Honors Endowments

In 2009 an endowment for the University Honors Program was created to further support student research and scholarships, and additional Honors programming, thus supporting the fundamental goals of the Honors Program.

This endowment was originally created through individual donations yet has been expanded significantly each year through the UHP’s primary annual fundraiser known as “An Opportuni-Tea.” Funds raised through “An Opportuni-Tea” provide additional “opportunities” for ISU's bright and high-achieving Honors students.

In 2019 the Heithoff family generously endowed an annual scholarship to support Honors students. The first Heithoff Scholarship was awarded during the 2020 "An Opportuni-Tea."

The Heithoff Scholarship is designed to help an energetic, thoughtful, caring, and hard-working Honors student who is striving to earn their college degree.  It is to assist somebody who understands what it means to work, somebody who knows how important a college degree is, and a person who (somehow) still finds a little time to give back to their community or their college through volunteering or mentoring.

Recipients must 1) be a continuing, full-time ISU student, 2) have a part-time job, 3) not already receive >75% of tuition/room/board through scholarships, 4) be an active member of UHP, and 5) have a GPA between 2.90 and 3.90.

In 2015 former UHP Director, Dr. Sherri Dienstfrey-Swanson, created the SDS Scholarship for Honors students who are involved in the Honors Program beyond fulfilling regular Honors attendance and program requirements. Recipients of the SDS scholarships are often hard working students who act as UHP Peer Mentors, UHP student workers (Envoy and Interns), or UHP Club Officers.

The Bobette Wilhelm Endowment is the generous endowment willed to the University Honors Program by Bobette (Bobbi) Wilhelm ‘02 (1979 – 2020).  Bobbi was an Idaho State University and University Honors Program alumna who believed in the transformative power of education and the importance of improving the world in which we live throughout every stage of life. Her personal experiences with housing and food insecurity taught her to see beyond stereotypes and recognize the inherent value of all people. In Bobbi’s own words, “we often make judgments about people who are in need, and most of the time those judgments are wrong. I want to challenge us all to look beyond a label and see a person.”

The Bobette Wilhelm Memorial Scholarship ($1,000) honors the life and legacy of Bobbi.  The recipient will build on Bobbi’s legacy of service, purpose-driven leadership, and advancing equity across issues that communities face. As Bobbi’s life exemplified, these commitments cannot be actualized solely through academic preparation, but through proximity to people and the issues that call us to action. This scholarship supports students who are preparing themselves, like Bobbi did, to be part of the next generation of public-problem solvers.