Stephens College receives large donation, will rename School of Health Sciences

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Stephens College announced in a Monday press release that it is receiving a $12.5 million gift from the Bill and Doris Scharpf Foundation.

The college will receive $2.5 million a year for five years.

The $12.5 million, five-year pledge in support of the School of Health Sciences will automatically renew every five years, as long as the College meets “basic mission and financial requirements,” according to the press release. 

The college will name its School of Health Sciences in Doris Spiegelberg Scharpf’s honor, the press release stated. She attended Stephens College from 1940-42, when it was a two-year college. 

“Doris was a Stephens woman in every sense of the word,” Stephens College President Dianne Lynch said in a press release. “She was a passionate advocate for the transformational impact of a Stephens education and wanted to help ensure that her own life-changing experience would continue to be possible for others.”

After Bill passed away on Sept. 4, 2001, Doris continued with her own philanthropy, including support for Stephens College, the release stated. Doris died in 2019, she was 95.

“Stephens College was so important to Doris,” Fred Koontz, President of the Scharpf Foundation, said in the press release. “We are certain she would be pleased to know that her Foundation will continue to support its mission and impact on students, today and into the future.”