UM Professor Defined by Her Roots

Candies Winfun-Cook, a clinical assistant professor of teacher education, has launched a scholarship program targeting junior elementary education majors who transfer from Mississippi community colleges and plan to student teach in underserved districts. The Recruiting Our Own Teachers for Success, or ROOTS MS, program is her own story.

Winfun-Cook remembers what it felt like to transfer to Ole Miss from Itawamba Community College in 2001. The dream of becoming a teacher was clear, but the financial burden was daunting. A Critical Needs scholarship changed the equation, covering her tuition and clearing her head enough to focus on the work of becoming an educator.

"This feels like a full-circle moment," she said. "I remember what that scholarship did for me. It took the financial pressure off so I could actually focus on becoming a teacher.

"I want these students to have that same experience."

The program provides scholarship funding for 15 credit hours of teacher education coursework, structured mentorship, attendance at a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference and professional development resources.

After graduating, Winfun-Cook taught third grade math and science in the Mississippi Delta before returning to the UM School of Education, where she earned a master's degree, a specialist degree and a doctorate. An investment someone made in her at the very beginning made every step of that journey possible.

Now she is making that same investment in others.

"This is a labor of love," she said. "I want students in this program to see what it means to teach in a place that needs them, and to realize that place might need them forever."

The program directly addresses one of the most persistent challenges in Mississippi education: teachers who arrive in underserved communities but do not stay, said Tom Brady, the school's chair of teacher education. By recruiting candidates who transfer from the state's community colleges, the program bets that the best teachers for Mississippi classrooms are already here.

"The teachers most likely to stay are the ones who already have a reason to be here," Brady said. "ROOTS MS puts students in schools where they can build real connections to a community, and that is how you build a teacher workforce that lasts."

Top: Candies Winfun-Cook, clinical assistant professor of teacher education, launched ROOTS MS after reflecting on her own journey as a community college transfer student who received a Critical Needs scholarship to complete her degree at the University of Mississippi. The program aims to recruit and retain teachers in Mississippi's most underserved districts. Photo by Don Feitel/School of Education