ENDOWMENT SUPPORTS HCD STUDENTS
A generous donation from Clareta Walker in January 1996 established the Clareta Walker Endowment Fund to provide graduate fellowships, graduate assistantships, and undergraduate scholarships in the Department of Human and Community Development. The awards will be given to students working on research and outreach projects in community-based programs with older youth.
Reared on a farm near Oswego, Walker graduated from Iowa State University in 1932 and received her master's degree in home economics from the UI in 1947. She spent more than three decades with the UI Cooperative Extension Service, including time as an adviser in Macoupin County. She came to campus and was a rural youth specialist from 1942 to 1957 and a child and family specialist from 1957 until her retirement in 1974.
Throughout her career Walker was deeply involved in the International Farm Youth Exchange Committee, and she was recognized for her pioneering work on host-family orientation and training. She used the latest findings from UI research to train volunteer leaders and at times logged as many as 1,000 miles a week driving around the state for the Cooperative Extension Service.
Walker's work had a significant influence on thousands of Illinois families.
After retirement Walker traveled widely to visit many international friends. Her travels have taken her to Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, and the Fiji and Galapagos islands.
A long-time admirer wrote that "Clareta Walker has much to teach young people. Her first lesson is that of self-reliance. . . . If something needs to be fixed, she does it. Her second lesson would be that of life-long learning. She is a volunteer . . . [and] an avid learner, and one quickly understands that she keeps track of the world around her."
Richard Bogren