Bonnie Gray

Photo of Bonnie Gray

It's a long way from a memorable childhood on the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York to Eastern Kentucky University. But Bonnie Gray, armed with a newly earned Ph.D. in philosophy from Syracuse University, made the journey in 1974. Her mother had hoped she would find work near her home, but Bonnie was biding her time working in a restaurant and was eager to teach. She accepted an assistant professorship offer from Bob Miller, then chair of the EKU philosophy department. Arriving at Bluegrass Field in late May, she was taken with the beauty of Kentucky and never looked back. Much to her mother's chagrin, she never sought work elsewhere because she loved Eastern so much. "Little did the University know I would have worked for free," she said.

An honors program at EKU had been a point of discussion for a long time. By 1988 Bonnie was a full professor and was asked to direct the new EKU Honors Program. Many other schools already had well-established programs, but by 2008, when Bonnie retired, EKU's program was quite well known. Bonnie said, "We had received three major National Endowment for Humanities grants allowing faculty to work on curriculum development, were requiring our honors program students to complete senior theses, and were thought of as a top-ten program nationally. But this was always a group effort. I could not have done it alone. I had a lot of help from our talented and committed EKU faculty. And, of course, we will always be indebted to Jane and Chuck Boyer for their generous financial commitment to the Honors Program."

Bonnie also praises the Honors Program students themselves for the success of the program. She says, "These kids are so active. Many have represented the University as student government presidents and as Board of Regents representatives. EKU has produced more female graduates who have gone on to earn Ph.D.s in physics than any other school in the state and frequently has placed more students in the University of Kentucky medical school than UK itself. The Honors Program was employing the Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) long before the current concept of the QEP was established."

Bonnie is justifiably proud of the success of the Honors Program. "Our students get it," she says. "They take more hours than most students because they understand the need of the breadth and depth of a quality education. They are also eager to travel. I tried to make it possible for any of our students to attend the national honors conferences regardless of their financial circumstances. Most programs took one or two students to national conferences, but at Eastern we averaged taking 50 or more each year."

As Bonnie began to review her estate plan, she quickly thought of the Honors Program and has established a trust which will fund travel costs for students to national conferences and cultural trips both within the United States and internationally. The Honors Program has been a labor of love for Bonnie. It is only natural that her estate plan reflects this love.

Perhaps Eastern is also a meaningful part of your life. As you prepare your estate plan, please consider how you might create a legacy of love for EKU and our wonderful students—young people who share the same dreams as yours. We would be happy to try to help you with questions you may have. Please feel free to contact Melinda A. Murphy, J.D., at 859.622.8090 or by e-mail at melinda.murphy@eku.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.

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