HOOVER ENDOWS MALAYSIAN STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP

Grace Hoover, retired chair of the Department of Human Environmental Studies at Southeast Missouri State University and an avid Southeast supporter, has endowed a Malaysian student scholarship at the University.

The scholarship, which will be awarded for the first time next spring, has been named the "Jane Stacy Malaysian Student Scholarship" in honor of Stacy, who has been active, along with Hoover, for many years in support of Malaysian students at Southeast.

"Jane has been instrumental in helping international students," Hoover said. "I find the Malaysian students such a nice caring group of students."

Hoover and Stacy, director of Alumni Development, were both part of a Southeast contingent that visited Malaysia in 1989, when a chapter of the Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association was established in Kuala Lumpur.

"It's been a privilege to be a part of this international chapter and to work with the Malaysian students on campus for many years," Stacy said. "I am pleased to be a part of this permanent endowment and am grateful to Grace Hoover for making it possible."

Hoover says she has fond memories of the trip to Kuala Lumpur and of the hospitality of many Southeast Malaysian alumni who hosted the group in their homes.

"It was very interesting to see their country and their culture," Hoover said. "They open up their hearts and homes to you when you are visiting with them."

Over the years, Hoover says she has hosted several Southeast Malaysian students in her home in Cape Girardeau. She also got to know several Malaysian students majoring in food and nutrition during her tenure as chair of the Department of Human Environmental Studies. She has kept in contact with several of them, she said.