Alumni Profiles

Marilyn Tebor Shaw

Social Activist and Volunteer Spurs Education of Nomadic Children in Kenya

Story by Alexandra Chughtai-Harvey, BA '99 : Photo by Nicholas McIntosh

“Life is to be lived and lived well; it is to make a contribution.” So says Marilyn Tebor Shaw, social activist, accomplished attorney and tireless champion of secondary education of nomadic children in Kenya. As the retired associate general counsel of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, a former Girl Scout leader, a past PTA officer, and current trustee and legal advisor to the board of the Nomadic Kenyan Children's Educational Fund (NKCEF), Shaw's career is defined by tremendous acts of public service.

“Part of my decision to join the NKCEF was for my children,” says the mother of three adult children, who is now retired from full-time practice of law. “I wanted to show my children that real change can be effected by one person.”

Marilyn Tebor Shaw

Close-up: JD '79
Home: McLean, VA
Married, three children
Interests: tap dancing, opera, Shakespeare and writing poetry
(photo: Nicholas McIntosh)

The NKCEF is a nonprofit organization that provides high school scholarships to bright, economically disadvantaged nomadic students, especially girls, who without the program would be unable to get a high school education.

Established in 2001, the fund has enabled 200 children to attend high school to date. Shaw traveled to Kenya this past summer with NKCEF board president Rebecca Hudecek to do “due diligence” and visit six schools that scholarship recipients attend. She says she told the children to focus on their education, that their money worries concerning their education are over (only education-related expenses are covered), and that “we think about you every day.”

In addition to volunteering 40 hours a week with the NKCEF, Shaw also works part time as a math resource teacher at a local girls' school. Her volunteer work is the culmination of a lifetime of social activism that goes back to her days at UB. “The curriculum had a tremendous emphasis on social justice, that we as lawyers could effect positive social change,” she says. “That really spoke to me. That's very UB law.”

Shaw's love for the law and strong sense of public service are still very much intact. She began training for the Virginia State Bar Disaster Legal Assistance Committee in October 2005 to offer pro bono legal support to some of the nearly 5,000 people who were forced to relocate to Virginia as a result of hurricane Katrina.

Shaw also is planning another trip to Kenya this summer. This time she hopes to teach at a local high school. “My attitude is we're only here for a certain amount of time. If you've got the interest and the talent, why not?”

Visit www.nkcef.org for more information on the Nomadic Kenyan Children's Educational Fund.