Profile: Ruth White inducted into hall of fame

CEDAR RAPIDS — Dr. Ruth White is known for her work in education, especially on equity issues.

And as of this month, she is one of the more than 60 members of the Iowa African-American Hall of Fame.

'I am grateful and humbled,' White said of her induction. 'It's very nice to know what I try to do is being recognized.'

White said she found herself in 'pretty good company in the list of inductees, Dr. Percy Harris in particular. I taught five of his kids.'

White grew up in Rantoul, Ill., on an Air Force base. Her father was a hospital pharmacist, and they were the first black family in Rantoul.

White attended Southern Illinois University and met her first husband, Dr. Tom White, while teaching in Gary, Ind.

The couple moved on to Kankakee, before they and a few other colleagues were recruited to the Cedar Rapids Community School District by then-Superintendent Craig Currie.

'He wanted to increase minority staff,' White said of Currie. 'They (the district) have been struggling with that ever since.'

Working For Equity

White taught at Jefferson High School for six years before taking a sabbatical in 1978, when she began working on her doctorate at the University of Iowa. She returned to the school district in 1981 and finished her career there in 2002.

While at Washington, White was asked to become the academic adviser to minority students.

'That was a good job,' White said. 'We didn't know what an academic adviser to minority students was, so we got to make it up.'

That led almost directly to the creation of the Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success. The program has parallel tracks, one academic and one cultural. Black high school students have taken part in the academy each summer since 1989.

It meets at Mount Mercy University, where White serves on the board of trustees.

'My vision for the academy was we start in Cedar Rapids and develop high school, middle school, elementary components so we would have a safety net for students through their school career, and we would expand to other parts of the state. There are needs everywhere,' White said.

Cedar Rapids has changed since White came to Iowa in the 1970s. But she says, it hasn't changed enough.

'With the increased population, we have gone in the opposite direction with equity issues,' White said. 'The city is moving in fits and starts.'

White said there has been a lot of what she would call 'lip service' toward equity in the schools.

'There are many retired teachers in town. No one has asked them what should be done regarding the achievement gap,' White said. 'There needs to be consistent solutions to problems or the problems will return, just like a weed.'

White said she has met the new superintendent, Brad Buck.

'He seems very cordial and ready to listen,' White said.