Western Illinois University students from Brown County will now benefit from four new scholarships created, or enhanced, through a generous bequest to the Western Illinois University Foundation that honors a local teacher’s belief in the transformational power of education.
The bequest was established by Louise Hofsess Huseman, a 1966 alumna, who spent her career as a high school teacher in Mt. Sterling. Her husband, George, earned four degrees from WIU (1966, 1987, 1991 and 2003) and taught history at Western.
The estate gift establishes the Louise Huseman Scholarship for Language Arts, the George Huseman Geography Scholarship and the George Huseman History Scholarship. The new scholarships, as well as the existing Mary McCutcheon Hofsess Scholarship, each received a six-figure contribution, ensuring long-term support for WIU students from the region. The George Huseman Geography Scholarship also received a significant investment from George’s life insurance policy, bringing the couple’s total support for these scholarship funds to nearly one million dollars.
“This generous bequest will have a lasting impact on students from Brown County,” said Amy Crosby, interim executive director of the Western Illinois University Foundation. “By establishing these endowed scholarships, the Huseman and Hofsess families have created an enduring legacy that will support generations of WIU students as they pursue their educational and professional goals.”
The scholarships will assist students from Brown County who are studying English, history, geography or biology (pre-med) at WIU. Each scholarship is renewable for up to four years and will award at least $2,000 annually to each student. The endowments provide ongoing financial support for students from the region who demonstrate academic promise and an interest in these fields.
“We are deeply grateful to Mrs. Huseman for thinking of the students of WIU and Brown County when establishing her will,” Brown County High School Principal Pollee Craven said. “Her generosity will have a tremendous impact on generations of Hornet-Leathernecks.”
The Huseman scholarships are open to incoming and current WIU students from Brown County. Students interested in applying for these scholarships must submit their applications by Friday, May 15. Applications can be submitted in the WIU Scholarship Portal, at wiu.academicworks.com/.
To learn more about supporting WIU through planned gifts, visit wiu.giftplans. org or contact Crosby at [email protected].
Louise Hofsess Huseman '66, who spent her career as a high school teacher in Mt. Sterling, IL.
