Joanne Grebner ’75 and Michael Grebner wanted to promote inclusivity within the University of Wisconsin–Madison occupational therapy program and provide scholarship support to assist with costs incurred by students who participate in full-time fieldwork experiences outside the Madison area. They created the Grebner Family OT Fieldwork Scholarship Fund, which was matched by the Impact 2030 Morgridge Match.
The Grebner Family OT Fieldwork Scholarship Fund was awarded for the first time in the 2020–21 academic year. Yasmeena Ougayour ’18, MS’20, shared, “I truly am very grateful for this award. This year has been very hard financially as a student due to COVID-19. I am in my second year of the master of science in occupational therapy program at UW–Madison and aspire to become an OT who serves underrepresented communities in need of support in all aspects of their lives. Additionally, I am working toward my clinical doctorate in occupational therapy and hope to become a leader in the profession and an OT clinical researcher, as well as achieve a personal dream of becoming a clinical instructor at a university.”
Undergraduate and graduate student support is a top priority of the School of Education. With the help of Impact 2030, the school is working to significantly increase scholarship and fellowship packages.