Eunice B. Ordman Scholarship Fund

To meet Eunice Ordman is to meet the face of determination. She is determined to make the world a better place for others and has spent her life giving back in more ways than one, including providing this scholarship. She began her college teaching career teaching physics at the University of Idaho in 1946.  She raised five children of her own plus step and foster children. Being a mother often meant she had to put her career on hold or step back to part-time work, but she always returned to teaching. She eventually retired in 1987 from the University of Memphis where she taught mathematics and computer science.  After retirement Mrs. Ordman pursued teaching experiences overseas, some of which were volunteer positions without compensation. Since 1988 she has also regularly audited courses at the University of Memphis, including courses in the College of Education. Mrs. Ordman has become deeply concerned about the number of primary school students who lack a father in the home, an employed father, or other successful male role models. Her hope is to attract more men to a career in primary school education, thereby increasing the number of male teacher role models that interact with these young children on a daily basis. Demonstrating to these pupils that being a successful, respected male who achieved his position because of a good education can have an important life-long effect. Mrs. Ordman strongly believes in personal contact and created her scholarships at the University of Memphis not only because of her own affiliation with the University, but because she felt it could successfully recruit under-represented student candidates with a serious plan of becoming primary school teachers, rather than, for example, administrators. Awarding these scholarships locally also means that she might be able to personally meet the scholarship recipients, encourage them during their studies and follow them later during their teaching careers.