Endowments establish scholarships at NSU
Published: 2010-05-03
Northeastern State University has announced the establishment of four scholarships with the NSU Foundation.
The scholarships are the Jack and Jane Cochran Endowed Scholarship, the Dr. Stephen E. Smith Endowed Scholarship, the Ed and Denise Bell Endowed Scholarship in Education and the Crafton and Leoser Families Endowed Scholarship for Non-Traditional Students.
The Cochran scholarship was established by Sue Catron, director of Business Affairs at NSU. Catron wished to assist students who are parents because of her personal experience with the encouragement and assistance provided by her parents. It will not require recipients to attend school full-time, but does stipulate that they complete nine hours per semester and 18 hours per academic year with a grade-point average of 2.5.
Smith established a scholarship in his name to assist students in the College of Education. Smith, who graduated from NSU with a bachelor's degree in 1991 and a master's in 1995, credits NSU with preparing him for a career in higher education and wanted to show appreciation by endowing a scholarship. Smith is president of Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton. The scholarship will be awarded to upperclassmen.
Another scholarship which will benefit students pursuing education degrees is the Ed and Denise Bell scholarship. The Bells wished to provide scholarship assistance to students after the experience of putting their four children through college. The Bells are educators in Stigler and Northeastern alumni. The scholarship will go to NSU juniors who graduated from high school at Stigler, Quinton, Keota, Kinta or McCurtain.
The Crafton-Leoser scholarship, arranged by the Nix Foundation, will offer assistance to non-traditional students. The Nix Foundation and Patsiann Nix Smith, a donor to the scholarship, wanted to assist those pursuing a college degree in a non-traditional fashion. Recipients must show a record of employment and volunteer service and preference will be given to those in financial need.
The scholarships are designated as permanent endowments, and will become available to students when they mature sufficiently to be self-sustaining.
For more information about available scholarships call the NSU Office of Student Financial Services at 918-444-3456. For information on making donations contact the NSU Foundation at foundation@nsuok.edu or 918-458-2143.