Thatcher Company Establishes $30,000 Scholarship

Four-year, full-tuition scholarship awarded to Cyprus High School senior

The Thatcher Company of Salt Lake City, Utah, has made a generous, multiyear pledge to the College of Science with the establishment of the Thatcher Company Scholarship in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, announced at last fall’s Science Day at the U.
The award is a four-year, full-tuition and fees scholarship, plus a $1,000 book award each year. In addition, the Thatcher Company is inviting the finalists for the award to apply for a paid internship at the company.
Valued at roughly $30,000, depending on tuition costs over the next three years, this is the largest scholarship awarded by the College of Science.

“We are extremely grateful to the Thatcher Company for this very generous gift,” said Pierre V. Sokolsky, dean of the U’s College of Science. “Such a wonderful scholarship will make a huge difference in the life of a young person interested in chemistry, and will help us in encouraging more students to consider the sciences.”
Eligible recipients must be incoming freshmen at the University of Utah with a declared major in chemistry or chemical engineering.
Thomas F. Thatcher, BA chemistry, ’85, a member of the Thatcher Company Board of Directors and the College of Science Advisory Board, presented the scholarship to Natascha Knowlton of Magna, Utah. Knowlton is an outstanding student who excelled in a broad range of honors courses at Cyprus High School, including chemistry, biology, geography, Spanish and English.
She also was the 2009 Cyprus High School nominee for the Sterling Scholar Award in foreign language. She is getting an early jump on her education at the U, having been selected for the prestigious ACCESS Program for Women in Science and Mathematics.
According to Thatcher, “The purpose of the scholarship is to give a qualified person who would normally be inhibited by financial means a chance of not only getting an education but an opportunity to change the world.”
“The deep motivation to do this scholarship was from a story of a brilliant and highly qualified medical student who had to take extraordinary means to try to get funding to go to school amidst his poor family circumstances,” says Thatcher. “His talent was almost wasted and he had to resort to out-of-character actions. I was touched by that story and wanted to try to help. If there is a student out there who needs a break, I wanted to give him or her that break. And in return it is our hope that Natascha will appreciate the gift she has been given and will make an all-out effort to return that gift in some way to society.”
Thatcher Company is a diversified chemical manufacturer and distributor. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, it has grown to be a major chemical supplier and distributor in the United States, with more than 250 employees and operations in seven states around the country.
Other officers of the company include Lawrence E. Thatcher, BS chemical engineering, ’45, and Craig N. Thatcher, BA chemistry, ’74.
For more information, and to apply for the Thatcher Scholarship or other scholarships in the college, visit www.science.utah.edu.
To learn more about the Thatcher Company, visit their website, www.thatchercompany.com.