UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new scholarship in the Penn State College of Education will provide critical financial support to undergraduate students pursuing careers in elementary and early childhood education with a focus on language and literacy. Established through a series of planned gifts, the scholarship will help ensure that aspiring educators have the resources they need to succeed.
The scholarship, made possible by an anonymous donor, will be awarded to full-time undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need. Preference will be given to those majoring in or planning to major in elementary and early childhood education with a focus on language and literacy. The donor has committed multiple planned gifts to create this endowment, including charitable gift annuities that provide lifetime income to the donor while securing future funds for Penn State, as well as naming the University the primary beneficiary of their IRA. The scholarship will be established once the College of Education receive the funds from the donor’s IRA and charitable gift annuity.
Dean Kimberly A. Lawless expressed gratitude for the donor’s generosity and its long-term impact on teacher education.
“Eliminating financial barriers is key to ensuring that all students accepted into the College of Education eventually graduate with their degrees," Lawless said. "Endowed scholarships help us achieve this important goal. I hope this anonymous donor’s generous gift — for which I am profoundly grateful — will inspire others to make similar commitments in support of future educators."
Gifts to scholarships 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.