Joseph E. and Carolyn Baer Haught
A West Virginia University graduate and her husband are honoring her parents’ memory with a $250,000 scholarship gift to benefit Mountain State students.
Joan and Robert Powers, of Lincoln, Nebraska, established the Joseph E. and Carolyn Baer Haught Scholarship. Recipients must be undergraduates from West Virginia, with a preference for first-generation students and students majoring in education or science.
“This gift from the Powers is a testament to the impact that education can have on people’s lives,” said Maryanne Reed, provost and vice president for academic affairs at WVU. “Their family has a deep commitment to supporting the University. By providing aid to West Virginia students with significant financial need, we can help ensure the success of these students for years to come.”
Joan’s late parents were West Virginia natives who met as students at WVU in the 1950s. Joseph Haught grew up as a “farm kid” in Salem and earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture at WVU after serving in the military. His wife, Carolyn, was born in Oak Hill and raised in Charleston; she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at WVU.
Joseph Haught went on to earn a master’s degree in tropical medicine at Tulane University and a doctorate in veterinary medicine at the University of Missouri, yet his strongest loyalty was to WVU. By Joan’s estimation, her dad could don WVU apparel for weeks without repeating an outfit.
He also contributed regularly to his alma mater, including the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, WVU Extension and WVU Libraries.
“My parents have always been invested in education,” Joan Powers said. “They paid for my education. They paid for our children’s education. They came into more money later in life, and they were very generous. We felt like this scholarship was a good way to honor their memory.”
Joseph worked for many years as a veterinarian for Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company that is now part of Merck. Outside of work, he enjoyed riding his motorcycle, flying his own plane, reading non-fiction books, playing golf and singing in his church choir.
Carolyn worked as an elementary school teacher before the couple welcomed Joan and her sister, Diane. Later, she kept busy with volunteer work, her women’s club, Sunday school, church choir, a bowling league and other community activities. The couple raised their family in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, but they frequently returned to West Virginia to visit with family.
The scholarship also honors a broader family legacy. Along with Joan’s parents, her maternal grandparents, aunt and uncle attended the University. Joan followed in their footsteps by earning her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at WVU, where she belonged to the same sorority (Alpha Delta Pi) as her mother and aunt.
Despite growing up just 20 minutes apart in New Jersey, Joan and Robert met at Purdue University, where they both earned doctorates in chemistry. Robert then worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 10 years before shifting to academia. He is a professor of chemistry at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where the couple has established a similar scholarship.
Inspired by Robert’s experience as a first-generation college student who struggled to finance his education, the couple set up their WVU scholarship endowment to provide as much aid as possible to each recipient.
“We wanted it to be a forever scholarship, and we wanted it to really benefit one student for their entire time there,” Robert Powers said. “We’re doing the same thing at the University of Nebraska, to really reach out and maybe make the difference in someone’s ability to go and complete their degree.”
“You can change their lives,” Joan Powers added.
Joan has also worked in higher education, as an adjunct instructor at both the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and Nebraska Wesleyan University. She previously taught at the high school level prior to welcoming the couple’s two children, Joshua and Jessica.
The Powers gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.