Open Doors Scholarship donors Dan and Donna Kohlhepp. (Provided photo)
DUBOIS – Dan and Donna Kohlhepp have made a $60,000 gift to establish the Sell-Kohlhepp Open Doors Scholarship, honoring both the Kohlhepp family, as well as Donna’s family, the Sells.
The Open Doors Scholarship Program has generated nearly $2 million for student scholarships at Penn State DuBois so far.
This unprecedented giving opportunity runs in its current form through June 30, 2018, offering the 2:1 match to donors who make a minimum $30,000 pledge, payable over five years, to establish a scholarship.
Donors can also choose to donate any amount above $30,000, which the University will also match at 2:1. After June 30, the University will provide a 1:1 match to gifts of $50,000 or more to create Open Doors Scholarships.
Born and raised in DuBois, Dan Kohlhepp earned his Bachelor’s and M.B.A. degrees from Penn State and his Ph.D. in real estate and urban analysis at the Ohio State University.
He has published numerous academic and professional articles in real estate and continues to teach adult education classes and seminars.
In 2003, he received the Penn State University Alumni Fellow Award. He is president and chief executive officer of Granite Road LLC, a consulting company specializing in real estate investment and development services.
He is also president and CEO of the Kohlhepp Real Estate Investment Trust, Ltd. and its sister company, the Kohlhepp Corp., which owns and manages a portfolio of closely held real estate investments.
He is a past president of the DuBois Educational Foundation and a past campaign chair during the Penn State DuBois For the Future Campaign.
Dan Kohlhepp recently retired from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School where he was a senior lecturer and academic director of the Master of Science in real estate and infrastructure program.
In 2017, the American Real Estate Society awarded his research as the “Best Paper by a Practicing Professional,” and in 2018, he published his textbook, Real Estate Development Matrix, (Routledge) with his co-author Kimberly Kohlhepp.
In 2015, Dan Kohlhepp was given the Distinguished Ambassador Award by the Penn State DuBois Alumni Society.
Donna Sell Kohlhepp earned her Ph.D. in public health at the University of Oklahoma where she also earned her MSN.
Donna Kohlhepp earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing at the Ohio State University where she met her husband, Dan Kohlhepp. Donna Kohlhepp taught nursing at Pennsylvania State University as an assistant professor.
As a health care consultant, she has published, researched and directed numerous seminars and workshops on health and wellness.
Her book, “Women and the Midlife Experience: When the Glass Slipper No Longer Fits”, presents an optimist view of midlife with holistic approaches for dealing with the emotional and physical challenges it presents.
Donna Kohlhepp is a health consultant to the Mint Culinary Studio in DuBois and her private practice, HER: Health Education Resources, provides individual health counseling particularly in the areas of menopause and thyroid disorders.
She has also been active in the local community serving on various boards. Donna and Dan Kohlhepp have three daughters, Kaydee Gunter, Joanne Bish, Kimberly Kohlhepp, and a grandson, Henry Bish.
This gift from Dan and Donna Kohlhepp will advance “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections.
With the support of alumni and friends, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship.
To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.