As Annaliese Neaman readied to take the stage at the Johns Hopkins School of Education 2024 Commencement, Saralynn Glass kissed her cheek.
“She said, ‘Mazel tov, sweetie. I’m so proud of you,’” Neaman remembers. “It was just the best moment. It felt so great to make that connection and be able to thank the Glasses in person.”
Neaman, Edu ’24 (MS), helped present the school’s Champions in Education Award to Saralynn and her husband, Sheldon, at this year’s commencement ceremony. Both hold graduate degrees from the School of Education — Sheldon’s earned in 1966 during his time as a psychiatry resident at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Saralynn’s in 1977 while she was simultaneously raising their family. Upon completing his residency, Sheldon remained at Hopkins as assistant director of Adolescent Psychiatry before starting a large outpatient mental health practice. Saralynn worked as both a counselor and psychotherapist.
Decades later, the Glasses have maintained their close ties to the School of Education. The pair endowed the Sheldon D. Glass and Saralynn B. Glass Counseling Scholarship in 2011. Since then, the scholarship has supported more than 50 students like Neaman.
Education has had a large impact on the Glasses’ lives, Saralynn explains, and the couple has always had a passion for enabling people to continue learning. After completing his master’s in education, Sheldon taught seven different courses in what was then the Evening College’s Department of Education, introducing five new class offerings, including the first group counseling course. He also became a founding member of the school’s National Advisory Council, in which he is still active.
Saralynn, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Continuing Education, was a founding member of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Council. She was also a founding member of the School of Education’s National Advisory Council.
“I’ve always been very proud of the institution and all that it has accomplished and the opportunities it has given to us,” she says.
Sheldon says he and his wife chose to stay connected to Hopkins through financial support in appreciation for their unique Hopkins experiences.
“The university itself has a commitment to develop and to train and educate not only students, but also the professional staff. And it’s unique,” he says. “We felt an obligation to help in some way, even a small way, so others could get the same experience that we did.”
Neaman, who decided to pursue a degree in counseling during the height of the pandemic after seeing a need for more accessible mental health care, says the scholarship didn’t just make her graduate education financially feasible. It’s also given her freedom to pursue a community-oriented career.
“Having fewer loans and fewer financial constraints, I think, is what allows clinicians to work with populations that are of lower income and higher need,” she explains. “The Glasses’ scholarship is really the gateway that has allowed me to focus on community mental health.”
A Maryland native, Neaman now works in the child outpatient unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Community Psychiatry Program where she provides services to adolescents and families of all income levels seeking care for a wide range of mental health issues.
She is hopeful that support for higher education in the helping professions, like the Glass Scholarship, will increase nationwide.
“This extra support is so needed in order to combat things like the shortage of mental health care providers, doctors, nurses, teachers,” Neaman says. “Support for education allows more people to go back to school, reinvest in their own communities, and address those issues.”
Topics: Alumni, Students, volunteers, School of Education, Support Scholars