>newground
Charles and Elizabeth “Betty” Neatrour have led remarkable lives—not only in what they achieved for themselves, but in what they made possible for others. He was a math education professor at James Madison University from 1968-1992 who worked with elementary and middle school teachers and published widely about how to make math more meaningful and accessible to all students. She was a scholar and teacher of Russian studies at JMU from 1961-2000 who received extraordinary honors for teaching and scholarship and more than that, for her role as a cultural ambassador to generations of students.
Elizabeth passed away in January 2002 after a battle with cancer. Soon afterward, Charles set up two endowed fellowships at IUB in each of their fields. The fellowships are the first donations to the new Matching the Promise campaign, and qualify for the match of 1:1 on the interest their gift generates. Their story itself is a lesson on why fellowships matter.
Their graduate work at IU was a launching pad for two successful careers. Betty’s interests initially took the two to Bloomington, which had one of the top programs in Russian studies. The research she began at IU evolved into a scholarly career as the foremost expert on the popular Russian writer Nadezhda Teffi, who fled Russia in 1920 to escape Bolshevik persecution. Because Teffi was censored in the Soviet Union, Betty became central to restoring this writer to the Russian public when in 1988 there was a revival of interest in her.
At James Madison University Betty created a first-rate Russian program for undergraduates and one for Virginia high school students. “She created [the programs] single-handedly,” says one former student. And in fact, she received numerous awards for both the program and her teaching, culminating in 1998 with the prestigious Pushkin Medal from the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature.
One year after she arrived in Bloomington to study with the aid of a scholarship and a half salary grant from JMU, Charles joined her to pursue his doctorate in math education. He has, ever since, worked to promote better teaching in elementary and middle school math: as a teacher, writer, editor, consultant, speaker, and leader of workshops on the local, regional, state, and national levels for 24 years.
As committed teachers Charles and Betty Neatrour helped others fulfill their promise. They are doing so again with their extraordinary gift.
>Liz Rosdeitcher
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