Beloved education teacher, Patricia Nourot, dies

Patricia Nourot, a friend and colleague in the School of Education from 1988 to 2004, died of unknown causes this week. She was hospitalized on Tuesday for severe back pain and died on Wednesday at about 2 p.m. Details of the cause of death are not yet available. Nourot is survived by her husband, David Nourot and daughter, Isa Nourot, both in Benicia; her mother and brother in Santa Rosa.

Nourot, began teaching in the early childhood program in the mid 1980s and became an Assistant Professor in the School of Education in 1988. She assumed leadership as Coordinator of the Early Childhood credential and M.A. programs in about 1990 and continued in that role until her retirement in 2004. Pat was very active in California Department of Education initiatives related to early childhood education, preschool, and infant and young child care. She was a principal author of state DOE documents on early childhood and preschool care and was an national expert on early childhood education and children's play. She was co-author of the text, Play at the Center of the Curriculum (Merrill, Prentice-Hall), the fourth edition of which was published just this spring.

Nourot was an active and energetic member of the School of Education. She taught classes, supervised student teachers, and mentored many, many students through their early childhood credential and M.A. programs. For over ten years she organized the day-long Early Childhood Institute on the SSU campus each spring. She was a friend and role model to her students and a scholar of high stature in the community, state, and nation. Nourot was well known at SSU's Childrens Center for her knowledge and participation there. She mentored student teachers and teachers at McNear Elementary School in Petaluma for many years. Throughout her career she worked closely with school districts in Sonoma, Napa, and Solano Counties toward the end of high quality education for preschool, primary, and elemenatry age children. Nourot's contributions to the early childhood credential and M.A. programs, the multiple subject credential program, and the School of Education itself were consistent and substantial. She will be remembered by colleagues and students alike for her sweetness of spirit and bubbling personality, says former Dean of Education Marty Ruddell.