June 7 , 2006
Award established at Clark honors famed educator, battles illiteracy
Peter and Nancy Kole, of Ohio, continue aim of history's famed McGuffey Readers
Worcester, Mass. - The Nancy and Peter Kole-William Holmes McGuffey Award was recently established at Clark University to support educational research addressing the problem of illiteracy in the United States.
The award is funded by Mr. and Mrs. Peter C. Kole in honor of educator and philosopher William Holmes McGuffey (1800-1873), whose Peerless Pioneer Readers had a major and far reaching impact on American education.
The Kole-McGuffey Award will be given to a Clark University graduate student who has completed outstanding research in a thesis, dissertation, or project that furthers the battle to improve literacy. The first is expected to be awarded in the 2006-07 academic year.
McGuffey was a professor of ancient languages at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, from 1826 to 1836. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he served as president of Cincinnati College (1836-1839) and Ohio University (1839-1843). He taught at Woodward College until 1845, when he became a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia. His famous McGuffey Readers were first published in 1836 and quickly became some of the most popular and effective educational tools in the United States. According to many published biographies, McGuffey was known as a great philanthropist who enjoyed children. He never prospered from the wildly popular Readers, receiving only $1,000 for his efforts.
Mr. Kole is the founder and president of Paramount Metal Products, in Cleveland, Ohio. His wife, Nancy, is a former teacher and an alumna of Miami University.
Mr. Kole is very active in Albanian affairs. He was the Midwest director of the New England Albanian Relief Organization (NEARO) and was instrumental in their effort to build an English-language library in his ancestral hometown of Pogradec, Albania. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire during later civil unrest. He is also a founding member of the Frosina Information Network (http://www.frosina.org/), a leading source of information and services to the Albanian community. In 2004, the National Albanian American Council honored him with its Lifetime Achievement award (http://www.albania2000.com).
In 1996, Mr. Kole endowed a scholarship fund to aid Clark University students of Albanian origin/descent. He is also an active alumnus with Idaho State University, endowing several scholarships there. In 1998, he was honored with ISU's Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"This is a wonderful enhancement of Clark's commitment to education reform and to making success possible for at-risk populations," Clark President John Bassett said of the Kole-McGuffey Award.