Winona State University received a $5.26 million dollar gift from 1950 alumnus Maynard “Mo” Weber, the largest gift in WSU history. Mo died peacefully in his home in Luray, VA on July 26, 2019.

“Mo Weber’s generosity and love of WSU knew no bounds,” said WSU President Scott R. Olson. “He helped kindle Winona State’s love of beautiful art as well as our love of Warrior baseball, and for that and so many other reasons, we will be forever grateful to him.”

Weber came to Winona in the 1940s, following his military service during the second World War.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in education at Winona State, and spent his time helping to coach baseball, a passion that led Weber to teach and coach at various institutions across the country after graduating.

He was the son of famed painter Max Weber and had gifted several of his father’s paintings to WSU in the past.

Located in the Integrated Wellness Complex, the Warrior Cupboard is the On-Campus Food Shelf.

The Cupboard’s goal is to ensure students have access to quality food, as well as resources and support on and off campus when they are in need, particularly during the pandemic.

Between the fall graduation on Dec. 11, 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, 221 students accessed the Warrior Cupboard and utilized 2,000+ pounds of food.

Since the fund’s inception in 2017, donors have contributed more than $12,000 to keep it stocked, with nearly $8,000 of that since the start of the pandemic!

Every hardship prompts a search for silver linings. The Winona State Faculty Association provided one such silver lining with their creation of the Winona State Faculty Promise Scholarship.

The local branch of the IFO (Inter Faculty Organization), found itself with a small surplus of money due to lower expenses during the pandemic.

They donated to community organizations around food insecurity, helped with transporting students to new polling locations and assisted some faculty with emergency situations they found themselves in, due to the pandemic. Then came the idea of a scholarship, which had unanimous support from the WSU Faculty Senate.

The IFO union was built by generations of former faculty, providing a sense of purpose and a mentality of solidarity. The group invested not only their surplus funds from this year, but also a portion of their reserve account to give the scholarship a more
significant start.

“There are just so many things happening right now that ask us to consider ways of stretching ourselves to help others,” IFO President Jenna Chernega said.

“We want to support the financial sustainability of Winona State and we want to support students,especially those who have been most impacted by the pandemic and the racial inequalities that are so present in our state.”

Natalie Henke understands what it takes to overcome adversity. Growing up in Lakeville, MN, in a family with four siblings, adversity came early with the death of her father when she was twelve.

She started working 30-40 hours a week at the age of fifteen to ease the financial burden on her single mother. She lived with continual anxiety around financial stability.

Despite these challenges, she graduated from high school with 37 college credits and some savings in the bank.

Natalie knew that choosing a college would be an important decision and based that choice on affordability and the opportunities for personal development.

WSU did not disappoint!

The availability of scholarships was a huge factor and allowed Natalie to concentrate on academics and be highly involved with multiple clubs and boards on campus, serving in many leadership roles.

Majoring in Accounting, Natalie has found the faculty to be supportive, responsive, and inspiring and have genuine care for students. “People became like family and my professors really guided me through.”

Because of the generosity of WSU donors and Natalie’s determination, she will graduate in May, debt-free!

She will go on to sit for the CPA exam and will follow her spring internship at CliftonLarsonAllen with a full-time position as a
Tax and Audit Associate.

• Cost of one year attendance including tuition, housing & meals, fees, books and personal expenses: $21,730
• 2020-2021 Enrollment: 7,124
• First Generation college students make up 37.8% of enrolled students.
• 94% of all Undergraduate Students received financial aid

At the end of 2016, Jennifer Timm, a professor in the WSU Nursing department, submitted a Special Projects application to the WSU Foundation and likely never imagined that the program would still be going strong in 2021.

Her concept, titled on the application as “Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in a Community-Based Primary Care Setting” has become what is now known in the community as “Bridges Health Winona”. Bridges Health Winona is a partnership between Winona State University and multiple community organizations serving at-risk populations.

Bridges Health is a student-led, faculty-guided, interprofessional program that provides a variety of free preventive health, & wellness, and social services in the community.

There is a focus on holistic wellbeing– bridging the gap between individuals and their physical and emotional health.

While free access to basic healthcare, screening, and lifestyle coaching is beneficial to community members who may not otherwise receive the care they need, Bridges also allows health profession students to gain real-life clinical experience working with clients.

Bridges Health has also been able to provide client care and programming virtually since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This allows people to safely get the health support they need and gives students experience integrating technology into their healthcare profession.

In a recent ranking by Zippia, Winona State University is ranked number one in Minnesota for getting a job.

Zippia, an online recruitment and job insight platform, looked at both undergraduate and graduate job placement and found that among other mid-sized colleges in Minnesota, WSU was number one!

WSU ranked fourth overall in the United States.