Fiscal year 2018

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Samuel and Susan Crowl Professorship in English Literature

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Paul Jones. Photo by Max Catalano, BSVC ’20

At the heart of Ohio University is love—for this singular place, for knowledge and wisdom, and for the people who ignite a thirst for such. People like retired Professors Samuel and Susan Crowl whose work inspired former students to create an endowed professorship that would ensure their legacies live on and ignite a love for learning and discovery in the Bobcats who followed them.

“I just feel so honored to have a professorship that’s named after somebody who is really somebody to live up to,” says Paul Jones, a scholar of 19th-century American literature and OHIO’s second Samuel and Susan Crowl Professor in English Literature.

The professorship has allowed Jones to more fully pursue his professional passion. He is penning his third book, and his scholarly work has taken him from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Kyoto, Japan, to research and present his findings.

The title has also inspired Jones to carry on the legacy of colleagues who inspired countless OHIO students over the years. Specializing in Edgar Allan Poe, Jones uses the famous author as a means of encouraging students to read and learn new things.

“I’m glad I can make people excited about American literature and get them to read,” Jones says. “I’m in touch with a lot of former students who tell me they still think of my classes.”

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Robert L. Morton Professorship of Mathematics Education

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Gregory Foley. Photo by Kim Barlag, BA ’92, MA ’17

“If you know mathematics, it can help you make wise decisions.”

That’s the philosophy behind Gregory Foley’s teaching and research—and the spirit through which he serves as the Patton College of Education’s Robert L. Morton Professor of Mathematics Education.

Morton (BSED ’13, LHD ’68) graduated from Ohio University in 1913. Alumni Gateway did not exist, but Morton embodied the virtues etched on that landmark in everything he did as an OHIO alumnus. He returned to his alma mater as a faculty member in 1918 and embarked on a 42-year career devoted to the teaching of mathematics as a means of changing lives.

Morton’s legacy can still be seen and felt on the Athens Campus—in the lecture hall that bears his name and in the professorship he endowed 45 years ago.

Foley credits Morton’s philanthropy with allowing him to work more closely with graduate students, collaborating on professional development for math teachers and evolving curriculum designed to ensure a successful transition from high school mathematics to college courses.

Through that work, Foley and his students are building communities—within Ohio University and with local school teachers—and impacting the field of mathematics education. An article Foley co-authored with a student and an Athens County math teacher was featured in the April 2018 issue of the official journal of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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Robert H. Freeman Professorship

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Heather Lawrence-Benedict (RIGHT) talks with her mentee. Photo by Hannah Ruhoff, BSVC ’20

“It motivates me every day.”

That’s how Heather Lawrence-Benedict describes the Robert H. Freeman Professorship she holds in OHIO’s College of Business.

Frances G. Shoolroy established the professorship in 2004 in honor of her late husband, a 1935 alumnus who attended OHIO in the midst of the Great Depression, worked many jobs to fund his education and credited the College of Business with laying the foundation for his success.

The OHIO education Freeman received lives on thanks to a professorship that attracts faculty who bring real-world knowledge and leading-edge research to the classroom.

Lawrence-Benedict joined OHIO’s Department of Sports Administration in 2005, bringing years of professional experience in intercollegiate athletics and personal experience as an award-winning athlete. As director of the Professional Master in Sports Administration, Lawrence-Benedict oversaw a program ranked No. 1 in the world by SportsBusiness International for five consecutive years—three under her leadership. Lawrence-Benedict has taught and presented nationally and internationally, been published extensively and has lent her expertise to student consulting projects.

The success Freeman found as a result of his college education continues in OHIO’s Freeman Professors and the hundreds of students who learn from and collaborate with these faculty members each year, researching everything from the business of CrossFit to sustainability in marketing, and fostering a program that is second to none.

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Isabel Courtney Hall Music Education Scholarship

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Mietta Smith. Photo by Harley Wince, BSVC ’20

Mietta Smith was 5 when her mother returned to school to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

Smith doesn’t remember her mother going to college, but she does remember the steadfast emphasis her mother placed on earning a college degree—and the concerns they both had about affording college. Smith also remembers the excitement in her mother’s voice when she called home to tell her mom they could worry a little less.

The youngest in her family and the first among her siblings to go to college, Smith is the first of two Isabel Courtney Hall Music Education Scholarship recipients.

The family of Isabel Courtney Hall (BFA ’46, BSED ’47) established the scholarship, benefitting undergraduates in the College of Fine Arts who demonstrate financial need and academic merit, in her memory and seized an opportunity to stretch the impact of their generosity a little further.

Their gift qualified for OHIO’s Undergraduate Scholarship Investment Program. Known as The OHIO Match, the six-year program provides $0.50 in University matching funds for every dollar committed to eligible scholarship endowments. In the program’s first five years, donors contributed $8.52 million in eligible gifts, resulting in $4.26 million in matching University funds and the awarding of more than $580,000 in scholarship funding over the past three fiscal years.

“This scholarship definitely makes a difference,” says Smith who is finishing her first year as a music education major. “It would be a lot harder, and a lot more stressful for me and my mom, to make my monthly payments without this help.”

The OHIO Match ends June 30, 2019, and was recently expanded to include OHIO’s regional campuses and donor-specified programs. For more information, visit https://ohiotoday.org/news/2019/01/18/ohio-match-update/.

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Bryant and Irma Austin Scholarship

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Kayleigh Stelling. Photo by Max Catalano, BSVC ’20

Junior Kayleigh Stelling is a first-generation student who’s making the most of her OHIO experience.

She seizes opportunities for professional growth, double-majoring in screenwriting/producing and psychology because, she says, “why not just learn a little more,” and putting her skills to the test on “Fridays Live,” produced by student-run AVW Productions.

She’s also learning life lessons in working hard and making ends meet.

Stelling came to OHIO with scholarships—assistance, she says, that played a significant factor in her college choice—and was later awarded a Dean’s Scholarship. She works as a multimedia specialist at Alden Library—earning a wage while expanding her skillset. And, she took the advice of her academic advisor and applied for the Bryant (BSC ’96, MBA ’99) and Irma Austin Scholarship.

The Austins created the scholarship to help promising young scholars in the Scripps College of Communication.

“I’m extremely grateful that donors like these continue to remember the students here, students who aren’t any less deserving but who need that extra help,” Stelling said.

The Austin Scholarship is one of over 155 endowed scholarship accounts established since 2013, thanks to donors who maximized their student support by giving through The OHIO Match. Ohio University has pledged up to $25 million for this historic investment in student accessibility and affordability, partnering with donors to provide $0.50 in matching funds for every dollar committed to eligible scholarship endowments.

For Stelling, the Austin Scholarship means money for tuition, books, rent, and, most importantly, “I will owe a lot less by the time I graduate.”

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