First Recipients Announced for UC Scholarship to Support Students Who Are Physically Challenged

Two University of Cincinnati students are the first to be awarded a new scholarship resulting from a generous gift from the Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation. Shirley Sewell, a 49-year-old student from Madisonville, and 33-year-old Christian Brown, who lives in Anderson Township, are the first recipients of the new Winnie Unnewehr Fraser Scholarship for students with significant physical challenges such as paraplegia or quadriplegia.

Recipients of the scholarship are selected by the UC Office of Disability Services. The scholarship is available to an undergraduate who has self-identified with a significant physical disability, and may be renewed annually as long as the student is in good academic standing and demonstrates financial need. The total amount of funds awarded was $7,500 for the 2008-09 academic year. The $250,000 gift to endow the scholarship will provide full tuition in the coming academic years.

The scholarship is named in memory of Winnie Unnewehr Fraser, a sister of Marge Schott who spent 38 years in a wheelchair following a 1968 car accident. Fraser eventually regained the use of her arms, raised three children and participated in the Paralympics. She died in 2006.

Scholarship recipient Shirley Sewell graduates from UC’s Raymond Walters College in December with an associate’s degree in medical coding and billing technology. She became a paraplegic following an accidental gunshot wound in 1971. The wife and mother says the death of her own mother last winter delayed her graduation in the spring, after she had to withdraw from two classes required for her major to focus on memorial arrangements and family. She says she’s now looking forward to being the first person in her family to graduate from college.

“I’ve had a few setbacks but I am not letting them stop me from obtaining my goals,” she says. “With my degree, I will have the tools to do my job to the best of my ability. I will be an asset.”

Sewell’s daughter, Shaunelia, is a graduate of UC’s Upward Bound program for ninth-through-twelfth-grade high-school students. Sewell, who celebrated her 22nd wedding anniversary last month with husband Stanley Sewell, says Shaunelia is also planning on attending Raymond Walters College.

Scholarship recipient Christian Brown, a UC sophomore who’s earning his bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the UC College of Applied Science, now lives in Anderson Township and is originally from Harveys Lake, Pa. He and his wife, Carolyn Lipchik, relocated to Cincinnati from where he was working with the AmeriCorps*VISTA Program in Steubenville, Ohio, after Carolyn got a job at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Brown says he became interested in IT after setting up a Web site for an organization. “I decided to pursue a degree at UC because I saw that its IT program was one of the best in the nation and one of those rare accredited programs,” he says.

Brown, who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and other conditions that confine him mostly to a wheelchair, says that the timing of the scholarship is “a huge lift off my shoulders, after recent medical issues and expensive medical bills. This scholarship is helping me finish my education.” He says the scholarship will support about two-thirds of the cost of his tuition for the 2008-2009 academic year.

Brown serves his college as a peer leader for an incoming freshman learning community of IT students, a program that pairs freshmen with upperclassmen to guide their shift from high school to college. “I love working with the incoming freshmen and helping them adjust to college life and connect with faculty,” he says. “I’ve made my mistakes and learned from them, and now I’m ready to pass on what I’ve learned. I look forward to this responsibility and I look forward to continuing to make an impact at this school and beyond, as I continue to grow in this field and throughout my life.”

“In addition to the expected costs associated with attending college, students with significant physical challenges have additional costs associated with everyday living such as additional medical costs, transportation and adaptations to increase accessibility in personal living spaces,” says Debra Merchant, director of Academic Excellence and Support Services, which includes the Disability Services Office and the Learning Assistance Center. “This scholarship will not only provide much needed relief from the financial burden of getting a degree, but it will also demonstrate, in a very substantial way, that UC values the inclusion of persons with disabilities within the UC community.”

Front Row - Dick Fraser, husband of the late Winnie Unnewehr Fraser, Shirley Sewell and Christian Brown
Back Row - Bobbie Unnewehr, sister of Marge Unnewehr Schott and Winnie Unnewehr Fraser, Mitchel D. Livingston, Debra Merchant and UC President Nancy L. Zimpher

“Shirley and Christian are shining examples of excellence and diversity, punctuating UC as a place of opportunity,” says Mitchel D. Livingston, vice president for Student Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer.

Winnie Unnewehr Fraser Scholarship

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