Ethan W. Krase Memorial Scholarship

In April of 2025, the Ethan Krase Study Abroad Memorial Scholarship was established with the Winona State University Foundation. The scholarship will benefit and encourage students who are majoring in English and studying abroad.

*Criteria*Undergraduate Student

• Full time or Part time Student
• Delcared Major – English
• Current Participation of Study Abroad program
• Financial need
• GPA of 3.0 or higher

Background and Motivation
Dr. Ethan Krase was a professor in the WSU English Department and served as its chair for nine years. He was also the director of the writing center early in his career and helped to establish the TESOL (teaching English as a second language) major. The classroom was his favorite part of his work. He created a culture of both dedicated scholarship and playful connection. This commitment extended beyond the classroom and throughout the department, where Ethan was esteemed by his colleagues as a uniquely talented scholar, leader, listener, and friend. In work and in life, Ethan was happy not being the center of attention but could also make a room of 300 people laugh and lean fonivard on their seats. Ethan lived fully. He was a good dancer, a crossworder, a marathon runner, a fitness instructor, an outdoorsman, a very talented writer, a leader, and, all the while, a humble person. He was well-liked and deeply loved by a wide variety of people.

Ethan was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018 (despite never having smoked), and he passed away in 2023. Even with cancer, he continued to be funny and goofy, interested in others, curious, and even very handsome. He would often say that he had it all: a wife and children that he greatly loved, incredible extended family, meaningful and challenging work at which he was talented, the best colleagues, a beautiful town full of friends, abundant chances to be outdoors.

Ethan earned his undergraduate degree in English Education from Illinois State University in 1994. When he first started at ISU, he decided to study abroad and started making plans right away. During his junior year, he spent a semester in Perth, Australia. That experience was one of the keys to his becoming the person he was. He would love for other students to have the opportunity to study abroad through this scholarship.