The BMCEE was named in honor of Bessie Boehm Moore. Moore founded the Arkansas Council on Economic Education (now known as Economics Arkansas) in 1962 and fostered its development into one of the preeminent councils in the nation. In the early years, she raised money, recruited the teachers, developed the program, and conducted the workshops in a manner that was much admired throughout the country. Moore has inspired and had a seminal influence on virtually everyone involved in economic education in Arkansas and in much of the rest of the nation as well. She retired as its executive director in 1979.
The national leadership award given annually to the outstanding economic educator in the U.S. is named the Bessie Moore award. Moore molded the program so that her imprint is on all that we do today. Any success that the current program has experienced is rooted in the work of Bessie Moore.
Before her focus on economic education, Moore taught and also for decades promoted libraries on both statewide and national levels. She was born in 1902.
Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in education, master’s degrees in education and in economics and four honorary doctorates, according to Economics Arkansas. She died in October 1995 at the age of 93.
Articles on Moore and the Center
The Baton of Mentorship: Bessie’s Legacy, by Rita Littrell, Economics Arkansas
Bessie B. Moore: An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove, Economics Arkansas
She Always Looked Ahead, by Tom Dillard, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Nov. 13, 2011 (possible paywall)
Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on Moore
Wikipedia entry on Moore
Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame entry, 2018 inductee
U of A Catalog page on the center
Videos
“Bessie Grace Boehm Moore was an educator, civic leader and force of nature, advocating for a robust library system in Arkansas, economic education in public schools and the creation of the Ozark Folk Center State Park.”
