Alumni & Friends

News Stories

W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Awards $56,000 Scholarship Grant to Neumann

The W.W. Smith Charitable Trust has awarded Neumann College a one-year grant of $56,000 to fund undergraduate student scholarships in 2007-08.

The grant is specifically targeted to benefit full-time undergraduates, in good academic standing, with a GPA of at least 2.5 and whose financial needs cannot be met by other aid programs. In addition, students must have a permanent home residency in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery or Philadelphia counties, or in the city of Camden, New Jersey.

Because the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust stipulates a minimum award of $2,000 and a maximum of $2,500 per year, the grant will assist between 23 and 28 Neumann College undergraduate students in 2007-08.

Since 1981, the Trust has provided more than $961,000 to Neumann, aiding more than 400 students in their quests for college degrees. 

“Many of our students are the first generation in their families to attend college,” explained Dr. Rosalie Mirenda, Neumann’s president.  “This generous gift from the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust will allow a good number of them to move significantly closer to a college degree, and a solid economic and socially responsible future.”

Approximately 95% of undergraduate students at Neumann receive some form of financial aid, including federal grants, student loans, and private scholarships. 

The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation established by William Wikoff Smith, who died in 1976. Smith was president and chairman of the board of Kewanee Oil Company.  He also served as president of the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, now the Independence Seaport Museum. The Trust is specifically focused on areas involving basic needs for food, clothing and shelter; supplementing higher education scholarship programs; and basic medical research primarily in heart disease, cancer and AIDS.

8/13/07