Cass & Mary Gordon College of Business Scholarship

The Cass and Mary Gordon College of Business Scholarship will benefit and encourage non-traditional students in the College of Business.

Criteria

1. Each recipient must be an undergraduate student enrolled full-time or part-time.
2. Each recipient must be a student in the College of Business
3. Each recipient must be a non-traditional student. He/she may be a new student or a lapsed WSU or transfer student (freshman, sophomore, junior or senior)
4. Each recipient must demonstrate financial need, but need should not be based solely on FAFSA

Biography/Motivation

Cass and Mary Gordon both earned Bachelor of Science degrees from the Winona State University College of Business. Mary graduated in 1986 with a major in Business Administration/Marketing and a minor in Sociology. She returned in 1988 to complete a second major in Psychology. Cass and Mary moved to Winona from the Twin Cities in 1991 so Cass could finish his university studies at Winona State. Cass graduated in 1994 with a major in Accounting. Although originally planning to move back to the Twin Cities after Cass’s graduation, they decided to permanently reside in Winona. Over the last 20 years, Cass and Mary have formed strong friendships in the Winona State University and greater Winona communities.

As a young married couple, age 25, we were living and working full-time in Minneapolis. A year later Cass began attending junior college. After one year at Normandale Community College, Cass decided to pursue a four-year degree in accounting. The obvious choice was Winona State University. Mary had a great experience and received a quality education at WSU. There was also family support available in Winona. Even with that support, the move to Winona required significant sacrifice. We went from two decent paying incomes to one income that was significantly less. Money was tight, but we made do. Cass applied for student work study and worked as many hours as he could while maintaining a high GPA. He applied for scholarships through Winona State and gratefully received assistance. More important than financial assistance was the quality of education Cass received and the genuine care and guidance provided by the professors in the business department. That same care and guidance were given by the entire WSU community. They believed in Cass and provided an opportunity for him to reach his potential.

Winona State University provided us with an education that allowed us to have successful careers in the business world. We’d like to be able to pay back what others were able to provide for us when we were just starting out.