Stokes Foundation Funds Ball State Scholarships
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Ball State University students studying to become K-12 math and art teachers who have financial difficulties will be eligible for new scholarships from the William and Evelyn Stokes Foundation. The foundation reached an agreement with the Ball State University Foundation to give $1 million in scholarships over the next four years.
The university says the agreement allows Ball State’s Teachers College discretion to issue scholarship funds to help students with tuition, books, housing, fees and technology expenses. The university says $800,000 of the funding will go toward math education students, with the rest supporting art education students.
“Bill was always very grateful for the education he received at Ball State,” said Jim Wehrly, president of the William and Evelyn Stokes Foundation. “It helped propel him into a very exciting and fulfilling career as a teacher of middle school mathematics and as a publisher of classroom materials. It would give Bill and Evelyn, who was an accomplished painter, great pleasure to assist under-resourced students preparing to teach mathematics or art to have the same opportunity.”
The Stokes’ established the Stokes Publishing Company in 1972 and produced books and manufactured classroom teaching tools. Evelyn Stokes passed away in 2002. Bill Stokes passed away in 2019.
“We are extremely grateful to the William and Evelyn Stokes Foundation for its thoughtful generosity,” said Dr. Anand Marri, dean of Ball State’s Teachers College. “As a proud graduate, Bill Stokes used the education he received at Ball State University to transform communities near and far. That legacy will live on through these new scholarships, which will provide our students preparing to become math and art teachers an even more accessible and affordable education.”
A complete list of scholarships offered can be found here.