TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Troy University now has a space that is not only dedicated to history, but also bears the name of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey.
Ivey was on Troy University’s campus Wednesday to announce the opening of The Ivey Center. The center was named after the governor’s uncle, Dr. Oliver Turner Ivey.
“His wisdom did have a personal impact,” Ivey said in her announcement speech. “After I received my education degree, I employed some of his engaging methods of instruction to stimulate my high school civics classes, and it worked.”
The goal of The Ivey Center is to make learning opportunities for teachers meaningful and available. Center leaders also want K-12 students to see studying history not as a burden, but as a blessing.
“They’re able to look at more than just preparing for a test where you’re going to ask them about dates and what happened,” said the director of the Ivey Center, Dr. Linda Felton-Smith. “We want to dig deeper. We want to know about the culture of the area where we’re talking about.”
The center plans to train teachers on how to use the Cultural Approach. This approach was created by Dr. Ivey when he was a professor at Auburn University.
“You take a time period and you take a place. Instead of trying to look at it overall, you think about the politics of that time you’re looking at,” Felton-Smith explained.
“When we become ignorant of our past when we become ignorant of how blessed we are, we stand on the threshold of losing that very blessing,” Hawkins said, “and that’s what I see the Ivey Center is about.”
The Ivey Center was originally located at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. Members of the Ivey Foundation decided it was best to move the Center to Troy. It is now in John Robert Lewis Hall.
The Ivey Center has already reached out to superintendents in the district. Dr. Felton-Smith says the center will start by training third through fifth-grade teachers; more grades are expected to be added.
