Scott Noxon has created a $50,000 endowment for the scholarship, which is earmarked for those who advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queen and ally community.
CENTER TWP. - A Robinson Township man has funded a new scholarship aimed at Penn State-Beaver students who advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queen and ally, or LGBTQA, community.
Scott Noxon created a $50,000 endowment to fund a scholarship to benefit the university's LGBTQA community. University officials said this is the first-ever scholarship of its type to benefit the community and any of Penn State's commonwealth campuses.
"Penn State-Beaver is grateful to Scott Noxon for establishing this innovative scholarship," said Jenifer Cushman, chancellor at the university. "It is one more example of his generosity to the campus and our students over the years, and we are happy to have the honor of stewarding his gift."
Noxon is a 1984 Penn State graduate and business owner. He formerly owned Pegasus and the Eagle, Pittsburgh-based bars that catered to the LGBTQA community. This is the second scholarship Noxon has endowed, adding to a scholarship that benefits a student who is doing something to improve the world around them.
Noxon said he created the endowment because he felt a connection to the campus and wanted support a demographic he felt connected to. He called the campus a "home away from home" after a difficult senior year of high school.
"I had a chance to make friends with new people," he said.
The scholarship will be available to current or incoming students at the campus who excel academically or have the promise of academic success and who advocate for or contribute to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and ally community.
University officials said the endowment will help advance its "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence" campaign that is designed to help the university give hardworking students higher-education opportunities regardless of financial status, creating experiences that go beyond the classroom and fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship.