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Reaching Out to Students of Color
Scholarships Provide Increased Access to Bethel
by Kay Wible
We are Reconcilers—honoring the worth and dignity of people from all races and purposely seeking to create a community that reflects the diversity of the Body of Christ.
—Bethel University Value Statement
The late Ralph Hammond
Harmonize, integrate, attune, bring together—a thesaurus lists up to 40 synonyms denoting the meaning of “reconcile.” But living out the concept—one of Bethel’s core values—is regularly evidenced through the example of many generous friends who have found concrete ways to put this value into practice.
“There are a number of scholarships available where a preference has been noted for the recipient to be a student of color,” notes Jeff Olson, director of financial aid. Some of the scholarships are specifically for students at the College of Arts & Sciences, others are available to seminary students.
Associate Professor of Education Mary Hammond and her late husband, Ralph, have reached out to both groups. Ralph Hammond, who came to Bethel in 1991 as the seminary’s director of multicultural affairs (and its first African-American faculty), was instrumental in helping start three different, named, scholarship endowments.”
“My husband and I have always been involved in the lives of young people,” Mary says. “Our dreams were to see students of color grow strongly in the work of the Lord, and to have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.”
Ralph donated his honorariums from professional speaking engagements around the country to establish the George and Darleen Brushaber/Ralph Hammond Scholarship, the Leland and Carol Eliason/Ralph Hammond Scholarship (both for the seminary), and the Ralph E. and Mary J. Hammond Scholarship, which in alternate years is awarded to a seminary student aiming towards a career in ministry, and to an undergraduate in education.
Ralph passed away from a heart attack in 2005, but Mary has continued to support all three scholarship opportunities. Though the Hammond scholarship was originally exclusively for students of color, in the spirit of community Mary Hammond expanded the qualifications last year to include any student meeting the criteria.
More than 20 such scholarships are available to Bethel students, either through special awards or endowments; or available through the Minnesota Private College Fund. To help endow a scholarship, or to support an existing scholarship, contact the Office of Development at 651.635.8050.