Thanks to an anonymous donation of $450,000, undergraduate students in psychology, computer science and geography will have a permanent scholarship available starting in 2006.

“This is the second-largest endowed scholarship by a living individual,” NIU Foundation President Mallory Simpson said. The highest, given in spring 2000, was for $500,000, she said.

Simpson described the donor as “a lovely, thoughtful person who believes in the importance of higher education and the role NIU plays in the lives” of students.

The gift is particularly generous since it is coming from someone who did not attend NIU. The donor specified that the money be used for those three academic disciplines because her family members were affiliated with those areas, Simpson said. Each year, three students who have at least 36 credit hours at NIU will have their fees, tuition and books paid for as a result of the scholarship, which will “reward and retain accomplished students forever,” Simpson said.

The donor, who hails from Wisconsin, has been a resident of DeKalb for seven years, according to an NIU press release. Her grandson and his wife are graduates of NIU and her daughter-in-law has a master’s degree from NIU. Her granddaughter is currently a student.

“This gift represents our means of thanking and giving something back to a university community that has been so wonderfully helpful to family members as they have grown, matured and developed across significant periods of their lives,” said the donor in a written statement.

In the last few years, the NIU Foundation has raised more than $3 million in endowed scholarships to students, Simpson said.

In the next few years, NIU President John Peters will be focusing on the development of endowments for students and faculty.