Ohio Wesleyan Receives $505,000 Gift Commitment to Benefit Students
Evan R. and Barbara P. Corns Reach $10 Million Giving Milestone with Latest Contribution
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University has received a five-year, $505,000 gift commitment from Evan R. and Barbara P. Corns of Pepper Pike, Ohio, to create a new student scholarship and support additional university initiatives. With this latest gift, the couple’s lifetime giving to Ohio Wesleyan reaches $10 million.
Evan Corns is a 1959 OWU graduate and a life member of the university’s Board of Trustees. He and his wife are the parents of three daughters, including Katherine, OWU Class of 1991, and Nancy, OWU Class of 1998. The couple’s latest gift – made in support of Ohio Wesleyan’s Connect Today, Create Tomorrow campaign – creates the Evan R. Corns ’59 and Barbara P. Corns Endowed Scholarship.
“Ohio Wesleyan is grateful to Evan and Barbara for their latest milestone gift and lifetime of generous giving,” said President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “We also are grateful for Evan’s strong, deep, and enduring connections to the university in all facets. He often says, ‘It’s a great day to be a Bishop,’ and today that sentiment is especially meaningful. Not only have Evan and Barbara been supporting Ohio Wesleyan for decades, but their latest endowed scholarship will benefit OWU students for decades and decades to come.”
The Corns scholarship will support deserving students with financial need, with first preference for awards given to graduates of Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio, and second preference to graduates of any public high school on Cleveland’s East Side.
The couple’s latest contribution also will benefit the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, an unrestricted account that supports campus operations; the President’s Circle, a group of alumni, parents, and friends who aid the president in implementing strategic initiatives; Team OWU, which supports the university’s 23 varsity sports; and the Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.
As an Ohio Wesleyan student, Evan Corns majored in history and was a leader in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity. He earned his master’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina and co-founded Great Lakes Truck Equipment Company, which later became America’s Body Company, in 1976. Under his leadership, America’s Body Company became the largest business of its kind in the United States, with seven facilities nationwide and sales of more than $120 million annually. He retired as company president in 1998.
As an OWU alumnus, Corns has remained actively engaged with his alma mater since his graduation. He joined the Board of Trustees in 1992 and become a Life Trustee in 2013. In addition to his latest gift, he also provided a multimillion-dollar gift in 2000 to renovate the former Memorial Union Building into the R.W. Corns Building, now named in honor of his father. Today, the building houses Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Economics and the Woltemade Center.
Corns also has provided financial support for the Woltemade Center’s Corns Business and Entrepreneurial Scholars program; the Libuse L. Reed Endowed Professorship; the Richard W. Smith Civil War Lecture Series; the Richard Fusch Fund for Excellence in Geographic Studies; and much more. He served as co-chair of the university’s last capital campaign and has been an enthusiastic leader in fundraising for both the OWU Class of 1959 and the SAE fraternity.
In recognition of his personal and professional success, Corns was inducted into the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) Hall of Excellence in 2010. The Hall of Excellence honors alumni from OFIC member colleges, such as Ohio Wesleyan, whose “lifetime achievements exemplify the traditions, ideals, strengths, and values of private higher education.”
Ohio Wesleyan’s Connect Today, Create Tomorrow capital campaign was launched in July with the key objectives of enhancing access and affordability for students through scholarship endowment; recognizing and rewarding faculty excellence and innovation; and improving the physical campus. The leadership phase already has yielded more than $50 million in contributions and commitments. Learn more about giving to Ohio Wesleyan at owu.edu/waystogive.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.