Couple to establish Northwest Geography scholarship

Northwest Missouri State University has announced that Professor Emeritus Dwight Maxwell and his wife, Sandra, a Northwest alumna, have agreed to establish a scholarship through the Northwest Foundation.

The scholarship, which will be set up using funds from the couple's estate following their deaths, will assist students in the Department of Natural Sciences, with preference given to geology majors who have achieved at least sophomore status and a 3.0 grade-point average.

Maxwell taught at Northwest from 1970 to 2000 and retired as a full professor.

"I benefitted from scholarships after I graduated from high school, and it just seems natural to give something back," he said. "... Since I taught at Northwest for 30 years, it is fitting for me to give back to the university so that other students may benefit from scholarships the way I did."

Sandra Maxwell came to Northwest with her husband and enrolled as a non-traditional student. After completing her bachelor's degree in communication disorders in 1981, she worked as a school speech pathologist in Stanberry and Maryville.

Other Bearcat family members include the couple's son, Peter Malmberg, who earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1991, and their daughter, Heather (Malmberg) Greenfield, who graduated that same year with a bachelor's degree in international business. Son-in-law Troy Greenfield earned a bachelor's degree in industrial technology from Northwest in 1990.