Kneedler Child Development Center

The Kneedler Child Development Center is named is honor of Mary Kneedler, a long-time advocate for quality care and education for children. As a Western faculty member during the 1960s, Mrs. Kneedler was instrumental in the development of the national Head Start program, as well as other services for preschool children. She has provided gifts totaling $100,000 that helped open the center.

Kneedler graduated from Duke University with a nursing degree in 1936 and took her skills into rural areas, serving as a public health nurse in three North Carolina counties, and in Kentucky. She later returned to school, earning a bachelor's degree in public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1947, and a master's degree in public health nursing administration from the Teachers College of Columbia University in 1952.

The center, under the guidance of the University Child Care Advisory Council, is managed by Western's community partner- Mountain Projects (Head Start). The Center is closely integrated with the university through the Division of Student Affairs. Ms. Jane Adams-Dunford, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, is the administrator directly responsible for overseeing the center.