Donor Stories
Jean Parsons
Jean Parsons
Eastern Michigan University has received $2.2 million
from the trust of renowned sculptor and potter Jean
Noble Parsons (1929-2000). The estate gift is the largest
of its kind in the history of EMU. The trust includes
$1.75 million in cash and $489,000 in property. The
Parsons' trustees solicited proposals following her death
to establish a center in her name, and Eastern Michigan
University was awarded the gift.
EMU will use the gift to establish the Jean
Noble Parsons Center for the Study of Art and
Science on 86 wooded acres near Traverse
City and Interlochen. Programming for the
center will maintain the natural state of the land
and will be designed to foster interdisciplinary
exchanges between artists and scientists.
Jean Noble Parsons received a Fulbright
Scholarship in 1958. She studied ceramics in Denmark and
was mentored by renowned potter Richard Kjaerdgaard.
As part of her scholarship year, Parsons visited factories,
art schools, potteries and practicing masters in Denmark,
England, Finland and Sweden. She returned to the United
States and continued individual research at Cranbrook
Academy of Art in Michigan.
Though Jean was not an alumna of EMU, those
responsible for carrying out her wishes saw EMU as the
institution to best carry out her dream. Students and
faculty at EMU will benefit from her generosity for years
to come.
Photo courtesy of Interlochen Center for the Arts
