The Associated Press -->
OXFORD, Ohio -- A $4.5 million gift to Miami University will be used for scholarships in a program which allows top students to design their courses of study, the administration said Tuesday.
The money was given by Elizabeth Turner, a retired Hamilton High School teacher who died in 1963 at age 80. She had directed that her estate benefit her relatives first, but that after their deaths the bulk be turned over to Miami.
Miss Turner was a 1907 graduate of Western College for Women, which became part of Miami University in 1974. It now houses the university's School of Interdisciplinary Studies, also known as the Western College Program. Students in that program will be eligible for scholarships from the Turner bequest in the academic year beginning in autumn 1999.
The program will allow students to design individualized academic programs and explore topics from multiple perspectives. After completing core courses, juniors and seniors -- working with faculty advisers -- may design courses of study tailored to their career interests.
"I think Miss Turner would enthusiastically endorse using her gift for scholarships," said James Garland, Miami's president. University spokeswoman Holly Wissing said the scholarship assistance is expected to be at least half of the tuition and fees charged to Ohio residents attending Miami, which is now $5,726 annually.
The number of scholarships awarded each year will vary depending upon the amount of the awards. But the administration said it expects to award scholarships to 10 to 12 students each year.
It is the second consecutive year that Miami has received a substantial gift.
Last year, the school announced it had received a $6.5 million bequest from a 1918 Miami graduate, Arretha Cornell Sheriff, who died in 1995 at age 98.
That money is being used for faculty projects that the administration deems will have community impact or support intellectual life on campus.
