Gifts totaling $450,000 from several volunteers on Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Development Council will establish two Trustee Matching Scholarships, support construction of the new Food Science Building, and provide funding for the Arboretum at Penn State.
Diane Blanton, a 1979 Penn State graduate in environmental resource management, has given $50,000 to establish a Trustee Matching Scholarship. These awards are designed to help keep a Penn State education accessible to all qualified undergraduates, regardless of their financial means. First preference will go to students in environmental resource management. Blanton resides in Pittsburgh and is president of Network Energy of Ohio, which collects and distributes methane gas from landfills for energy use. Previously, she established the Jeffrey S. Blanton Scholarship in Environmental Resource Management in memory of her late husband.
Bruce Edwards, a 1971 Forest Science alumnus, and his wife, Jean, a 1971 psychology alumna, also have made a gift of $50,000 to establish a Trustee Matching Scholarship, with first preference for undergraduate students majoring in forest science. Bruce Edwards is the owner of Starlight Forests, and Jean Edwards is an occupational therapist. They also support Penn State intercollegiate athletics, and have contributed to the Edwards Family Student Activity Center in the new Forest Resources Building, which is under construction on the University Park campus and scheduled for completion early in 2006. The couple resides in Starrucca.
Catherine Adams of Oak Brook, Ill., has designated $50,000 for a research laboratory in the new Food Sciences Building, currently under construction on the University Park campus and scheduled to be completed in June 2006. She graduated from the University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in food science and is corporate vice president for McDonald's.
State College residents John and Nancy Steimer have contributed $300,000 to the Arboretum at Penn State. The 395-acre arboretum will be located on the University Park campus and will be the first institutional botanical garden and arboretum between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. John Steimer, a 1949 Penn State alumnus in forestry, is retired president of Industrial Terminal Systems and Penn Glenn Oil. The Steimers are long-time supporters of the college, previously contributing $1 million to the new Forest Resources Building and endowing a scholarship and a professorship. John Steimer received Penn State's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1992.
The College of Agricultural Sciences Development Council is a volunteer organization that provides leadership in support of the college's philanthropic goals. Council members have a combined total giving to the College of Agricultural Sciences of more than $3 million.