La-Z-Boy Foundation gives generous gift to support scholarships

Kansas City University’s (KCU) College of Dental Medicine (CDM) located on the Farber-McIntire Joplin Campus received a generous $10,000 gift from the La-Z-Boy Foundation. The donation will support the Patterson Family Foundation scholarship challenge and brings KCU within two-thirds of the $1 million goal.

The La-Z-Boy Foundation has a history of faithfully supporting KCU-Joplin with capital campaign gifts to both the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the CDM. Their gift toward the Patterson Family Foundation scholarship challenge will help fund scholarships for dental students from areas with populations of 50,000 or less who may not otherwise have the resources to pursue dental school.

In 2022, the Patterson Family Foundation challenged KCU to raise $1 million for scholarships for the dental school with a pledge to match it dollar for dollar once the goal is reached, creating a $2 million scholarship endowment. The ultimate goal of this challenge is to provide scholarships to recipients who will likely return to a rural community to practice following graduation from KCU-CDM. Research shows that dentists from rural areas tend to return to those communities to practice upon graduation.

During the check presentation, Linda Niessen, DMD, KCU-CDM founding dean and vice provost of Oral Health Affairs, expressed appreciation for La-Z-Boy’s continued generosity to the University. “The KCU College of Dental Medicine is truly grateful for La-Z-Boy’s contribution to our student scholarship fund. This generous gift helps relieve the financial burden of dental education for dental students. It enables us to continue recruiting students from rural communities and those with demonstrated financial need who have been historically under-represented in dental schools, and who plan to serve communities with oral health care needs,” said Niessen.

To give a gift or learn more about The Patterson Family Foundation Scholarship Challenge, visit https://community.kansascity.edu/CDMGifts or call the Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Relations at 816-654-7280.