Dr. Norman Levan has donated $13.665 million to Bakersfield College.

$10 million will go toward establishing the Norman Levan Scholarship Endowment. The scholarship will award $2,000 to 250 students, for a total of $500,000, every year to help with the costs of school.

Dr. Levan was presented with a certificate from Mayor Harvey Hall and a medallion from BC president Greg Chamberlain. Also in attendance was Kern Community College District Chancellor Sandra Serrano, Scott Lay of the Community College League of California. Representatives for congressman Kevin McCarthy, California Assemblywoman Jean Fuller and Assemblywoman Shannon Grove also attended to show the politicians’ thanks to Levan.

According to Amber Chiang, director of marketing and public relation at BC, the donation is the largest donation from a private individual to a community college in California history.

Mike Stepanovich, executive director of the BC Foundation, said, “it really is a game changer for people in Bakersfield, because in this community there is a large section that is disadvantaged. I think we have a lower college going rate than other areas in the state and I think a large part of that has to do with the fact that people are disadvantaged.

“Even a community college education for some people is out of reach. What this means for hundreds of people a year [is that] they will be able to work on their college degree.”

The BC Foundation currently gives away $400,000 in scholarships annually. The additional $500,000 in scholarships will more than double the current amount given in scholarships by the foundation.

The donation is the second multi-million dollar donation from Dr. Levan. He previously donated $5.7 million to BC in 2006 to establish the Norman Levan Center for the Humanities.

More details, of the event campus feedback and a staff editorial will available in the print edition of The Renegade Rip on March 30.