Since retiring in 2011, the one word that best describes, Pamela Gill Franklin is “volunteer.” Prior to her life as a volunteer, Pamela was an Art Educator. She taught Art at all levels, from elementary school to college. After earning her Ph.D. in Art Education at The Ohio State University, she has the distinction of being the first African American faculty member in their Art Education department. In addition to being a former faculty member at The Ohio State University, she was an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA., and an Art Instructor at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, and Northeast Lakeview College in San Antonio, Texas.
Pamela obtained a Master’s degree from Miami University and a Bachelor of Art degree from Coker University, both in Art Education. She has had the privilege of being a member of the Coker University Board of Trustees for 15 years. She was the Secretary of the Board for six years and is currently the Bylaws Committee Chair. She also serves on the Committee on Trusteeship and Governance and the Student Success Committee. In July of this year, Pamela was elected to serve another three-year term as a Coker trustee. In 1993, she was honored to receive the Coker University Alumni Association Outstanding Young Alumni Award. She returned to Coker to be their Spring Commencement Speaker in 2022.
For three years, Pamela served on the Alamo Tea Roses Board of Directors. She is currently a member of Oak Hills Church where she serves as a teaching team member for the Women of the Word Bible study and mentors mothers with young children in the Mentoring Moms ministry. As a Life Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and a charter member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Alpha Alpha Xi Omega Chapter in San Antonio, “service to all mankind” is in her DNA.
In addition to volunteering her time, Pamela is also committed to giving back. She and her husband, Kevin J. Franklin, a Colorado State University alum, have endowed the Drs. Kevin and Pamela Gill Franklin College of Natural Sciences Scholarship and founded the Leading with Excellence and Professionalism (L.E A.P.) fellows at CSU and the Drs. Kevin and Pamela Gill Franklin Scholarship for York, County, South Carolina students at Coker University.
Pamela and her husband live in San Antonio. They are the proud parents of one adult son, “Robbie.”
