Gregory Calloway goes the extra mile for Spectrum Scholarship
Contact:
Mark Gould
Director, PIO
312-280-5042
For Immediate Release
October 10, 2006
Gregory Calloway goes the extra mile for Spectrum Scholarship
CHICAGO - After taking a year off due to injuries, Gregory Calloway, the American Library Association's (ALA) associate executive director of finance, will be running in the Chicago Marathon for the fourth time - and once again will raise funds for the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Program.
The Spectrum Scholarship Program's focus on the under-representation of critically needed ethnic and racial minority library and information science professionals is something that hits close to home, he says. "The best way to close the educational and technological resources gap among racial and ethnic minorities is to create a library workforce that mirrors that diversity and that brings cultural understanding as well as professional knowledge to the communities it serves," says Calloway.
In his efforts to raise funds for Spectrum Scholars, Calloway inaugurated the 2002 Spectrum Marathon Scholarship as a supplement to the Spectrum Family of Funds. His efforts have since supported first year education for three Spectrum Scholars. On Sunday morning, October 22, Calloway and approximately 40,000 other runners will be running the Chicago Marathon, before a crowd of 1.5 million spectators.
His goal this year is to raise funds for ongoing support of the Spectrum Scholarship Program and for the creation of the Spectrum-Calloway "Extra Mile" Doctoral Fellowship, which the Office for Diversity hopes to begin offering in 2009.
Calloway urges every library worker and advocate to support this Spectrum fundraising effort by making a generous donation.
Established by ALA in 1997 as a national diversity recruitment effort, the Spectrum Scholarship Program has grown into one of the most important diversity initiatives in the library profession. Without the Spectrum Scholarship Program providing a number of $6,500 scholarships each year to African American, Latino/Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American and Native Alaskan graduate students, many of these students might not have the opportunity to pursue or complete library and information science studies.
Calloway's 16-week training program includes running over 500 miles. "Knowing that my personal sacrifice of body and limb is supporting the Spectrum Marathon Scholarship makes all the effort worth it," he says.
To make a secure, online credit card donation to Spectrum, visit
www.ala.org/donate. Checks (payable to ALA-Spectrum Fund) can be mailed to the ALA Development Office, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
