McKean Family Scholarship

The McKean Family Scholarship is available through the University of Central Missouri Alumni Foundation for a full time undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Education in either English or Speech Communication/Theatre. Students must be of junior or senior standing and have met the qualifications and been admitted to the teacher education program. This scholarship has been made available through the generous support of Meryl Lin McKean and Mary Kate Alkire in honor of their mother, Willa Mae Fellhauer McKean, Class of ’39.

The McKean Family Scholarship is given by Mary Katharine McKean Alkire (1976 and 1984) and Meryl Lin McKean (1980) in memory of their mother, Willa Mae Fellhauer McKean. Willa Mae completed a B.S. in Education degree from UCM in 1939. In 1938, she was elected the university’s first homecoming queen. She was active in student government and worked in the library for her tuition. She returned later to finish a master’s degree in 1968. After graduation, she taught for two years at Urich High School. In 1941, she began teaching at Warrensburg High School where she taught four different periods of time for 25 years. She taught English, speech and drama and finished her career as librarian. The scholarship is also given in memory of the McKean sisters’ grandmothers, Lena Overbey McKean and Mary D. Hopkins Fellhauer. Lena attended UCM in 1910 and 1912 and taught at Bee Branch School in Henry County. Mary was a housemother to UCM coeds in the 1940s and early 1950s.