Donor Biography

Bonnie Magelby Bishop came to Cedar City at the age of six when her father moved from Snow College to teach at what was then the BAC, from which VR had graduated in 1936.

Her mother, Ila, began a nursing career in Cedar that would last more than 30 years. The family lived on 300 West, and Bonnie walked a few steps to elementary school, a few farther to junior high and high school, and just across the street to college, which had served as a vast playground for her and her friends as children.

Following her 1960 Cedar High graduation she enrolled in what was by then the College of Southern Utah to study dietetics but changed her major to home economics at USU, from which she also took a master's degree in child development.

She met her husband, Kent, on a blind date, with Bonnie coming in 1966 to Cedar City, where Kent taught history at the high school. She took a part-time teaching job with the pre-school program at CSU and the following year became full time when female faculty were few. She managed the pre-school lab, moving into a dedicated space across the street from the Science Building.

To hundreds and hundreds of Cedar City children, the ministrations of Miss Bonnie in the pre-school lab are fond memories. Bonnie earnestly magnified her appointment and was a pillar of the campus community for 40 years. She was always active in state and national organizations dedicated to the teaching of child development and was a solid supporter of a number of University initiatives.

She retired as associate professor of family and consumer sciences in 2005 and is a truly fitting recipient of the University's Distinguished Service Award. In recognition of her contribution to SUU's pre-school and early childhood development, Bonnie's portrait hangs in the Emma Eccles Jones Preschool at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for Hope.

Scholarship Criteria

Is awarded to outstanding students from the Department of Teacher Education and Human Development.

Education & Human Development

Teacher Ed & Family Dvlpmnt

Varied Dollars/yr