Martha Mitchell, Ph.D., is recognized by many throughout Indianapolis as an outstanding educator who has had an interesting life.
Recently, however, she taught one of her most valuable lessons after receiving a special honor from Butler University: You never stop reaching for your dreams or goals.
During the commencement ceremony for Butler University’s Class of 2013, Mitchell was presented with an honorary doctorate degree.
Before presenting the honorary degree to Mitchell, Arthur Hochman, a professor of education at Butler, upheld her contributions as a longtime teacher and administrator in the Indianapolis Public Schools system, and her desire to help motivate people to academic success locally and throughout the world.
“She has been committed to positively impacting the world and not simply existing in it,” Hochman said.
Mitchell warmly expressed her appreciation of the honor. “I thought it was really nice, because I had not heard of anything like that happening before,” she said. Mitchell, who will turn 90 later this year, received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Butler in 1945, where she also earned a master’s degree in education in 1960. She remembers when the university admitted African-Americans when others did not, but still had a quota that allowed only 10 Black students to be admitted at a time.
“Fortunately I always came in under that requirement,” Mitchell said.
After receiving another master’s degree in social work from Indiana University, Mitchell began her career in education in 1949 at IPS School No. 87, where she taught for 20 years, and later worked as an administrator with Schools No. 67 and No. 72 until leaving to teach at Stanford University.
At the same time, she continued to pursue her education, and received a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University in 1969. After that achievement, Mitchell went to Africa to instruct students at the University of Legon in Accra, Ghana, and explored the African continent.
In addition to her education career, Mitchell is also known as one of the founder’s of the Center for Leadership Development, a program that mentors high school students to prepare them for higher education and successful careers.
In 1979, she helped start the Indianapolis Black Alumni Council, an organization that introduces students to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and served as its first president.
She also helped develop curriculums for the Indiana Department of Public Instruction and expressed an interest in early education, which inspired her to start the Building Blocks Academy, a popular local private school.
Mitchell has also been an active member of Alpha Kappa Sorority Inc. and has served within the organization as basileus (president) of the local Alpha Mu Omega chapter.
After officially retiring as an educator, Mitchell continued her studies and earned 90 hours toward another degree, emphasizing that learning is a lifelong journey that never ends.
“We never really arrive, or have all the answers,” Mitchell said. “We are always at a place in life where a new beginning is possible.”
