Having spent 35 years in education, Dr. Dorothy Pruitt sees the need for assisting deserving students with the cost of their college education.
Her career began after graduating from ECU with a degree in home economics in 1956. Pruitt returned to her native Granville County to teach at Oxford High School, where she worked for 14 years before going back to school to get her master's in guidance and administration from UNC-Chapel Hill. Then she spent nine years as a consultant for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, traveling all over the state, helping teachers, superintendents and principals make the best use of the state department's services and observing the best education strategies.
One of her greatest feats professionally was becoming principal of C.G. Credle Elementary School in Granville County, where she was able to put those observations into practice. During Pruitt's tenure, Credle was named a National School of Excellence, now called the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, by the Department of Education. The award recognizes schools' academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps among students. Pruitt accepted the award from President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
"I've always had a passion for education, and this reinforced it. It had a lot of influence over my husband and I deciding to use our resources to provide scholarships at East Carolina," Pruitt said.
Pruitt and her husband, Leonard, established two planned gifts through a will bequest. The first is the Dr. Dorothy Jean Gooch Pruitt and Mr. William Leonard Pruitt Access Scholarship Endowment, which will provide Access Scholarship funds for incoming freshmen majoring in human development and family science, health and human performance or education. The second is the Dr. Dorothy Jean Gooch Pruitt and Mr. William Leonard Pruitt Endowed Scholarship Fund for the ECU Medical and Health Sciences Foundation. These funds will provide life-changing educational opportunities for deserving transfer students from Vance- Granville Community College. Students will receive a scholarship to study health sciences at ECU.
"To me, I see it as ongoing," Pruitt said of her connection to ECU. "You either put a period at the end of your formal education at East Carolina, or you pause and when the time and resources permit, you continue to support the school that made such a significant difference in your life. Our life would have been entirely different if I had not had the opportunity to go to East Carolina and be trained and prepared to meet the challenges of teaching."
In addition to her accomplishments as a teacher and principal, Pruitt was the first woman elected to the Granville County Board of Education in 1973, serving as vice-chair and chair. She was inducted into the College of Education's Educators Hall of Fame in 2008 and was recognized as an Incredible ECU Woman in 2010. She is also a member of the ECU College of Health and Human Performance Cornerstone Society.
Through it all, she received constant support and partnership from Leonard. They recently celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary. The two met during Pruitt's first year teaching. Leonard was a tobacco buyer for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Since retiring, he is well-known in Oxford for always helping his neighbors and regularly lending a hand at Credle Elementary School.
"Leonard has been there every step of the way. He is one of the most generous and kind people," Pruitt said.
In 2011, C.G. Credle Elementary celebrated 100 years. Pruitt chaired the celebration committee and reached out to students who were there when she was principal, asking them to write about their impressions of her and what the school was like.
One letter she got from a former third grader read, "Dr. Dorothy Pruitt made C.G. Credle everything good I knew it to be. She was my first role model of a woman in business. We are all better for her leadership, integrity and professionalship."
"When you get remarks like this, it sets you on fire. You want to do anything and everything in your power to make sure it continues," Pruitt said.
