Roane State Community College

April 4, 2025

Herbert and Carolyn Krause gifted $50,000 to Roane State Foundation last fall to establish a new scholarship endowment that will benefit Roane State students pursuing degrees in health science.

“We are so grateful to the Krauses for supporting our students as they work hard to achieve their goals,” said Scott Niermann, executive director of Roane State Foundation.

With Roane State’s new Knox Regional Health Science Education Center under construction, the college will be significantly expanding its health science course and program offerings. Once completed, the center is expected to educate more than 8,000 students each year.

“This generous contribution from the Krause family will ensure that Roane State can provide support to even more health science students who will enroll in those programs moving forward,” added Niermann.

Longtime residents of Oak Ridge, Herbert and Carolyn met at the University of Pittsburgh before eventually making their home together in East Tennessee. Today, they are both retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Carolyn having been a science writer there for 35 years, and Herbert having worked as an experimental physicist from 1970 until 2008.

Since retiring, Carolyn has continued to write articles on science, social justice, and local history for publications in the area. Meanwhile, Herbert has served as a judge at science fairs and has tutored students in mathematics, physics, and chemistry at Roane State in Oak Ridge. Both have served on a number of nonprofit boards and volunteered at various local organizations.

“We are passionate about giving back to our community and to the colleges and universities we attended, as well as Roane State,” Herbert said. “We love to help students obtain higher education and find satisfying careers, and we are glad for this opportunity to assist local students.”

Information on the college’s health science, nursing, and medicine programs is available online at roanestate.edu/healthcare. A variety of transfer and career degrees are offered through Roane State along with career certificates, specialized courses, and workforce training.

To learn more about establishing an endowment with Roane State Foundation to support Roane State students and programs, visit roanestate.edu/foundation.