Donors Ray Sabin and A.K. Jones read to first-graders in Chula Vista on an NCSCL-sponsored volunteers' field trip.

The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature (NCSCL) welcomes contributions to further its work and its aim of fostering an appreciation of Children's Literature among parents and children, students and teachers, and the public at large. To discuss your tax-deductible donation, please contact Nancy Lemkie, Director of Development at nlemkie@mail.sdsu.edu, or (619) 594-3007.

The NCSCL wishes to gratefully acknowledge an extraordinary contribution by longtime friends of the Center, Ray Sabin and A.K. Jones. This gift will make possible, in perpetuity, the Ray Sabin and A.K. Jones Endowed Professorship in Children's Literature. In creating this position, Jones expressed their hope that "the faculty member hired for this position will inspire others and encourage them to make Children's Literature a part of their everyday lives."

Ready to donate? Click here to be directed to the College of Arts and Letters site.

Suggested Gifts:

• The Named Donor Graduate Fellowship in Children's Literature. SDSU attracts top-tier graduate students from across the country. However, the cost of out-of-state tuition and living expenses can be prohibitive, keeping students from accepting their admission to the graduate program. Other universities offer fellowships and tuition waivers which permit these students to go to school full-time. The Named Donor Graduate Fellowship in Children's Literature would permit one of the best students in the country to come to SDSU and study at the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature. In consideration of that gift, and in an arrangement that Director Jerry Griswold has made with the Dean of the Graduate Division, the university would match that gift with a tuition waiver.
• The Named Donor Graduate Scholarship for Teachers. One of the main purposes of NCSCL is the "teaching of teachers." The Graduate Certificate in Children's Literature was created to educate San Diego County teachers in the use of Children's Literature in their classrooms, with the ultimate goal of improving literacy and literature education. This program can also meet the state requirement of several hundred hours of on-going professional development, a condition for in-service teachers to retain their credential. The Named Donor Graduate Scholarship for Teachers would permit one or more teachers to pursue the Graduate Certificate at the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature.
• Named Donor's Faculty Research Fellowship in Children's Literature. SDSU's National Center for the Study of Children's Literature now employs four full-time scholars who are leading specialists in Children's Literature; they are writing books and significant studies on important topics like Jewish-American and Mexican-American children's books, and on how the young comprehend picture books or are influenced by children's films. In a teaching-intensive university like SDSU, the provision of released time allows faculty research to be completed in a timely manner. The Named Donor Faculty Research Fellowship in Children's Literature would permit faculty to bring this work to fruition in an expeditious way.
• Named Donor's Annual Children's Book Festival or Lecture Series. Last year's successful Pippi Longstocking Festival (and similar occasions in previous years) brought several thousand schoolchildren and their parents to campus--along with university students and professors--in three days of theatrical presentations, lectures, and book discussions. A Named Donor Annual Book Festival would continue this tradition. A scaled-down version, lectures by notable children's authors and critics, could be subsidized by a Named Donor Annual Lecture or Lecture Series.

Ready to donate? Click here to be directed to the College of Arts and Letters site.