The Northwestern Oklahoma State University Foundation has received the funds to endow two scholarships for the Northwestern theatre program.

The first scholarship is the Donovan Reichenberger Theatre Scholarship which will be awarded as “The Globe Theatre Award”.  Reichenberger was born at Mt. Hope, Kan. and grew up in Sharon, Kan.  When he was a senior in high school, he enlisted in the Navy and served for 18 years.  In 1958, he married Dorothy Teutschmann, who he met while stationed in California.

After moving back to Alva in 1963, Reichenberger enrolled at Northwestern and graduated in two and half years with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science.  He then went on to Wichita State University where he finished his master’s degree in 18 months. 

Reichenberger was employed by the Northwestern History Department for 25 years before he retired in 1992.  He has been serving as a Foundation trustee since 1993 and chairman of the Foundation’s Investment Committee since 1994. 

Reichenberger made his first donation to the Foundation in 1969 and since then has funded the Donovan and Dorothy Reichenberger History Scholarship, the Donovan and Dorothy Reichenberger Vocal Music Scholarship Award, the Dorothy Reichenberger Memorial Scholarship, and the Dorothy Reichenberger Endowed Chair in Music. These scholarships are in honor of his wife, Dorothy, who passed away in 2005. The Donovan Reichenberger Theatre Scholarship was established to aid an outstanding student in the Northwestern theatre program.  

“Professor Weast has done an outstanding job and I wanted to provide financial support for her students to enable growth in the theatre program,” Reichenberger said.

The second scholarship is the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Theatre Scholarship.  Over the past 35 years, the Foundation has been given a variety of memorial donations.  These funds include the Industrial Education Club’s Fund, the Evans-Boedecker Funds, the Linda Stewart Fund, and the funds of Lewis Kamas, Morton McKean, Vinson Pettit, Bill and Pat Sisco, and Bill Stites.  These funds, classified as restricted unspecific funds, comprise the Northwestern Theatre Scholarship.  The Northwestern Foundation was given permission by the donors and the surviving relatives of deceased donors to transfer the funds into one endowed scholarship for theatre students. 
           
Recipients of these two scholarships must be full time students of Northwestern participating in theatre courses and productions as well as Castle Players.   They may be incoming freshman, transfers, or continuing students and have a 2.5 GPA or higher.  Along with these requirements, the applicants must meet admission standards and the scholarship criteria set forth by Northwestern’s Fine Arts Department.
           
These scholarships will be applied toward university-related expenses such as tuition, fees, room, board, and books.  Each scholarship will be given to one or more deserving students who will be selected by the Northwestern Fine Arts Department. 

Kimberly Weast, associate professor of theatre, was very thankful for the help her students would be getting.

“It was very exciting to see this happen so fast,” Weast said. “It happened within two months and I know that these scholarships will help recruit and retain students interested in theatre.”

“We went from having no scholarships to two, really fast. I’m very appreciative of all the work Donovan and the donors have done to make this happen,” Weast said.

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