Stu and Carolyn Koop Establish the Sister Carol Sellman Scholarship

This past fall, Stu and Carolyn Koop made a generous gift to HNU to establish the Sister Carol Sellman Scholarship, named in honor of Carol Sellman, SNJM ’69, MM ’78, EdD, vice president for mission integration at HNU. Stu Koop served as the vice president for finance and administration at HNU from 2006 until his retirement in 2015.

Koop explained their motivation for creating the scholarship. “While I was a staff member at the University, my wife, Carolyn, and I had the privilege to get to know Sister Carol and her deep commitment to the charism of the Sisters of the Holy Names, particularly hospitality, full development of the person, and dedication to justice, women and children,” he said. “We have established this endowed scholarship fund in Sr. Carol’s name to recognize her abiding and long-serving dedication to these values and the University.”

Sr. Carol recalled her reaction when she found out about the Koops’ generous gift. “Well I was quite floored when Stu told me,” she said. “I was totally surprised and amazed. I didn’t know what to say to Stu except ‘thank you.’”

Koop deferred to Sr. Carol to determine the criteria for the scholarship, and Sr. Carol explained that she wanted to “keep the criteria simple so it could benefit whomever needed the financial support.” The Sister Carol Sellman Scholarship is an unrestricted scholarship and recipients will be able to receive support from the scholarship as long as they maintain a 3.0 grade point average. Per University policy, endowed scholarships accrue interest for one year before the initial disbursement, so the Sister Carol Sellman Scholarship will be awarded for the first time in 2018.

Sr. Carol expressed her deep gratitude for the Koops’ philanthropic support of the University. “Stu always understood and helped to carry out the mission of the Sisters,” she said, “so this means a great deal to me.”