MIZZOU Gets Gift

The University of Missouri’s College of Education is getting a one-million-dollar donation from MU alumnus Gary and Patricia Coles. Patricia is a longtime school teacher and administrator, including several years of teaching at Columbia Public Schools in the 1980s. The donation will be used to create scholarships for students studying to become elementary school teachers. During a press conference Thursday, Shelby Johnson, the first student to receive one of the scholarships, expressed her heartfelt appreciation.

Gary Coles was a research scientist at the chemical company DuPont and then worked at the Reader’s Digest Association.