Elva Lea Wise Business Scholarship

Dr. Elva Lea Wise, Western Colorado University Emeritus Professor of Business, passed away in Emporia, Kansas on April 30, 2011. She was 85.

Lea graduated from Conway Springs High School in 1943 and received her B.S. in Business Administration from University of Wichita (now Wichita State University) in 1947. She received her M.A. in Business Education in 1959 and her Ph.D. in Business Education on 1968 from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Lea was a teacher at several high schools before working as a secretary and office worker at Evans Motor Company in Wichita and then served as a secretary at Control Cells Corporation of Wichita and Boulder. While attending graduate school in Colorado, Lea was a secretary at the Rocky Flats Plant of the Dow Chemical Company in Golden. From 1959 until her retirement in 1984, she was a Professor of Business at Western.

Lea was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Delta Kappa Gamma, Delta Pi Epsilon, National Business Education Association, Colorado Business Education Association and Mountain-Plains Business Education Association and attended various Methodist churches.

Lea graciously established the Elva Lea Wise Business Scholarship through an estate gift that will assist students majoring in Business. This scholarship is open to all, but preference will be given to a recipient who has demonstrated commitment to the advancement of women in business.