Philanthropy Is A Family Affair With Mincemoyers
April 11, 2001
University Park, Pa.—For the family of retired Penn State Professor Donald Mincemoyer and his wife, Betty Jane, of State College, supporting the University is a family affair. They recently contributed $40,000 to a scholarship that they endowed in 1990 for students in agriculture, and in doing so inspired additional giving by other members of their family. Altogether the Mincemoyer family has made gifts totaling about $80,000 to support Penn State programs that are close to their own hearts.

A gift of $20,000 in the name of Donald and Betty Jane Mincemoyer’s daughter Beth, along with additional money contributed by Beth and her husband Rod Egan, of Boalsburg, has endowed a scholarship for students studying school food service management through Penn State’s World Campus. Beth Mincemoyer Egan is an instructor in Penn State’s Dietetic Program through Distance Education in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management. She holds two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree from Penn State and has focused her career on child nutrition programs.

The Mincemoyers’ son and daughter-in-law, Thomas and Claudia Mincemoyer, also of Boalsburg, directed $20,000 for an endowment that will support innovative curriculum projects in 4-H, a national youth development and education program in which Penn State is involved through the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Education and the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service. The program offers young people a chance to join in a range of activities aimed at involving them in their communities. Claudia and Betty Jane Mincemoyer and Beth Mincemoyer Egan are 4-H leaders in Boalsburg.

Claudia Mincemoyer, an assistant professor of agricultural and extension education at Penn State, is responsible for the 4-H youth curriculum development program. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees at Penn State. Thomas Mincemoyer, who also holds Penn State bachelor’s and master’s degrees, served many years as a technology coordinator for both Penn State’s Cooperative Extension Service and Continuing and Distance Education units and is now the director of technology for the State College Area School District.

Betty Jane Mincemoyer, a Juniata College graduate, taught home economics at the Mifflinburg Area High School until her retirement in 1993. Donald Mincemoyer, who earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Penn State, was a faculty member in the College of Agricultural Sciences from 1978 until his retirement in 1991. He also taught youth and adults in agriculture and advised the Future Farmers of America chapter at the Mifflinburg Area High School.

Since its creation in 1990, the Donald L. and Betty J. Mincemoyer Scholarship in the College of Agricultural Sciences has been awarded to 13 students. The scholarship is for first-year students in the college who reside in Pennsylvania, and preference is given to graduates of the Mifflinburg Area High School.

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Contact: 
Mike Bezilla 863-4512 (work) 238-5842 (home) mxb13@psu.edu
Laura Stocker 863-4512 (work) lsp1@psu.edu