Associate dean at Western Carolina University endows scholarship

Press release from Western Carolina University:

Ken Flynt, an associate dean in the College of Business at Western Carolina University, has endowed a scholarship in memory of his late son.

The Chad M. Flynt Scholarship will benefit students majoring in sport management who carry a 3.2 grade point average and display leadership and engage in extracurricular activities in the College of Business and university at large. Rising junior Carly J. Sprouse of Waynesville was named the first recipient of the scholarship, which will award her $500 for the 2013-14 academic year.

“I’m honored to receive it,” Sprouse said.

Flynt graduated from WCU in 1971 with a business degree and went on to spend a long career in banking before returning to his alma mater as an employee. At the end of 2012, he began to think more about how he could support WCU and its students and arrived at the idea of endowing a scholarship.

“I really appreciate the value of WCU and the College of Business in my life,” Flynt said. “I love this place, and I care very deeply about our students.”

Flynt chose the College of Business sport management program because his son, who died 17 years ago while still a teenager, had been athletic – he ran and played golf – and Flynt could imagine him having gone into sport management as a career.

Sprouse, team manager for Catamount women’s basketball, carries a 3.5 grade point average and is a member of the Honors College. She hopes for a career in collegiate women’s basketball.

For more information about the Chad M. Flynt Scholarship or giving to WCU, contact Brett Woods, director of development, at bwoods@wcu.edu or 828-227-7124.