{"id":13497,"date":"2026-04-23T09:12:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13497"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:12:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:12:42","slug":"as-graduation-nears-first-foust-scholarship-recipient-carries-on-legacy-of-late-professor","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/as-graduation-nears-first-foust-scholarship-recipient-carries-on-legacy-of-late-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"As graduation nears, first Foust scholarship recipient carries on legacy of late professor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Familiarity brought her to campus, but fate is what Grace McDonnell feels provided her a life-changing opportunity at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The high school senior knew she was going to study geographic information systems, but she wasn\u2019t certain where until she took a tour of the UW-Eau Claire geography and anthropology department in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhich totally locked in things for me,\u201d McDonnell says. \u201cI decided Eau Claire was where I was going to end up and then that same day I got a letter in the mail saying I got the Foust scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour and early communication with department staff helped McDonnell secure the first-ever Brady Foust Geospatial Analysis and Technology Scholarship, the vision of the late professor emeritus of geography Dr. Brady Foust and his wife, Jeanne Foust. After both serving in the geography field for decades, they donated $1 million to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation to endow a scholarship for a first-year student majoring in geospatial analysis and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to try and put words behind what this scholarship has meant to me,\u201d says McDonnell, now a college senior set to graduate in May. \u201cI\u2019m walking away with two majors and no debt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Grace<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grace McDonnell is pursuing double major in biology and geospatial analysis and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDonnell\u2019s scholarship has awarded her $8,000 per year for her entire college career. Currently, first-year recipients receive $8,500, with the ability to be awarded a total of $34,000 over four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeanne Foust says she is thrilled she can support McDonnell and the three other recipients currently pursuing the major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel very honored that this is fulfilling one of the great wishes Brady had,\u201d Jeanne Foust says. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to see students delving into geospatial, especially if we can be supporting them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Brady<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Brady Foust and Jeanne Foust created the Brady Foust Geospatial Analysis and Technology Scholarship in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, the scholarship required students to graduate with two majors so they would be more highly sought after in many career areas following graduation. Now, students can choose a minor as a second academic program, and they must maintain a 3.0 GPA. McDonnell\u2019s second major is biology, which she says will serve as a specialization tool for her geospatial studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following her father’s footsteps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

McDonnell\u2019s interest in geography was piqued after taking a course at a nearby community college, but she didn\u2019t know it could become a profession. Her father, a geography minor in college, knew about GIS and suggested further exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told my dad, \u2018No, I\u2019m not going to do that.\u2019 Well, here I am,\u201d McDonnell says with a smile, reflecting on her stubbornness at 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more she learned about the field, the more interested she became in studying it. She had heard of UW-Eau Claire because her brother toured the campus \u2014 prompting her mother to correctly predict McDonnell would be the one to study there \u2014 and it became one of her top choices based on its reputation for GIS instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI definitely have fallen more in love with GIS and geography in general. Every semester I take some GIS, remote sensing or cartography class,\u201d McDonnell says. \u201cit\u2019s just really interesting to see the technical process that goes behind creating a map or visual that tells you so much information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDonnell has participated in four research projects, three of which focused on geospatial aspects. The latest one took her to the Philippines to analyze shoreline changes caused by major weather and tectonic events<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those experiences, combined with the confidence the scholarship instilled in her, have helped McDonnell push herself outside of her comfort zone. She currently serves as president of UW-Eau Claire\u2019s Delta Tau chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, a geography honor society, and previously served as president of the Geography & Anthropology Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McDonnell worked side-by-side with Yvonne Plomedahl, the department\u2019s longtime academic assistant<\/a>, and became a go-to source of information for Dr. Ryan Weichelt when he became department chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ryan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ryan Weichelt, professor and chair of the geography and anthropology department<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrace would know where things were. She was always so quick to help,\u201d says Weichelt, who also serves as the faculty advisor to the Geography & Anthropology Club. \u201cShe\u2019s an excellent student and role model for other students in the department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weichelt also hopes more female students can follow McDonnell\u2019s lead, as the geospatial analysis field is male dominated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighboring map coordinates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Though Jeanne Foust and McDonnell have not yet met in person, they recently learned they come from neighboring towns in western Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTalk about a moment of Zen,\u201d says Foust, who is from Redwood Falls, Minnesota, about 20 miles south of McDonnell\u2019s hometown of Olivia, Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foust went on to work for Esri, a global market leader in GIS software, location intelligence and mapping. McDonnell is currently applying for GIS analyst or specialist roles with a preference to work in Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she reflects on her college journey, McDonnell hopes she has illustrated her gratitude for the Foust scholarship, which she calls life-changing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just too perfect,\u201d she says. \u201cIt felt like proof I belonged here and I was on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by UW-Eau Claire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwec.edu\/stories\/graduation-nears-first-foust-scholarship-recipient-carries-legacy-late-professor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Familiarity brought her to campus, but fate is what Grace McDonnell feels provided her a life-changing opportunity at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The high school senior knew she was going to study geographic information systems, but she wasn\u2019t certain where until she took a tour of the UW-Eau Claire geography and anthropology department in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[96],"story_category":[146],"class_list":["post-13497","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-eau-claire","story_category-research-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13497"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}