Long-time supporters endow two more YSU scholarships

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Longtime Youngstown State University supporters Roger and Gloria Jones, founders of Fireline Inc. in Youngstown, have endowed two new scholarships to add to their long list of giving to the university.

The scholarships, of $100,000 each, are named in honor of the Joneses and are through the YSU Foundation. The Roger and Gloria Jones Scholarship for STEM students will be awarded to a student in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The Roger and Gloria Jones Scholarship in Fine Arts will be awarded to a student majoring in one of the fine arts at the College of Creative Arts and Communication.

Their previous support of YSU has been diverse and far-reaching. Over the years they have contributed to the STEM College, the College of Creative Arts and Communication, the Dana School of Music, the Friends of Music Scholarship, the YSU Foundation Reaching for Tomorrow’s Stars Scholarship, 88.5 WYSU-FM and the YSU English Festival.

The couple are Mahoning Valley residents and founders of Fireline Inc., a Youngstown-based manufacturer of high-performance ceramic shapes used in a variety of molten-metal applications.

A Korean War veteran and recipient of the Bronze Star, Roger has a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University and came to the Youngstown area to head research and development for Dixon Crucible. He also is a sculptor, with one of his pieces featured on campus in the space between Tod Hall and the Butler Institute of American Art.

Gloria has an undergraduate degree from Elmira College in biology and chemistry, a master’s in physiological chemistry from the University of Buffalo and a master’s in English from YSU. She worked in medical research, taught at YSU for more than 20 years and taught at the University of Nis in Serbia on a Fulbright Scholarship. She later was vice president of special projects at Fireline.