Alumna leaves $1M to school

Mary Barnes Cole endowed scholarship founded to honor mother

Education students attending Lake Erie College in Painesville have the opportunity to benefit from a donation left by one of its former alumna.

Joanna Cole Bhatta formerly attended LEC in the 1960s. When she died in May, her estate left $1 million to the school in order to establish the Mary Barnes Cole endowed scholarship, in honor of her mother.

The funded scholarship will be dispersed in installments. The first $400,000 arrived in January with the rest of the funds coming to the school “by the end of this next year”, according to LEC President Brian Posler. The fund will then be available for students by the 2021 school year.

He goes on state that the amount bestowed to the college is truly transformative.

Fifty thousand dollars would be available to students through the Mary Barnes Cole endowed scholarship annually as a result. Posler added that the college is still determining the total number of recipients. They are weighing the option of either a smaller pool of recipients with larger awarded scholarship amounts or wider dispersion in smaller amounts.

Regardless of the total amount, the scholarship will only be available for enrolled LEC students within the School of Education, as Bhatta was during her time at the campus.

In addition to serving as a member of LEC’s education faculty in the 1970s, Bhatta also taught at US Army Special Forces bases in Germany, France, Japan, and Cuba throughout her career as an educator.

“Our primary focus is expanding the numbers of high-quality teachers here in Lake County and our region,” School of Education Dean Katharine Delavan said of the endowment. “This transformative gift allows us to eliminate some of the financial barriers to degree attainment.”

Academic Affairs Senior Vice President Bryan DePoy added, “We endeavor to seek unique means to serve our region and fulfill our role of serving the public good. What better way for us to do that than creating opportunities for future teachers while also pulling from our extraordinary talent here in Lake County.”

Bhatta also left nearly $1 million for Lakeland Community College’s Lakeland Foundation, which made that announcement earlier this week.

Bhatta’s uncle was a surveyor of the first campus buildings.

SUBMITTED Lake Erie College students within their school of education will be eligible for the Mary Barnes Cole endowed scholarship once the funds are available.