Scholar-in-Residence Tom Hoerr and his, wife Karleen, a fellow UMSL alum, are making a donation to support the College of Education and the Transform UMSL initiative. (Photo courtesy of University Advancement)

By Melissa Landry, University Advancement

As the University of Missouri–St. Louis continues its efforts to transform lives, it has embarked on a mission to transform the campus as well, ensuring that future generations of students have access to the resources they need to succeed.

But it isn’t just members of leadership who have helped make this vision a reality; it is members of the community who have helped lead the charge to Transform UMSL.

Tom and Karleen Hoerr are among them. Their generosity to Transform UMSL is helping create state-of-the-art spaces for students, faculty and staff of the College of Education and the Pierre Laclede Honors College as they prepare to relocate to North Campus.

Both Tom and Karleen received their master’s degrees from UMSL – Tom in school administration and Karleen in special education. Karleen taught for over a decade before becoming a real estate agent, promoting city living.

Tom pursued advanced degrees with the hopes that he could progress in his career as a teacher to make a larger impact. He went on to earn a doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, becoming principal at Pershing School in the School District of University City in the process. He then led the New City School for 34 years, during which time he also founded the Non-Profit Management Program at Washington University and led the ISACS New Heads Network.

“I’ve done a lot of things hopefully that helped people, and none of them would have been possible, really, without UMSL,” he said.

It was this feeling that drove Tom and Karleen to make an investment in the future of the university with a gift in support of campus transformation and the College of Education.

“Karleen and I both recognize and appreciate the role that UMSL plays in the St. Louis community,” Tom said. “At the same time, we recognize the important role that education plays for the future of our society. When the two come together, our thinking was, by helping the College of Education, we were certainly helping UMSL, but we’re also helping the St. Louis community and, in a larger sense, we’re helping the world.”

Through their experience as educators, they know the struggle that faces the generations to come.

“I led schools long enough that I know that at the end of my journey it was more challenging than at the beginning,” he said. “So, when I think about graduates, whether they’re going to be teachers, instructional coaches, principals or superintendents, their challenges are greater than mine were.”

Tom is currently scholar in residence at UMSL and teaches in the Educational Leadership program, preparing prospective principals for those challenges they will face. In the classroom, he talks about school culture and about how that culture can affect learning.

“One of the components about culture that I talk about a great deal is the notion of the place, that the environment in which we are learning has a much stronger impact than we might think on how we learn,” he said. “We’re hoping that the new College of Education space will not only be attractive, but that the walls and the halls will send messages about achievement and about making a difference. And it will be an environment that’s conducive for students, not only learning from the wonderful UMSL faculty, but learning from one another.”

This vision is well within reach with the expansion and modernization of the Social Sciences and Business Building under way. After the renovation, the College of Education and the Pierre Laclede Honors College will be relocated from South Campus to this new space. Tom and Karleen’s generosity will help provide students with state-of-the-art, purpose-designed spaces in a facility in proximity to other campus resources, including University Libraries, the Millennium Student Center and the Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center.

The modernization of these spaces has the future in mind with the addition of new model classrooms where student-educators can experience best practice learning environments as they prepare for a career in the classroom. The facility will also offer new hy-flex classrooms to support modern teaching and learning styles, hoteling space to help meet the demands of remote working and evolving staffing needs, quiet study areas and an event space.

The renewed facilities will match the quality of the program while helping to attract top talent to meet the critical need for educators in Missouri classrooms. The UMSL College of Education is one of Missouri’s largest preparers of educators, providing bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees as well as over 50 different state certifications and national licensures for educators. Four of the past six Missouri Teachers of the Year earned degrees from UMSL.

This served as a driver when thinking about the impact they could have.

“Our gift is an investment in the future of St. Louis society, in the future of all the young people who are fortunate enough to attend UMSL,” Karleen said. “I would encourage other people who are considering making a gift to view it, again, not just as a philanthropic exercise but as an investment in the future.”