Zucker provides lead gift for $10 million early childhood studies initiative

October 11, 2014

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Anita Zucker, a passionate advocate of early childhood education, will provide a leadership gift of $5 million to bolster a comprehensive initiative at the University of Florida to help the nation’s youngest, most vulnerable learners reach their full potential.

Zucker’s gift – the largest from an individual to the College of Education -- will be combined with another $5 million in Preeminence faculty and program support from the university over the next several years. This $10 million investment will help position UF as a world leader in understanding how young children learn and help create programs that enhance teaching and early supports and intervention for at-risk children. UF’s Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies housed in the College of Education will be named for Zucker, a UF education alumna, in recognition of her generosity.

The new funding supports a team of faculty, fellows and doctoral students and local, state, national and international partners working to establish a national model in early learning. Studies show that improving teaching during a child’s first five years can produce a lifetime of benefits.

Zucker, a former schoolteacher, has long been interested in early childhood education. In 2011, she established a professorship in UF’s College of Education dedicated to early childhood studies. She also sponsored the Anita Zucker Alumni Challenge, in which she matched dollar-for-dollar gifts to UF’s College of Education.

“Education really is the key to unlocking doors for later learning and success in life,” said Zucker, CEO and chair of the Charleston, S.C.-based global manufacturing conglomerate The InterTech Group. “Transforming our children’s lives through education is so important in so many ways. The early childhood years are the most critical time for learning. That’s when they build a foundation that will play a major role in defining later success in learning and life.”

Improving early childhood studies is one of the university’s highest priorities, UF President Bernie Machen said. As part of UF’s Preeminence Plan, the university has invested in four faculty positions in the colleges of Education, Medicine and Public Health & Health Professions to support this interdisciplinary effort.

“Anita’s vision and leadership makes it possible for UF to transform America’s approach to early childhood studies,” Machen said. “Having Anita as a partner in this endeavor brings us that much closer to our goal of helping to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed.”

The newly named Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies is dedicated to advancing knowledge, policy and practices, with a focus on newborns to 5-year-olds and their families. Faculty and students from a number of UF colleges and departments are affiliated with the center, which collaborates with local, state and national partners to address family support, health, nutrition, mental health and early intervention.

The Anita Zucker center is one of a number of cutting-edge programs in the College of Education that are improving classrooms and learning in Florida and across the nation.

“Early childhood education and research has been the big, missing piece in our education system. For UF’s College of Education to address this critical need makes sense,” Dean Glenn Good said. “As Florida’s flagship university and a nationally preeminent institution, we have a responsibility to children everywhere to promote the very best learning opportunities for every stage of their lives.”

Zucker is a lifetime education advocate. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education at UF in 1972, received a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision at the University of North Florida and taught English and social studies in elementary schools in Florida and South Carolina for 11 years. In 2008, when her husband, Jerry, passed away, she succeeded him as CEO of the Hudson Bay Company and head of the InterTech Group. Jerry Zucker graduated from UF in 1972 as a triple major in math, chemistry and physics.