Glenn & Betsy Knowles

Glenn and Betsy Knowles were long-time faculty members in the UW-L Economics Department and have
established this scholarship to support students in pursuit of an Economics major. Glenn joined the
department in 1985 and served until his retirement in 2018. In addition to teaching, Glenn served four years
as the Interim Associate Dean for the College of Business Administration (CBA), including through its
accreditation with AACSB. Betsy taught for over 27 years in the Economics Department and served as the
CBA’s initial assurance of learning (AOL) coordinator.

The scholarship honors the importance of education in their lives and in their parents’ lives. Because of life
circumstances, Glenn’s parents never had the opportunity to complete a college education, making Glenn a
first-generation student. However, both of Betsy’s parents were able to overcome the challenges of
obtaining a college degree in the years following the Depression. Notably, this education eventually led her
father, Roy Fountain, to be recognized in the UW-Madison collections for his work in value engineering*.

Betsy’s father approached life’s “problems” as “opportunities”. That is what Glenn and Betsy hope to
provide with this scholarship – opportunity.

*See Lawrence D. Miles Value Engineering Reference Center Collection.