BATTLE CREEK, MI (WNWN/WTVB) – Kellogg Community College announced on Wednesday that a posthumous donation of $1 million from former K.C.C. professor and longtime supporter Dean O. Barnum will create two new scholarship funds to expand educational opportunities for students.
According to a press release issued by the college, the gift is one of the largest individual donations ever to the K.C.C. Foundation and will establish the Dean O. Barnum Gold Key Scholarship and the Dean O. Barnum Scholarship for Student Athletes.
The College will officially announce the gift during an Honor and Recognition Ceremony for Barnum at 5:00 p.m on Friday, November 5, in K.C.C.’s Miller Gym.
The ceremony will precede the first home basketball games of the season for K.C.C.; the event and the games are free and open to the public, with complimentary hot dogs, soda and popcorn for attendees while supplies last.
Barnum passed away at the age of 87 in August 2020. He was a lifelong Battle Creek resident whose career at K.C.C. spanned more than two decades starting in the mid-1960s.
He taught history and political science and served as the chair of the Social Science Department from 1965 to 1969.
KCC President Dr. Adrien Bennings called Barnum’s bequest “an amazing legacy to leave for future generations of Kellogg Community College students.”
Barnum was a graduate of Battle Creek Central High School, Western Michigan University and the University of Michigan, and was also a member of the Army Reserve.
