Academics

Toxicology students to receive assistance from new scholarship

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A Penn State alumnus has established a new scholarship that will benefit students in the College of Agricultural Sciences with demonstrated financial need.

Kenton Rexford, of Pittsburgh, provided a $50,000 gift to create the Camille DeClementi Trustee Scholarship. First preference for funds will go to students majoring in Toxicology.

The Trustee Matching Scholarship Program maximizes the impact of private giving while directing funds to students as quickly as possible, meeting the urgent need for scholarship support. For Trustee Scholarships created through the end of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students on June 30, 2014, Penn State will provide an annual 10 percent match of the total pledge or gift.

This level is an increase from the program's original match of 5 percent, and it is available only for new endowments of $50,000 or more. The University match, which is approximately double the endowment's annual spendable income, continues in perpetuity, multiplying the support available for students with financial need.

Rexford established the endowment in honor of Camille DeClementi, senior director of medical records for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She formerly was senior director of animal health services at the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center.

Prior to joining the ASPCA, DeClementi practiced emergency and general medicine in Pittsburgh and Tennessee. A graduate of Lebanon Valley College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, she is a board-certified diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology and the American Board of Toxicology.

"Drs. Rexford and DeClementi have been staunch friends and supporters of the department," said Mary Kennett, head of the college's Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. "They have given generously of their time, interacted with our students and given talks at student events.

"They also have given freely of their resources to support scholarships, and we are extremely thankful for this new scholarship that will support our Toxicology students," she said.

Rexford graduated from the College of Agricultural Sciences in 1990 with a degree in Animal Bioscience before receiving his veterinary degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a partner at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center and immediate past president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association.

In 2009, Rexford also created the Kenton D. Rexford Honors Scholarship in the College of Agricultural Sciences. That scholarship benefits students in the college who also are enrolled in the Schreyer Honors College, with first preference given to Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences majors.

In addition, he has endowed two scholarships at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rexford's gift will help the College of Agricultural Sciences to achieve the goals of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. This University-wide effort is directed toward a shared vision of Penn State as the most comprehensive, student-centered research university in America.

The University is engaging Penn State's alumni and friends as partners in achieving six key objectives: ensuring student access and opportunity, enhancing honors education, enriching the student experience, building faculty strength and capacity, fostering discovery and creativity, and sustaining the University's tradition of quality. The campaign's top priority is keeping a Penn State degree affordable for students and families.

Last Updated May 1, 2014

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