U. Chair honors Phila. educator

An organization has been created that will honor Philadelphia School Superintendent Constance Clayton by endowing a chair of Urban Education in her name. The Clayton Chair, which is being endowed by a group of 18 organizations and individuals, will fund a professor's teaching and researching of student achievement and policy issues affecting urban education. Normally, a professorial chair is sponsored by one person or corporation, but the Clayton Chair will be endowed by the largest group ever to do so at the University. "The very nature of this endowed chair made it attractive to a broad range of donors," Gloria Twine Chisum, chairperson of the Graduate School of Education's Board of Overseers and a University Trustee, said in a statement. "This endowment makes a strong statement about need for focused efforts to solve the problems of urban schools locally and nationally," she added. Clayton's work in this area is what the committee seeks to honor, the release states. A chair must have half of the $1.25 million needed, in cash, in order to start looking for professors to fill the position, Director of Development Stephanie Kallen said yesterday. At this point, the group has $491,250 in payments and $354,500 in pledges, she added. The committee expects to have enough money to look for a professor by May. "We're confident that we will have enough funding to start a search for the chair by Commencement 1993," Kallen said. Since graduating from the Graduate School of Education, Clayton has received 15 honorary doctorates. She became the Superintendent of Schools in 1982. Clayton has also helped create the Collaborative for West Philadelphia Public Schools in 1986, which coordinates programs for the improvement of inner city schools. Administrators credited Clayton with helping to create a bond between the University and Philadelphia public schools. "The sense of shared commitment between Penn and the school district to helping Philadelphia's students would not have been possible without the vision and dedication of Superintendent Clayton," President Sheldon Hackney said in a statement.