Austin E. Knowlton Memorial Scholarship
Scholarship Details
The Austin E. Knowlton Memorial Scholarship Fund provides renewable scholarships that are awarded annually based on availability. The first consideration is given to residents of Ohio who have been accepted to Mount St. Joseph University as full-time, first-year students. Among eligible applicants, priority will be given to students interested in pursuing careers related to STEM fields, architecture or design.
The scholarships are renewable for eight consecutive semesters provided the recipient is enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student and remains in good academic standing.
Austin E. Knowlton
Austin E. Knowlton was a life-long Ohio resident who became a successful businessman, avid sportsman, and generous philanthropist. Mr. Knowlton was a 1927 graduate of Bellefontaine (Ohio) High School and a 1931 graduate of The Ohio State University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering.
He was the owner and chairman of the Knowlton Construction Company, a business started in 1937 in Bellefontaine. Through his company, Knowlton was responsible for over 600 major construction projects throughout Ohio and the Midwest, including school buildings, hospitals, and libraries. As a sports enthusiast, he had a 50-year interest in saddle-bred horses. He was a founding partner and chairman of the Cincinnati Bengals, a major owner for many years of the Cincinnati Reds, and a trustee of the Little Brown Jug Society for harness racing in Delaware, Ohio.
As a philanthropist, Mr. Knowlton was a benefactor of the Ohio State School of Architecture, which is named in his honor. He established the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, which he funded throughout his lifetime and through his will. One of the primary purposes of the foundation is the advancement of higher education by providing “direct grants and contributions to qualified colleges and universities.”
The trustees of the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation established the memorial scholarship endowment at the Mount in 2009 and since then have contributed over $1,000,000 to continue the scholarship fund for future generations of Mount students. In 2018, an additional scholarship has been endowed to assist graduates of DePaul Cristo Rey High School.Through this scholarship, students gain the benefits of a Mount education through Austin E. Knowlton’s lasting generosity and vision.