OXFORD, Miss. – Gloria Dodwell Kellum has worn many hats since joining the University of Mississippi faculty in 1966 and she has been instrumental in helping the university mark a number of milestones.
As an administrator, she chaired UM’s sesquicentennial celebration, directed two major capital campaigns and provided leadership to improve race relations. On the academic side, she helped grow a small speech pathology and audiology program into a nationally accredited educational and clinical program, and taught hundreds of students.
Now, it’s time for Kellum to put on a new hat. Last fall, she announced her retirement. She officially ends her career Friday (Feb. 27) with a daylong celebration, which is expected to be filled with much-deserved accolades, along with teary-eyed farewells.
Already, many former students, colleagues, friends and mere acquaintances have offered their congratulations for a job well done.
Among them is a note from Don Cole, assistant to the chancellor for
multicultural affairs, which reads: “Thanks for not only teaching me
the ropes but for actually being that rope on which I would so often
have to cling. My life has been truly enriched by you, and I shall
never forget the many and wonderful accomplishments we made together
for our beloved institution. Working with you is not only a pleasure,
it is a delight!”
Chancellor Robert Khayat recognized Kellum’s leadership abilities in 1995, when he tapped her to chair the university’s five-year sesquicentennial celebration and direct the Commitment to Excellence Campaign to raise $200 million in private funds. They had worked together the previous year planning the sesquicentennial events. She became vice chancellor for university relations in 1998, and Khayat heaps high praise on his valued colleague.
“Much of the progress made at the university and in Oxford over the past 14 years is attributable to Gloria Kellum’s energetic, almost relentless commitment,” he said. “Since 1994, we have worked together on numerous projects. She is smart, energetic, dedicated and loyal to the university family.
“Although she is best known for her work as vice chancellor, she is a remarkable teacher and an active citizen in this community, as well as in the Episcopal church. She is immensely popular among our faculty, staff and students, and she enjoys the unqualified respect of all who know her.”
Kellum began gaining that respect when she joined the Ole Miss family, soon after completing her master’s degree in speech and hearing at Louisiana State University. She came on board as an instructor and associate director of the Division of Speech and Hearing in the Department of Speech and Theatre.
“I took a leap of faith and came here to help grow a new program with only five students, Kellum said. “I’m more than happy I took that leap.”
By 1967, there were 25 students majoring in speech therapy. Within two years, Kellum helped add a master’s program in speech pathology and audiology, and the Speech and Hearing Center soon followed. On that foundation, the program has grown into the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, a nationally accredited educational and clinical program with graduates who serve as speech-language pathologists and audiologists for countless children and adults across the nation.
“It was a really good career opportunity,” Kellum said. “I stayed because of the students; I could train students and practice.”
Affectionately known as “Aunt Glo” to many of her students, Kellum received the campuswide 1975 Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teaching Award, becoming the first woman and youngest faculty member to have been so honored.
Typical of messages Kellum has received from former students since announcing her retirement is one from Karen Vincent Stuart that reads, “I only had you for one class, but it … left a lasting impression on me. … I still use many of the skills that you taught me day to day in this, my 36th year of teaching.”
Keenly aware of value-added education herself, Kellum returned to LSU in 1981 to complete a doctorate in speech pathology, then rejoined the UM faculty the following year as an associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders. She served two years as acting chair. In 1984, she was named director of the department’s clinical services and achieved full professor status in 1991.
Despite her advancing career in speech pathology, Kellum took another leap of faith in 1994, when then Chancellor Gerald Turner asked her to work on the university’s sesquicentennial celebration plans with Khayat. She said she jumped at the opportunity, because she knew it would be a “small way to give back to the university” that had given so much to her.
When Khayat followed Turner as chancellor, he asked Kellum to join his leadership team. Under her direction, the Commitment to Excellence Campaign attracted a stunning $525.9 million in private gifts, followed by the MomentUM campaign, which upped the total raised in private funds during Kellum’s tenure to some $800 million. The campaigns produced one-of-a-kind partnerships such as the 2+2 Scholarship Initiative with Northwest Mississippi Community College, the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation and the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy.
“It has been amazing to watch our fundraising dollars move this university toward the 21st century to become a ‘Great American Public University’,” she said. “The economy was amazing. It was just our time – the resources, vision, partnerships and leadership just seemed to come together.”
Partners included Sybil Canon, director of the NMCC Foundation who worked with Kellum on the successful 2+2 Scholarship initiative, a joint $1 million campaign. “I was in awe of Dr. Kellum’s commitment to this project,” Canon said. “Her time was extremely limited, yet she treated this initiative with the same care, passion and professionalism with which she handled her many projects. She is truly an amazing woman!”
It was Kellum’s passion for racial equality that played a major role in the development of UM’s William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, as well as the success of such efforts as Open Doors, the university’s commemoration of the 40th anniversary of James Meredith’s admission.
“Dr. Gloria Kellum has been a singular champion of racial justice and reconciliation,” said Susan Glisson, director of the Winter Institute. “She shepherded the construction of the university’s first civil rights monument and guided the university’s hosting of the only Deep South public event for President Clinton’s Initiative on Race in 1998. I am personally indebted to Dr. Kellum. Having never managed an office before, much less created one from scratch, almost everything I know about effective management, I learned from Dr. Kellum.”
Kellum is quick to point out that while others looked up to her, she also had a lot to learn.
“Transitioning from a professor to an administrator and fundraiser was different for me, but it was worth it, knowing that the funds raised from the campaign would help students, faculty and staff,” she said.
However, throughout Kellum’s so-called “transition,” she never really left the classroom.
“The fact that she has continued to teach while serving as a university administrator is a testament to her love for students,” said Linda Chitwood, dean of the School of Applied Sciences. “Even today, alumni from 40 years ago speak emotionally of their time with her.”
Kellum’s continued involvement in her field resulted in delivering more than 50 national presentations in her areas of expertise, including cleft palate/orofacial anomalies, cerebral palsy and neurogenic-based communicative disorders, diagnostic theory and techniques, and augmentative communication. She has overseen numerous grants and contracts benefiting the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders and has maintained membership in the American Speech-Language-Hearing and American Cleft Palate associations since 1966.
On the eve of her retirement, Kellum looks back over her tenure with no regrets, as she happily talks about her plans to spend more time with her family, including husband, Jerry – “the cute guy in a green blazer” that she spotted her first day on the job at Ole Miss – their daughters Kate and Kelly, both Ole Miss graduates, and the family’s newest addition, 1-year-old granddaughter Cecilia Grace.
With the assurance that she will continue to be available as an Ole Miss “volunteer,” Kellum said, “I’m not really leaving. You never truly leave Ole Miss. I’m going to miss my job, because I believe this university has a sense of purpose and is dedicated to providing opportunities for all.”
As for her new hat, chances are it will have to do with her love for horseback riding and spending time on the Kellum family’s farm just outside Oxford.