UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Everything Paula Todd knows about Penn State she learned from her late husband John and his friends, and during their 35 years of marriage, he never wavered in his support for The Daily Collegian, she said. Now she has honored that passion with a commitment to endow a scholarship for aspiring journalists.
“Our commitment to journalism education has been proven for generations at Penn State, and this gift honors the legacy of someone who appreciated the importance of journalism,” said Dean Marie Hardin of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. “We know quality journalism plays a vital role in a civil and vibrant society as people exchange ideas and seek truth. We’re honored to help prepare future journalists for that role.”
A Philadelphia native, John joined the Collegian’s business division as a first-year student and eventually became business manager before graduating with an accounting degree from the University in 1974.
“He always talked about the Collegian with great respect,” Paula said. “He was an avid reader of newspapers and thought professional journalists were a key part of the checks and balances for maintaining a civil society.
“Even though he spent his whole career as an accountant, it was clear his experience working at the Collegian was formative," she added. "The bulk of his lifetime Penn State friends all shared a Collegian connection.”
When John died suddenly in January 2018, Paula created a scholarship in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State. Still, she said, she always felt something was missing.
So, Todd recently established a second endowed scholarship funded by an initial gift — to be later complemented by a larger estate gift — to create the John and Paula Todd Scholarship for Future Professional Journalists. The scholarship is intended for journalism majors who are active with the Daily Collegian.
“In the back of my mind, it was nagging at me. Although John’s Penn State accounting degree gave him the basis for a successful career, his most meaningful and lasting experiences at Penn State were somehow tied to his work for the Collegian,” she said. “John had a tremendous respect for the publication and the people who made it happen, as well as people who train for and devote their professional careers to serious journalism.”
With a family from the Midwest who later settled in Maryland, Paula earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Stanford University. John and Paula met in Washington, D.C., while both were working as accountants for the National Housing Partnership in the mid-1970s. The couple later settled in Stamford, Connecticut, where they spent 30 years before moving to Juno Beach, Florida, in 2009.
For both John and Paula, the land-grant tradition held personal meaning, Paula said. John’s family and friends included quite a few Penn Staters, among them his sister, brother-in-law and nephew. Members of Paula’s family attended several different land-grant colleges, including Cornell, Iowa State and Maryland, and she previously established a memorial scholarship in honor of her mother at Iowa State. With this latest gift to Penn State, she hopes to ensure that future journalists in generations to come can attend the University and pursue their passions as well.
Donors like Paula Todd advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.