Florida State University alumna Anne Spencer Daves, who spent 30 years as a fourth-grade educator in Central Florida, has made a transformational gift to the university’s College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences that will impact the lives of future educators at FSU while honoring the college’s 70,000 alumni teachers.
The university honored Daves at a special dinner Friday at the Heritage Museum, recognizing her lifelong generosity and support of education at FSU. During the event, President Richard McCullough dedicated the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences — the first FSU college named after an alumna. It will now be known as Anne’s College.
“Anne’s unwavering commitment to FSU and her vision for education will undoubtedly inspire others to support our mission,” McCullough said. “Her generosity will have a lasting impact, creating opportunities for generations of students to come.”
McCullough also surprised Daves by providing her with a diploma that bears the college’s new name.
“Naming a college is a rare honor — only a few will realize what that means and what that means to us,” McCullough said. “The virtues of loyalty, generosity, and selflessness … it’s just remarkable. It comes at a pivotal time in the history of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and will take us to the next level.”
Daves, a graduate of FSU, has created a 27-year legacy of gift giving at the university. It began in June 1997 with a gift to the FSU Alumni Association, followed by the creation of the Curtis Edward Spencer Endowed Scholarship Fund in October 1997 – named after her hard-working father.
“The Seminole drumbeat and my heartbeat kind of came together,” Daves said. “And it pulled me back here, and I knew then what I wanted to do for my father. John and I just watered the trees and fed the trees. Daddy’s looking down and saying, ‘How in the world did my name – a man with no education at all – have his name on a building of education at a university where my daughter went to school. And so, it’s my daddy’s legacy.”
Her most recent gift, in part, is intended to make FSU the most affordable Master of Science program in education in the country, exponentially increasing the impact of quality education for millions of future students.
Damon Andrew, dean of the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, finds it fitting to dedicate the college to Daves due to her love for teaching Florida’s children and her selfless service.
“As a former teacher, Anne understands the transformational power of education firsthand,” Andrew said. “It has been a privilege to become acquainted with her personally over the years, and I can say that she is truly one of the most selfless and remarkable individuals I have ever met. It is an even greater honor that our college will be named after not just one of the most generous alumnae in FSU’s history, but a woman who devoted her life to education.”
Daves’ dedication to education was inspired by her father, who served in the U.S. Navy and worked for more than 30 years at a grocery store chain based in Lakeland, Fla., which was later purchased by entrepreneur George Jenkins. To support his family of six during his youth, Curtis Spencer left school in eighth grade and delivered groceries and coal oil on a bicycle to residents of his small hometown.
Sadly, Curtis passed away from lung cancer. Despite having difficulty speaking while in the hospital, he expressed his regret not being able to complete his education – a major source of inspiration for Daves to start giving back to her alma mater.
“When the Seminole drumbeat called me back to FSU in the fall of 1997, my heart had finally told me how I would honor my father,” Daves said. “(My husband) John and I met with Martha Stewart and Paula Fortunas of the FSU Foundation and established the Curtis Edward Spencer Endowed Scholarship in Elementary Education. This gift would enable others to have the education that circumstances had denied for this fine man.”
The Curtis Edward Spencer Scholars program has awarded over 100 scholarships since 1997 to students pursuing careers in elementary education. These students have reached hundreds of thousands of students worldwide.
In October 2001, the Anne and John Daves Professor in Education position was created. In June 2009, the Anne Spencer Daves Fellowships Fund was also formed in the previously named FSU College of Education.
The endowments made by Daves and her late husband, John – a former systems analyst in launch operations and, later, a public relations volunteer at NASA – will support hundreds more students in the years to come.
Recently expanded in 2023, the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences is home to six academic departments united through a common goal to maximize human potential.
The college includes the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems, Department of Human Development & Family Sciences, Department of Health, Nutrition & Food Sciences, Department of Sport Management, School of Teacher Education, numerous research centers and three laboratory schools (Florida State University School, FSU Pembroke Pines Charter School and The Collegiate School at FSU Panama City).
The 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate School Rankings placed the college as No. 6 nationally among public colleges of education and No. 14 overall. Among public colleges of education, FSU ranks in the top 25 in special education (No. 14), elementary teacher education (No. 18), educational administration (No. 18) and curriculum and instruction (No. 22).
To learn more about the Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, visit annescollege.fsu.edu.