Dr. Necia Desiree Harkless, a native of Detroit Michigan, is a nationally and internationally known scholar in Early Childhood Education, Curriculum Development, Leadership and Multi-Cultural Education. She has served as an educational consultant throughout the United States, assisting school districts and other organizations develop new programs for children parents and others. She received a fellowship at the University of Illinois to train future teachers. Education : Prairie View State and Agricultural College,( Hempstead,Texas) B.A.(Education and Social Science),1942; Detroit Institute of Musical Art, B.A., 1960; University of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana, M.A., 1969; Wayne State… University, Detroit, Michigan, ED.D. (Education), 1974. Memberships: Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission; Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence; Kentucky Youth Orchestra Board; Advisory Board of the Governor's School for the Arts; Lay Eucharistic Minister, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church; Prison Ministry, Blackburn Prison Correctional Complex; Advisory Board, Georgetown College Underground Railroad Research Institute; and The International Society for Nubian Studies. Career: Michigan Department of Social Welfare, Caseworker, 1946-56; Detroit Institute of Musical Arts, Piano and Theory teacher; Detroit Public Schools, Kindergarten Teacher, 1965-1968; Wayne State University College of Education, 1968-74; University of Kentucky, 1974-1981; Georgetown College, 1981-1985; and Donovan Scholar, University of Kentucky 1985-present. Publications: Heart to Heart: Poems and Heart Images by Necia Desiree Harkless; Childress: Touched Many One Man by Ann Taylor Wright, published by Heart to Heart and Associates, Dr. Necia Desiree Harkless, Second Edition, University of Kentucky Library Press; 'Three Black Madonnas in My Life' in She is Everywhere, iUniverse Press. May 8, 2002 was awarded Georgetown College's Doctor of Letters honoris causa for her commitment to the advancement of arts and education; exhibitor of her art in Georgetown's Anne Wright Wilson Art Gallery and elsewhere; curriculum development projects in two universities in Nigeria; state delegate to the International Women's Year conference in Houston Texas; The World Conference on Early Childhood Education in Melbourne, Australia.