Champions for Education

Linda Frank’s (ABEd ’59, TeachCert ’59) mother was a high school biology teacher, and her aunt taught elementary school, “so there was no question in my mind that I would become a teacher,” she recalls. As an education student at the University of Michigan, she enjoyed her classes and completed her student teaching at Pittsfield Elementary School. “It was just so exciting to be living your dream,” she says.

She met Martin Frank (AB ’58), who would become her husband, at a sorority open house. Upon graduating from U-M, the couple moved to New York City, following Martin’s career. Linda got a job teaching second grade in Plainview, Long Island. Over the years, the Franks lived in various cities. Wherever they relocated, Linda taught as a substitute.

Elementary schools have changed a great deal since she was a public school student growing up in Detroit, but she remembers her time as a student fondly, and wishes the same rich educational experience for all young learners.

“To face the challenges of the world we’re living in now, people have to be not just educated, but well educated,” says Linda. “And how are they going to be well educated if they attend schools where the teachers are not qualified?” That’s why she and Martin continue to give to the Marsal Family School of Education. The couple recently established the Linda F. Frank Scholarship to support students who are pursuing teacher education.

Ronald Grabois (BSE ’64, BSEChE ’64) recently established the Sharon Levine Grabois Endowed Scholarship Fund in honor of his late wife, who was known to all as Sherry Levine (AB ’64, TeachCert ’64). The couple graduated together from the University of Michigan in 1964, he with a degree in chemical engineering, and she with a major in Spanish, a minor in history, and a teaching certificate. They soon moved to Akron, Ohio where Ron began his career and Sherry aimed to become a Spanish teacher. Soon she had children, and the family made several other moves before ultimately settling in Houston, Texas, in 1981. Although she never had a classroom of her own, Sherry maintained her lifelong passion for the Spanish language and culture. When her children were older, she became a substitute teacher as she wanted to be home when her kids came home from school. An avid reader, she enjoyed historical mysteries, and—thanks to her voracious reading habit—she was a pro at answering questions while watching “Jeopardy.” Always trying to educate her children, family vacations and weekend getaways were educational; whether it was a trip to Washington, DC, Boston, Texas, or Quebec, there was always an emphasis on the historical background of each place visited. Her children still appreciate those trips and lessons.

Ron and Sherry always had an affinity for the University of Michigan. They were both lifetime members of the Alumni Association. A number of Sherry’s relatives attended the university over the years, including the couple’s daughter, Laurel “Lori” Rubin (MSW ’91). It is the family’s hope that the Sharon Levine Grabois Endowed Scholarship Fund will honor the family’s tradition at the university—and Sherry’s fondness for education—for years to come.

“I went into teaching and I had never written a lesson plan,” recalls Margaret Higley (AB ’67, TeachCert ’67). Armed with an English degree and a teaching certificate, she went into her first teaching job with high hopes for the literary discussions she would lead among her 10th- and 11th-grade students. But the reality of running a classroom proved to be quite different than she had anticipated. Higley found herself completely unprepared. After teaching for a year, and giving birth to her first child, she chose not to return to the profession. Sadly, she says, she has seen too many others face the same frustrations due to lack of thorough training. Still, she has remained passionate about education throughout her life.

Higley now splits her time between Ann Arbor and Punta Gorda, Florida, where she enjoys connecting with fellow U-M alumni and community members at the Florida Seminars. “You go there and it generates such pride that you are part of this wonderful organization,” she says. It was at a seminar that Higley first heard Dean Moje speak about The School at Marygrove and the accompanying Teaching School—which employs a medical residency model of training to support new teachers through their first three years in the classroom—and the innovative approach to preparation appealed to her. Recently, Higley established The Margaret A. Higley Scholarship with the hope that current students at the Marsal School will enter the classroom feeling fully equipped as they embark on a meaningful teaching career. As she considered her gift, she was pleased to be able to participate in the Marsal School’s recently launched Empowering Educators Scholarship Matching Initiative, which will maximize the scholarship’s impact in the years to come. “My feeling is, if you can benefit more people, why not do that?”

As a communications major in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Kathleen (Stewart) Ponitz (ABEd ’86) was drawn to the School of Education for its program in comparative education. Through an exchange with the University of Edinburgh, Ponitz and her roommate spent a semester observing and teaching in a school in Inverness, Scotland. Not only were they the first University of Michigan students to teach in the city, they were also the first Americans.

“It was a life-changing event to be able to teach in that school,” recalls Ponitz who was just 19 at the time. “That one semester forever influenced my love of learning, travel, and community.”

After helping her husband establish his dental practice, and having children, Ponitz completed her degree in 1986, but she graduated at a challenging time to find a teaching job. Instead, she began what would become a 30-year career in communications and marketing in the field of architecture and design. During that time, she also served on numerous boards in the Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan area and nationally, developed and taught leadership programs, and designed a master’s program in marketing for new CEOs for a local university. She credits her training at U-M with teaching her how to bring people together—whether they were clients or students—and instill a sense of curiosity.

Through a planned estate gift, Ponitz recently established the James E. and Kathleen Stewart Ponitz Education Scholarship Fund.

“I’m excited to see the innovative ways that U-M will impact teaching our teachers in the future. There could not be a more important mission, nor a university better equipped to deliver it.”