Dr. Adelaide Sanford

Dr. Sanford’s professional career has spanned the elementary through college and graduate school levels. She has been a classroom teacher, teacher of guidance, assistant principal, and principal in the New York City School system. She taught education courses at Baruch College and at Fordham University. She was a visiting practitioner and teaching fellow at the Principals’ Center at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. Honorary doctorates were conferred on Regent Sanford by Mercy College, The Bank Street College of Education, Five Towns College, St. John’s University, and Long Island University. She is a graduate of Brooklyn College, Wellesley College, and Fordham University, where she was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Urban Education. On the occasion of the 125th Anniversary of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the African Studies Department presented The First Distinguished Black Alumna Award to Adelaide Sanford in recognition of her lifetime accomplishments.

During her nineteen year tenure as principal, Public School 21, the Crispus Attucks School in Brooklyn, earned a reputation as an outstanding inner city school where pupil achievement, teacher morale, and special programs for gifted and talented students brought city-wide recognition. The Humanitarian Award from the Congressional Black Caucus; The Distinguished Alumna Award from Brooklyn College; The Ellen Lurie Award from the Community Service Society; and the Josephine Shaw Lowell Award for her work in empowering low income communities are among the hundreds of awards presented to her for her leadership in education.

Adelaide L. Sanford, a spellbinding orator, was unanimously elected to a seven-year term as a Member-At-Large of the Board of Regents of the State of New York in 1986. She was re-elected to a second seven-year term in 1993 and a five-year term in 2000. In March 2001, she was elected to the position of Vice Chancellor of the Board of Regents. During her tenure as a Regent, she served as Chair of the Regents’ Committee on Low Performing Schools, Chair of the Committee on Higher Education, and Chair of the Committee on the Professions.

Vice Chancellor Sanford, a tireless fighter for the underserved and underrepresented, is a leading national advocate for the education of students of African Ancestry. She developed the concept of a Board of Education of People of African Ancestry and was instrumental in its founding, development, and growth. The programs emanating from this initiative have received national recognition.

Adelaide L. Sanford, married to the late Dr. Jay Sanford, have two children, Dr. Jayminn Sanford-DeShields and David Sanford. She is the proud grandparent of two grandsons: David Corey Sanford and Daraja Jary DeShields.