$3.1 million donation to the College of Business Administration for student scholarships

The College of Business Administration received a $3.1 million scholarship endowment from alumnus Joseph Stevens and his wife, Fran Stevens. 

The money will benefit juniors and seniors in the college who have financial need and a 3.0 GPA or higher.

Joseph graduated from Kent State in 1941 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, went on to work for two accounting firms, and retired at 51 as the vice president of Xerox Corp, according to his obituary. Joseph died in November 2016 at the age of 97 after the deaths of his son, Jeffrey, and his wife of 73 years, Fran.

Students from the College of Business Administration can apply for the scholarship to be used for tuition and study abroad experiences. 

“They were really big on traveling and they knew the importance of a global perspective, so because of that, they really loved to have their money go toward helping students that were applying and fit the criteria for study abroad experiences,” Bethany-Marie Sava, the associate director of the Annual Giving Program said.

The college anticipates another donation after the estate is finalized, Sava said. The final amount is unknown at this time.

Kelsey Meszaros is the student affairs reporter. Contact her at [email protected]