As a shy 17-year-old who started at MSU and worked three jobs to get through, Juno-Ann Krohn Clarke (’56, Human Ecology) recalls, “I was just focused on getting a degree, a job and more than one pair of shoes. But MSU was much more than that and offered so many things I had never had an opportunity to do before.”
Now retired from a successful and dynamic academic career, Juno-Ann found the Spartan Scholarship Challenge provided a new means for her to help ease the financial stress for future MSU students. She previously funded a five-year scholarship in honor of Barbara Kuhl Hoopingarner, her former MSU roommate at Gilchrist Hall, and more recently a grant to help students participate in Study Abroad. She had wanted to create an endowed scholarship in order to provide enduring help, but found the amount a little daunting. The one-to-two match opportunity from the Spartan Scholarship Challenge (https://givingto.msu.edu/gift/?sid=571) allowed her to create the scholarship she had hoped for.
Juno-Ann, professor emerita of San Francisco State University, remembers how MSU opened up the world for her. “I got to hear Marion Anderson in person, dance to Dave Brubeck and watch the floats on the Red Cedar; flip cards in the football cheering section, ride my horse in Block and Bridle shows, and find wonderful books in the library at random,” she said.
Juno-Ann went on to the University of California-Berkeley to complete her M.S. in food chemistry and Ph.D. in clinical nutrition. She is a registered nurse as well as a dietitian. At SFSU, she directed the university’s Didactic Program in Dietetics and Dietetic Internship. She was honored with MSU’s Outstanding Alumna Award from the College of Human Ecology in 1979.
During her rich career, she assisted in health care initiatives all over the globe, including in Liberia, Ghana, Rwanda, Taiwan, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador. She also adopted two daughters from China and Guatemala.
Juno-Ann has always been proud to be a Michigan State graduate and feels fortunate to have been influenced by the Spartans she encountered, including former MSU president John Hannah. She created her endowment to honor the “outstanding women of the 100 years of the College of Human Ecology.”
Learn more at https://givingto.msu.edu/gift/?sid=571 or contact Director of Development for University Scholarships and Fellowships Jennifer Bertram at (517) 432-7332 or speak with the development officer in your college or unit.