Our Crowdfunding Groups
When you give to Northern Arizona University and the Commission on the Status of Women Martha Portree Scholarship, you contribute to something greater than yourself. With your support, we are able to help enrich the education of students at NAU in many ways:
One Woman's Story
The uphill climb for single mother, Army veteran, and NAU Online first-generation student Katherine Jackson is steep. Raising her children and working full time, Katherine devotes every spare moment to her coursework and clinical hours. She is grateful for the scholarship support she receives through the Martha Portree Commission on the Status of Women Scholarship.
“As a single mother and first-generation American citizen, responsibilities and needs pull me in a thousand different directions every single day, but I’m a strong woman devoted to raising strong children. It’s important to show my children that hard work pays off—and I have a lot of people rooting for me so failure is not an option.”
With her NAU degree, Katherine plans to become a licensed clinical psychologist and open a clinic in her Phoenix community. During her childhood, the services of a psychologist were not offered in her neighborhood and Katherine aspires to make that change. “I want to help stop toxic generational cycles and be a specialist who is relatable to those in underserved communities.”
About the Martha Portree Commission on the Status of Women Scholarship Fund
Martha Jean Portree was a member of the NAU community from December 2000 to July 2007. Martha died in a car accident in Flagstaff on July 7, 2007. She was 40 years old. At Cline Library, Martha served as a reference services librarian and was known for her dedication and library expertise. She enjoyed helping students and faculty with challenging research questions. With Tina Adams, Sean Evans, and John Doherty, Martha co-wrote “Overcoming Transactional Distance: Instruction Intent in an E-mail Reference Service” in the Winter 2008 issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly.
Martha’s coauthors dedicated the article to her memory. Martha enjoyed spending time with her daughter Samantha and husband David, as well as her many friends. She was a fan of biographies, pug dogs, birding, and hiking. She was an unashamed science geek. At NAU, Martha was a tireless advocate of the NAU Commission on the Status of Women’s mission, and she played an active and important role in the work of CSW on behalf of women on the NAU campus. In 2003 she helped create an annual Commission on the Status of Women scholarship for single mothers who excel academically. CSW renamed the scholarship in Martha’s honor in 2007.
Make a gift of $19 in honor of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Donate $51 in honor of Sojourner Truth, a former slave, who delivered her now famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio.
Celebrate the first ever Women's History Month in 1987 with your gift of $87.
The National Association of Colored Women was formed in Washington, DC, in 1896 by Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Margaret Murray Washington, Fanny Jackson Coppin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Charlotte Forten Grimke, and Harriet Tubman. NACW became the largest federation of local black women’s clubs; suffrage was an important goal for black female reformers. Donate $96 to honor the formation of the NACW.
