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Dr. Wanda Blanchett believes that everyone, whether they grew up in poverty or privilege, should be afforded the same educational opportunities.
"My work is to work with the underserved," Blanchett said. "I want to try and create educational access and opportunities similar to the ones that were extended to me."
As the new dean of Education at UMKC, Blanchett will certainly have the chance to achieve these goals.
Her values have been shaped by her own poverty stricken beginnings in the Delta region of Arkansas.
"It's a very, very poor area," Blanchett said. "My parents were share croppers and my dad had an 11th grade education, my mother a 9th grade education, but they were two of the most educated people I know in terms of their views on life and how they thirst after trying to better understand and believe. They really believed that education is what it's purported to be - which is the great equalizer."
After high school, Blanchett attended the University of Central Arkansas where she earned a bachelor's degree in Special Education, focusing on teaching children with mild disabilities. After teaching in her home town of Forrest City, Ark., Blanchett continued her work in Madison, Ark.
"I thought I lived in poverty and understood poverty, but only when I went to work in Madison did I really get a sense of what it was like to live in poverty in America," Blanchett said.
It was in Madison where Blanchett realized her mission was to try and provide equal educational opportunities to all.
"That really kind of changed my life and changed how I thought about education because I had always believed that everybody had access in this country and everyone could be whatever they wanted to be if they just pulled themselves up by their boot straps," Blanchett said. "When I saw the poverty that existed in this community, I realized that not only does not everybody have boots, everybody, even if they have boots, don't have straps."
After her time in the rural communities of Forrest City and Madison, Blanchett got some big city teaching experience in Little Rock, Ark. She eventually went back to the University of Central Arkansas to earn her master's degree in Education, this time focusing on students with moderate to severe disabilities. She continued her education at Penn State, earning her doctorate in Education.
Blanchett's first collegiate teaching position was at Syracuse University. Although she enjoyed the experience at Syracuse, she wanted to teach in a more urban setting.
"I could effectively teach my students (at Syracuse), but I wanted to teach students just like me, meaning that they were primarily first generation college goers and didn't come from a long legacy of going to elite schools," Blanchett said.
After spending time at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin and the University of Colorado-Denver, Blanchett's work in urban education caught the attention of UMKC administrators. After being heavily recruited by UMKC, Blanchett was eventually offered the position of dean of the School of Education.
"In addition to her outstanding academic record as a teacher and leader, Dr. Blanchett is widely recognized as an authority on urban education and educational equity," Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Gail Hackett said in a press release. "Dr. Blanchett possesses the vision and knowledge to lead our School of Education to the next level in UMKC's mission of building strong collaborations in urban issues and education."
So far, Blanchett's experience in Kansas City and at UMKC has been extremely positive.
"The mission of the school is very compelling and very much consistent with my own values in my personal and professional pursuits in terms of trying to create more justice, particularly social justice, where there is injustice and trying to make sure that we prepare educators to teach all children," Blanchett said. "When it comes to urban education, we have to be leaders."
tallen@unews.com
