Elizabeth Geier Memorial Teacher Education Scholarship

In December, 2020, the Elizabeth Geier Memorial Teacher Education Scholarship was established with the Winona State University Foundation. This scholarship will benefit Rochester Public School graduates, who intend on becoming teachers in the Rochester area by completing the RCTC to WSU 2+2 program.

Background and Motivation
Elizabeth Humphrey Geier was valedictorian of her high school class, the class of 1936: middle of depression, no chance for college. After marrying and having six children, she became a pre-school teacher for handicapped children at the local rehabilitation center, and started taking college, often graduate-level, classes. In 1966, she earned her bachelor’s degree a few days after her son graduated from medical school. She received her master’s the next year. She taught special education in the public schools for several years, then ended her career on the faculty of the University of Evansville, teaching special education teachers. She and her husband were also active in civil rights, especially advocating for open housing and racial integration. They were members of the NAACP and ACLU.

Dr. Richard Geier, a retired surgeon and former president of Olmsted Medical Center, became aware of the extreme shortage of Black teachers in the Rochester public schools and the difficulty in recruiting them. From his early experience with segregated schools and his mother’s Black teacher friends, he was aware of the importance of Black role models and mentors for Black students. It is also important for White students to see educated Black people in positions of respect and authority. He said, “If we can’t attract Black teachers, then we need to grow them,” and he and his wife, Patricia, a former Special Ed teacher, established scholarships for a first- and second-year Black student at RCTC and for a third- and fourth-year student at Winona State Rochester, preferably from Rochester, who want to become teachers, hoping they will spend their careers teaching in Rochester.