A lifelong teacher and school librarian decided before her death in 2006 to make a final commitment to the world of education, including to the University’s Education School. The estate of University alumna Jane Iris Crutchfield has executed Crutchfield’s wish to donate more than $1 million to both the University’s Education School and the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Crutchfield left these donations in the name of her mother, Janie Gammon Crutchfield, a driving force behind her pursuit of her education, Curry Foundation Executive Director Deb Donnelly said.
Architecture School alumna Mary Kay Lanzillotta, one of Crutchfield’s co-trustees, described her longtime neighbor — known to Lanzillotta and others in their community as “Miss Iris” — as a warm and friendly individual who was “very interested in education and giving back” to the communities of which she was a part.
Crutchfield, a 1952 Education School alumna, taught at Virginia public schools for 19 years before earning a degree in library science from UNC at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, Lanzillotta said. Crutchfield then served as a librarian in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area until her retirement, Lanzillotta said.
“It’s a remarkable gift, given that Ms. Jane Iris was a school teacher and librarian her whole life,” Donnelly said, noting that education professionals are not often able to make such sizable donations.
The majority of the gift to the University of Virginia will go toward financing part of the construction of Bavaro Hall, a building that Donnelly described as the future “face of the Curry School of Education.”
Education School Outreach Coordinator Lynn Bell noted that about $500,000 of the roughly $1.1 million Crutchfield gave to the University will specifically fund the creation of the Janie Gammon Crutchfield faculty suite in the building, pending approval from the Board of Visitors, while the rest of the gift will go toward the general construction of the building. She said the $37.4 million building being constructed next to Ruffner Hall will house faculty while providing common spaces for activities such as student and faculty research. These provisions are expected to provide a greater opportunity for collaboration among faculty and students, Bell said.
José-Marie Griffiths, UNC at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science dean, noted that her institution’s share of the gift is being allocated to the Susan Grey Akers Scholarship Fund. The funds, which have been received by the school during the past year, have accrued enough interest to aid students in the upcoming academic year, Griffiths said, noting that this allocation of additional funds to the scholarship will be particularly helpful, considering the current state of the economy.
Crutchfield’s altruism in the name of her mother raised concerns that Crutchfield might not be remembered in the future, Griffiths said. With this in mind, Griffiths said, the Susan Grey Akers Scholarship will include an homage to one of Crutchfield’s traditions: annual tea parties that will mirror Crutchfield’s own practice of offering the drink to community members as they discussed their lives and educational experiences.
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