ALTOONA, Pa. — A $50,000 gift from the late Judy Weber and her husband, Steve Weber, endowed a scholarship for students in Penn State Altoona’s Nursing program and in the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing at University Park.

The Judy Holler Weber Endowed Nursing Scholarship at Penn State Altoona will provide nursing students at the University with financial support so they may better focus on their educational objectives. The Sewickley, Pennsylvania, couple created the scholarship to reduce students’ overall educational debt, allowing recipients to feel more established and secure as they enter the workforce.

“Our success as a society has everything to do with being engaged with one other, supporting one another and working constructively together to achieve betterment for humankind,” said Steve Weber. “This endowment is one way we can help support those who seek a nursing career, those who will be future caregivers and healers.”

A native of Bedford, Pennsylvania, Judy Weber was a 1977 graduate of the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing. She worked for the National Institutes of Health, the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a senior clinical research nurse. She retired in 2015.

Judy was involved with the formation of Penn State’s College of Nursing Alumni Society, serving on the Probationary Board for the 2014-15 academic year. In this capacity, she helped to form the society’s by-laws. She then served on the board until 2020 as the secretary and treasurer.

Judy passed away Jan. 16, 2024, after a courageous battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“We wanted to forever celebrate Judy’s nursing career,” said Steve Weber. “Her research on treatment protocols to aid in improving future outcomes was her forte, but it was the personal care for her patients that was most rewarding and brought her the most joy.”

Steve is a 1976 graduate of Iowa State University and a 1978 graduate of Northwestern University, earning degrees in civil engineering. He had a 37-year career as a traffic engineer, retiring in 2015 as the chief of the Division of Traffic Engineering for Baltimore County, Maryland.

Steve says he and Judy established the scholarship hoping that recipients will provide similar support to others in the future, creating a pay-it-forward chain.

“Judy's love for Penn State and her passion for the field of nursing shine through with this gift," said Laurie A. Badzek, dean of the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing at University Park. “This generous support for students at both Penn State Altoona and University Park is inspiring. Scholarship support often makes the difference in a student's ability to remain in college. We are grateful for Judy and Steve's beneficence and their investment in our students’ success.”

Suzanne Kuhn, Penn State Altoona’s director of undergraduate nursing education, offered gratitude as well. “The Judy Holler Weber Endowed Nursing Scholarship is a great example of the generosity from our alumni. This scholarship will help Penn State Altoona and University Park nursing students as they look to make positive impacts in the field of nursing and to the recipients of nursing care in our communities.”

Donors like Judy and Steve Weber advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients, and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.