CORRECTION: The Daily's original story read that any graduate or undergraduate student at OU will be able to receive the Owen Kulemeka Memorial Scholarship. The article has been corrected to say that any graduate or undergraduate student in Gaylord College will be able to receive the scholarship.
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A new scholarship is in the works to honor the late Gaylord professor Owen Kulemeka, who died in his home on June 27 after being treated for a heat stroke earlier that week.
Kaneisha Lloyd, the director of development for Gaylord College, worked with Kulemeka's family to create the Owen Kulemeka Memorial Scholarship. She said an exact gift amount has not been decided yet, but since it is an endowed scholarship, there is an idea of what the gift will be.
"A lot of our endowed scholarships, the minimum is $20,000," Lloyd said. "Usually, whenever you start out with an endowed gift, it's $20,000, and that will generate through the OU Foundation about $500 a semester for a student."
Lloyd said Kulemeka's family was adamant about ensuring his scholarship was endowed because of how long it could potentially last.
"Here at [Gaylord College], we have endowed scholarships that have been here for 20, 30, almost 50 years," Lloyd said.
Lloyd said any graduate or undergraduate student at Gaylord College can receive the scholarship. She said the donor intent is for students to pursue internship opportunities, research, scholarly conferences and any other national or international education development opportunities.
"Owen was really big on taking what you learned in the classroom and applying it to real-world experiences," Lloyd said. "[His family] wanted to make sure that those opportunities were available to our students."
Associate Gaylord dean David Craig said the scholarship speaks to Kulemeka's connections he made with students during his time at OU.
"I can't imagine him wanting something that wasn't focused on students," Craig said. "That's what he was all about."
Lloyd said she hopes the scholarship can start being awarded at the beginning of the 2016 academic year. Anyone can donate to the scholarship fund by making checks payable to the OU Foundation.
