UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Pledging $30,000, husband and wife Ian Kephart and Danielle Fahr Kephart have established an Open Doors Scholarship at Penn State DuBois. As part of the recently concluded Open Doors Scholarship Program, Penn State has made a 2:1 matching contribution to their gift, creating a full $90,000 endowment under the Ian Kephart and Danielle Fahr Open Doors Scholarship.
Studies have found that only 50 percent of students from low-income households graduate in six years. The Open Doors Scholarship Program is aimed at addressing such issues by funding scholarships for students enrolled in programs that will address the financial, academic, and personal challenges students face in graduating from Penn State. To date, the Open Doors Scholarship Program — between donor contributions and University matching funds — has generated more than $3 million for student scholarship endowments at Penn State DuBois.
Both natives of Morrisdale, Pennsylvania, Ian Kephart and Danielle Fahr Kephart both also began their college education at Penn State DuBois. Ian Kephart went on to obtain a degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas engineering at University Park in 1996. Danielle Fahr Kephart went on to earn her degree in administration of justice at University Park in 1999, and a law degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 2002.
Danielle Fahr Kephart said, “We are both first-generation graduates, and we both benefited from the amazing generosity of Penn Staters who came before us and whom established scholarships. We are very excited to be able to pay it forward and potentially help others from rural communities achieve their educational goals, and broaden and diversify their experiences, knowledge, and perspective.”
The Ian Kephart and Danielle Fahr Open Doors Scholarship will help to advance "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence," a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections. With the support of alumni and friends, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit http://greaterpennstate.psu.edu/
For more information on the Open Doors Scholarship Program, and all giving at Penn State DuBois, contact Director of Development Jean Wolf, at 814-372-3038 or jaw57@psu.edu or visit http://dubois.psu.edu/open-doors-scholarship-program.