BET Co-Founder Gives College Its First $1 Million Donation
MORRISVILLE, N.Y.
Officials at SUNY Morrisville have announced the first million-dollar donation from an individual in the college’s 94-year history. Sheila Crump Johnson, philanthropist and co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, donated $1 million to SUNY Morrisville for the creation of the Sheila Crump Johnson Institute on campus.
The Sheila Crump Johnson Institute will provide support for diversity and character-building initiatives for students and the college community by creating fellowships, offering scholarships and providing diversity-oriented, character-building and leadership programming.
“In educating young people, it is imperative to address the whole person,” Johnson says. “Focusing on character and leadership in addition to academics will serve to prepare students well for their roles as employees, employers, parents and leaders.”
SUNY Morrisville president Dr. Ray Cross has worked to ensure the college, which enrolls students from each county in New York State, many different states and 10 foreign countries, embraces its diversity. He believes the Sheila Crump Johnson Institute is a strong benefit for an already multiethnic and multicultural campus.
“We are proud to see that the level of diversity on campus is a true reflection of the population of New York State,” he says. “The Sheila Crump Johnson Institute makes it possible for us to both further celebrate this diversity and continue to provide opportunities for the economically disadvantaged.”
Johnson was the SUNY Morrisville commencement speaker in May and said she came up with the idea for the institute while visiting the campus.
About 12 percent of Morrisville’s 2,800 students are African American.
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