Association honors longtime Omaha educator, writer
The UNO Alumni Association bestowed its Citation for Alumni Achievement award upon UNO graduate Janice Robinson Gilmore during the university’s December Commencement ceremony Dec. 14 at Baxter Arena. An Omaha native, Gilmore is a longtime Omaha educator, writer and motivational speaker. She is a two-time UNO graduate with BS (1966) and MS (1971) degrees in education.
Inaugurated in 1949, the citation is the association’s highest honor. It encompasses career achievement, community service, involvement in business and professional associations, and fidelity to UNO. Gilmore is the 178th UNO graduate to receive the award, which association President Lee Denker presented.
Born and raised in Omaha, Gilmore has enjoyed success in two career fields. She first worked as a teacher with Omaha Public Schools (OPS), starting at Franklin Elementary in 1966. While teaching, she earned her master’s degree in educational administration, then became assistant principal at Central Park Elementary in 1972. She became principal at Clifton Hill Elementary in 1978. In 1988, Clifton Hill faculty, staff and students moved to King Junior High, which became Martin Luther King Primary Center. Gilmore remained principal there until 1999, when she retired after 31 years with OPS.
Gilmore next built a career as a columnist, author and popular motivational speaker. That began with the Omaha World-Herald newspaper, for which Gilmore began writing a column in 1996. She still writes regularly for the paper today. She also writes for an African-American lifestyle empowerment magazine, Revive! Gilmore also is the author of an inspirational children’s book, “Cool Kids Live in Omaha,” and a book about grief, “When Someone You Love Dies.” The latter was written for PULSE, a group assisting families of homicide victims.
Gilmore is an active volunteer in the community. She is a consultant for Innocent Classroom, a professional development project focused on building teacher-student relationships in school districts with wide gaps in achievement. She also is a member of Concerned and Caring Educators, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Urban League, Project Hope, African American Empowerment, Inc., the Bright Futures Foundation and the NAACP. She attends Salem Baptist Church, where she serves as a greeter, ministry leader of a women’s prayer group, and the church’s bereavement coordinator.
Numerous organizations have honored Gilmore for her work, including North High, which named her a Viking of Distinction. She also has received the UNO College of Education Distinguished Alumni Award, the YWCA Tribute to Women Award, the Omaha Schools Foundation Award, the Urban League African American Leadership Award, an Omaha School Administration Award, the Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center Legacy Award and other honors. She is married to Alvin Gilmore and together they have three married sons and seven grandchildren.