Ohio Northern has received a grant worth $1 million to provide scholarships to students in STEM fields, according to a recent press release and University reporting.
The grant comes from the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, which describes itself as “the legacy of Austin E. Knowlton, community leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist” whose mission is “to promote and advance higher education in the United States through direct grants and contributions to qualified colleges and universities.” The Austin E. Knowlton Foundation’s 2023 Form 990 (filed Nov. 15, 2024) reports $237 million in total assets.
$200,000 will be distributed annually for five years to “qualified students with financial need from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan,” according to the press release.
A description for ONU’s “Austin E. Knowlton Memorial Scholarships” can be found via undergraduate scholarships on the university’s website. The press release specifies that Ohio Northern had previously received an engineering-specific scholarship grant from the foundation.
Ohio Northern University President Melissa Baumann, Ph.D., is quoted: “This is a wonderful affirmation of the value and return on an investment of an ONU degree and our excellence in STEM education…We appreciate the Knowlton Foundation’s generosity and ongoing support. We look forward to putting these resources to work for our students.”
Knowlton owned the Knowlton Construction Company, which the press release notes was “responsible for…several buildings on ONU’s campus.” Online records of the Heterick Memorial Library attribute contracts for all three wings of the Founders Complex (Founders Hall, Park Hall, and Maglott Hall) as well as ONU’s second-ever dormitory, the now-unoccupied Staumbaugh Hall, to the Knowlton Company.
The Auston E. Knowlton Foundation has given similar grants to dozens of colleges and universities in the Midwest, including 80% of the Ohio Athletic Conference and 32% of all independent, not-for-profit colleges and universities in the state of Ohio.
Other institutions offering a scholarship dedicated to Knowlton include Augustana College, Georgetown College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein University, Heidelberg University, Bluffton University, Denison University, Xavier University, Muskingum University, Wittenberg University. Universities which have named facilities after Knowlton include Oberlin College, Augustana College, Otterbein University, and the Ohio State University.
[…] donations and grants to Ohio Northern supporting Engineering include those from the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, the Sholl Student Competition Fund, the Don Wood Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and […]