Viterbo Alumnus donates $1.2M for future female medical professionals
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – A massive gift from the estate of a Viterbo alumnus is looking to help future female students. Dashal Mentzel explains how this benefits the university’s medical school.
The estate of alumnus Dr. Joan Gennrich has donated nearly $1.3 million to be used to create an annual scholarship for a female Viterbo University student who will attend the university’s medical school. Viterbo Assistant Vice President of Leadership Gifts, Josh Gates, says Dr. Gennrich was a pioneer who wanted to continue to help women like her, even after she passed away in 2020, “Dr. Joan was in 1960 graduate with a Bachelor of Science and Technology. She figured out that she wanted to open a physician-owned urgent care facility and opened the first one of its kind in Wisconsin. She wanted to leave a legacy going forward for someone like herself who wanted to go into the medical field and be a doctor.”
The Dr. Joan Gennrich ’60 Endowed Medical School Scholarship could provide a female student up to $50,000 over the course of their senior year at Viterbo and 4 years of medical school of their choice. Gates explains, “Students can apply for it as they’re going through their undergraduate studies here. And then one student will be able to basically have their last year of school underwritten, and then more scholarship money as they choose which medical school they want to go to.”
The University hopes this scholarship will benefit incoming students who want to enter the University’s Medical Program. Gates says, “We’re progressing for our future students. It’s great as we go around and recruit students to our campus to be able to offer something like this to females that know they want to go into the medical field.”
Gates says this scholarship helps both the students and the university, “This is just a real shot in the arm for any female that wants to know they want to be a physician or an M.D. in their in their career. And it’s a real shot in the arm for the school because it puts us on the map.”
Recipients of the scholarship will be chosen by a Viterbo University committee. In La Crosse, Dashal Mentzel First News at Nine.
The scholarship will be awarded to one qualified student each year beginning in the fall of 2024.
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