Former Dean of the College of Business Hugh Sherman and his wife Cynthia have created a scholarship for students from the Appalachian region.
The scholarship is for undergraduate students, and Hugh said that their initial contribution was matched by their friends and alumni, totaling about $300,000.
“We were really touched by so many of our colleagues and friends and alumni that I've worked with over the last, more than 13 years, that they wanted to be part of it,” he said.
After stepping down as Dean, Hugh said he was asked what people could do to show their appreciation, and he encouraged them to donate to the scholarship fund. He said that after living in the Athens region for 25 years, he and his wife were inspired to help students because of their involvement in the community.
“In the beginning, it was many of my son’s friends, because he went to high school here,” Hugh said. “So we tried to help students, other friends of his, young people that were struggling to go to university.”
Hugh said that they were touched that so many people contributed, and it had been an interest of theirs for a long time to give back to the area.
“I would not have been able to go college if somebody had not set up a scholarship so that I got money to go,” Cynthia said. “So that has a more personal feel for me.”
Ohio University is committed to helping students from the Appalachian region, Hugh said, especially first-generation students.
“We're seeing how some of them came from difficult homes where they could be cared for by a single parent or they didn't have a parent who had gone to college and could serve as a role model for them, so it makes it harder,” Hugh said.
Hugh said the scholarship may help students get a significant amount of annual costs paid for, and provide aid that they may not even be aware is there.
“We’re hoping that it helps provide the means for a student that would never get to college to go to college,” Hugh said. “All of us believe that getting a college education can really transform their lives. It opens up opportunities they would have gotten to have more fulfilling jobs and to create the same opportunities for their family.”
Cynthia said they are also hoping that with more students being able to go to college, they will have the opportunity to help their own communities as well.
“We’re also hoping that these new students with college degrees would help their families and their communities go forward,” she said.
