethnically diverse than their students. Racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 20% of all public elementary and secondary school teachers in the United States during the 2015-16 school year. By comparison, 51% of all public elementary and secondary school students were nonwhite in 2015-16.

Thelma Fae Smith Diversity in Education Scholarship

In 2011, the Diversity in Education Scholarship was created to attract and financially support students from underrepresented populations who plan to become teachers and have been admitted to the teacher education program. The scholarship was renamed in fall 2021 after the first African American woman to receive her master's degree from the Harding University College of Education, Mrs. Thelma Fae Smith.

The qualifications for the Diversity in Education scholarship are as follows:

• Self-identified as a member of an underrepresented population as defined by federal guidelines
• Demonstrate full financial need based on the Federal Pell Grant guidelines.
• A full-time student status
• Accepted to the Teacher Education Program
• Demonstrate scholarship, a reputation for honesty and hard work, good character, life goals, diligence, demonstrated capability and financial need
• Special consideration will be given to applicants who aspire to work with underrepresented populations

For more information about the Diversity in Education scholarship please contact Dr. Carol Douglass, COE-DiversityCommittee@harding.edu.

If you would like to contribute to the Thelma Fae Smith Diversity in Education Scholarship to help underrepresented students, please see our Give Now page.

Diversity Committee

The Diversity Committee was established in 2005 with the intent to increase diversity among students and faculty in the College of Education. Initiatives by the committee actively aim to attract more members of underrepresented populations to major in education and become teachers in classrooms across the globe.

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front on the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” —Revelation 7:9