Donor Profile: Barbara Seals Nevergold

Barbara A. Seals Nevergold, ’66, has served others in many roles: as a French teacher; as executive director of the Niagara Frontier Association for Sickle Cell Disease Inc.; as director of Student Support Services at the University at Buffalo’s Educational Opportunity Center; and, since 1999, as co-director of the Uncrowned Queens Institute at the University at Buffalo.

“The jobs I’ve had seem disparate,” said Nevergold. “But in each of them, I was an educator. The ability to educate and to relate to people was formed when I attended Buffalo State College.”

Nevergold, who has received many awards, recently received the 2009 New York State Women of Excellence Award in Education for Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady. Nevergold compiled and edited the book with Peggy Brooks-Bertram, co-founder and co-director of Uncrowned Queens.

“When Michelle Obama was criticized during the campaign,” said Nevergold, “we wanted to lend her our support. After her husband was elected president, we asked people to write a letter to America’s new first lady.” That request was e-mailed around the world, and the overwhelming response resulted in a book that rings with passion and inspiration.

Nevergold’s own earliest supporters were her parents, who always expected her to attend college. The only question was whether she should go straight out of high school or take a year off to earn money for her education. “My mother borrowed $50 to help me start right away,” said Nevergold.

In memory of her parents, the Reverend Willie B. Seals and Clara Ellis Seals, and her brother, Kenneth Seals, M.D., Nevergold established the Seals Family Memorial Scholarship Endowed Fund. Nevergold said, “I wanted to reflect my parents’ belief in the importance of education.”