Scholarships, Awards, and Funding

Cindy Morley has a degree in psychology from UCSC with an emphasis on child development and is a graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Teacher Education Program (now the M.A./C program) For many years she taught 6th grade at DeLaveaga Elementary School. She also worked as an advisor for the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project, mentoring first- and second-year teachers in the county. After her retirement in June of 2006, she is enjoying spending time with her grandchildren, quilting, gardening, and writing. 

Rick Morley also attended UC Santa Cruz and is a mechanical engineer working in the technology industry, after having spent many years in field service and product support. He remembers the teachers, both the good and the bad, who all contributed to his ability to think and solve problems. His troubleshooting abilities have prompted managers to ask how they could teach others those thinking methods. He feels that, since those abilities come from skills and confidence developed throughout life experiences, supporting teachers in all they do, without dictating the methodology, is the way to accomplish that task. It takes a comedian to twist our language around, yet provide us with a simple, profound truth: “Give kids an esteem bath daily, and the rest will follow!”

Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1901 Kathryn Cheney Merriam’s father was a pediatrician, and her mother, who was active in the League of Women Voters, was the first woman to serve in the State of Illinois Legislature. Kathryn Cheney Merriam graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. The mother of four children, she was actively involved in the Brownies and Girl Scouts, the PTA, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and also served as a library volunteer.

She came to Santa Cruz in 1962 and became actively involved in the community. She was a founding member and coordinator of the Volunteer Service of Santa Cruz County. Within this agency her focus was promoting the adult literacy program. She was the coordinator and, for many years, a tutor for the “Each One Teach One” program. She was very proud of her students and derived a great deal of satisfaction in seeing them learn to read.

From 1964 to 1967, she served as president of the American Association of University Women of Santa Cruz. She helped to reactivate the Community Council of Northern Santa Cruz County in 1966 and served as president from 1968 to 1970. In 1968 she was named Woman of the Year by the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce. In 1980 she received the Soroptomist Club’s International Award for Women Helping Women. Kathryn Cheney Merriam passed away in March of 1986, at the age of 84. She was survived by her children, Dorothy Venolia, Carol Bockman, Charles E. Merriam, and Robert C. Merriam.

Nancy Matlock died of cancer in March of 1994 at the age of 46, while she was serving as a supervisor of teacher education with the UC Santa Cruz Education Department. Nancy had re-entered school in her 30s at Cabrillo College and transferred to UC Santa Cruz, graduating from Porter College in 1979. She majored in economics and also completed coursework for a teaching credential in the M.A./C program. 

Deeply involved in the entire Santa Cruz educational community, public education was Nancy Matlock’s passion for more than two decades. She served as a teacher of economics, mathematics, and U.S. history at San Lorenzo Valley High School in Felton and as a teacher of social sciences at New Brighton Middle School. She then returned again to UC Santa Cruz, this time to work with the Education Department and as a member of the Central California Writing Project’s Advanced Institute and Advisory Board. She also served as a trustee of Cabrillo College for eight years and, from 1979 to 1985, she was a trustee for the Santa Cruz City Schools. Nancy was active in starting the Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission and was a forceful voice for children, addressing issues of violence and racism, tolerance, and respect.

Whether she was in the classroom or the board room, Nancy Matlock’s leadership in the local education community earned her the respect of colleagues throughout the state. She conveyed to her student teachers that “by being genuine and real, being true to who you are, you will build respect.” Her continuing legacy to student teachers is to “walk the talk,” to act on your beliefs “with energy, pride, and gusto.”