Glenna Adams ’72, M.S. ’75, always loved children and always wanted to be a teacher. After 35 years as an educator and many years into retirement, she is still passionate about education and supporting a new generation of teachers.

For two years, Adams generously gifted a student teacher supply bag for nearly 1,000 Redbird Educators headed into their student teaching semester. The bags are filled with the essentials needed by teachers, including pens, pencils, markers, crayons, bandages, glue, timers, stickers, and more.

“We know that setting up a classroom and embarking on their mission of becoming a teacher can be very expensive,” said Dr. Bryan Zugelder, dean of the College of Education. “We are so thankful for Glenna’s passion for supporting new teachers and her generosity to help them get their classroom started.”

For Adams, this gift is a continuation of her career as an innovative and forward-thinking educator. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in 1972 at Valley View District 365U in Bolingbrook. At that time, the schools in the suburbs of Chicago were growing so quickly that they had to be innovative in their approach to education. Adams taught year-round, with kids rotating being in school for nine weeks and then being off for three weeks on four geographical tracks. So, her classroom was always changing, and she was always adapting to the children she was teaching.

After staying home to raise her children in the early 1980s, she returned to Valley View as an assistant principal. She spent her last 13 years as a middle school principal in District 30C and District 202.

“I feel blessed to have taught children of all ages, but sixth grade was my favorite,” Adams said.

As a leader she became very interested in developing curriculum and spent 35 years involved with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) at the local, state, and national level. She served as president of the Illinois ASCD for two years and was the editor of the newsletter for 12 years.

“I enjoyed working with and learning from other extremely talented and dedicated educational professionals,” said Adams. “And now it’s special to continue supporting teachers as they head into their first year of teaching.”

The College of Education (COE) distributed nearly 700 student teacher supply bags for spring 2026 student teachers and another 300 for fall 2026 student teachers. With Adams’ continued support the COE will give out bags to next year’s cohort of student teachers.

“I chose ISU because it was the best teachers college,” said Adams. “I love being able to support my school and provide these bags because I know the start-up cost for new teachers is high and this is an original way that we can support new teachers with items they will need for an excellent start to a successful career.”

Gifts and scholarships uplift and reward future educators. To learn more about establishing an endowment or scholarship within the College of Education, contact Director of Development Larry Haigh at (309) 438-4309 or lghaigh@IllinoisState.edu.