Senior Mary Landon said she pays for college with the help of financial aid and scholarships. With at least another year of school to go, she said she would probably apply for one of the Department of Education and Human Sciences’ newest and largest awards – the Juanita S. Sorenson Scholarship, which supports a full year’s tuition for one elementary education student each year.

The late emerita professor of education left a third of her estate to support both the scholarship and the Juanita S. and Douglas D. Sorenson Professional Development Fund, which funds furthering faculty education.

“(The endowment) is a great thing to help out other people,” Landon said, adding she was impressed with the Sorenson’s generosity.

Kimera Way, executive director of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation, said that while the bulk of the endowment is going to the development fund, about $6,000 annually funds the full-tuition scholarship of one junior, senior or graduate student in elementary education.

“It will be one of our more substantial scholarships,” Way said.

Gail Scukanec, the Dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences, said the scholarship will help the department hold on to a top student every year.

“We have a significant number of scholarships for teachers,” Scukanec said. “But they’re not usually this large.”

She added a high GPA would be a big factor in choosing the recipient. This year will mark the first time the Sorenson is given. Applications are due Feb. 15.

About $10,000 will go to the second part of the endowment, the professional development fund, each year. Scukanec said this will fund faculty members interested in improving teaching or research skills by attending a conference, for example. It might also support a professor who wants to develop new material for education or for furthering expertise in a field such as technology.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful,” Scukanec said. “It’s always difficult to have enough money for faculty to have all the professional development that they need.”

Way agreed.

“If you don’t have great faculty and staff, then ultimately you’re not benefiting the students,” she said.

Lloyd Joyal, professor emeritus of education and close friend of the late Sorenson, said the former educator was very dedicated to her work and greatly benefited the university over her 17-year tenure.

“(The Sorensons) were vitally interested in education,” Joyal said. “(Juanita) often talked about the fact that since they didn’t have any family, this was her family.”

Joyal said he worked with Sorenson on developing Individually Guided Education programs in the community and they presented their ideas at various conferences. Sorenson’s students took her new ideas into the field, he said, and their background in this program made them valuable in the workforce.

“She was a pretty special person,” Joyal said. “She did some very innovative things in the field of education.”