77 college or university. Four scholarships were given each year for 10 years by the Hatco Corporation. Awards were made to outstanding students on the basis of academic achievement or promise, research projects and need. The purpose was to encourage early commitment by students to a career in environmental health. With the addition of two like scholarships contributed by Economics Laboratory, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1971 scholarships were awarded to the following six students: Jimmy D. Barlow at East Tennessee State University; Gerald Erickson at California State College; Thomas D. Goodrich at Montana State University; Ellen C. MacDonald at the University of Massachusetts; Gilbert Nickelson at the University of Washington, Seattle; and Robert F. Spengler at the George Washington University Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health. Mrs. Hatch was an early leader in the campaign to improve the state of our environ ment. She was long respected as a national authority in the field of hot water heating and participated often in educational seminars and on countless speaker panels throughout the nation. A complete list of LaReine Hatch scholarship recipients could not be com piled for this history; however, the NEHA Archives Committee would like to receive names of scholarship recipients and the year the award was made, either direct from the recipient or from faculty members.
The NEHA Newsletter of December 1981 noted that NEHA's Uniformed Services Affiliate annually presented two $100 scholarships to qualified candidates.
In researching the history, the authors noted a number of past scholarship recipients who have continued to serve the profession and provide some of the leadership in industry, government and at academic meetings.
Current Scholarships
At the National Environmental Health Association's Executive Committee meeting in Denver, Colorado, January 1983, a NEHA scholarship fund not supported by industry was conceived, and NEHA President, Dr. Trenton G. Davis, appointed Leon Vinci of Connecticut (a Regional Vice President) to chair a committee to establish a scholar ship fund of which the basis would be an initial $1,000 donation from Dr. A. Harry Bliss. The committee envisioned a fund raised from donations by members in an amount that would produce interest income for scholarships. The initial fund goal was $10,000. More than a dozen NEHA members contributed to the First Annual Art Affair which was held during the 1983 annual meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, and $276 was raised for the scholarship fund from the sale of such items as handwoven pillows, stoneware, oil paintings, etchings, photos, woodcrafts and other items. The response was so enthusiastic that another Art Affair was held in 1984. Further, nearly $300 was realized from raffling a donated watercolor at the 1986 annual conference. Cash donations were solicited from members and the fund moved rapidly toward the initial $10,000 goal. Before the 1984 annual conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Harry Grenawitzke (NEHA Regional Vice President) obtained the donation of a Lazy Boy chair plus delivery charges anywhere in the United States. Raffle tickets were sold throughout the country and a drawing was held at the annual banquet in Grand Rapids. The chair went to Manny Schweid, Granada Hills, California. By July 1984, the scholar ship fund had reached $9,245.
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