No one would be more delighted with the first recipient of the Carroll and Dawn Mann Wildlife Conservation Scholarship than the man for whom it is named.
Dawn Mann said her husband, alumnus Dr. Carroll L. Mann III, would have been thrilled with the selection of Abigail Johnson, a graduate of Avery County High School in Newland, North Carolina.
Mrs. Mann said the scholarship was intended to take effect upon her death, “but I just couldn’t wait! I wanted to do some good with it now, to honor the memory of my husband Carroll and to get to know the recipient while I was still around. And in a way, he gets to live on through the good works of this young woman.”
The renewable scholarship covers undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies for a student enrolled in the Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Program. It is part of an endowment that Dr. Mann, a neurosurgeon from Raleigh, and his wife Dawn, established to honor a century-long, three-generation legacy at NC State.
Mann, an avid big game hunter and fisherman, died in 2013. He graduated in 1959 with a zoology degree from NC State before earning his M.D. His father was Carroll Mann Jr., a 1932 university alumnus and professor, and his grandfather, Carroll Mann, was an 1899 graduate and longtime head of civil engineering who was the namesake for Mann Hall.
Mrs. Mann invited the scholarship winner, Johnson, to visit with her after the scholarship was awarded.
“She is a delightful person, smart and ready to learn,” Mann said. “It’s almost like my husband hand-picked her. She shares his passion for natural resources, preservation and wildlife.”
Johnson, a freshman, said she was so excited to hear she had been selected for the scholarship.
“I’ve always loved animals,” she said. “I grew up around a lot of animals, going to Grandfather Mountain, and I worked in a veterinarian’s office for three or four years. I don’t know what I’ll ultimately do with my studies – maybe a wildlife rehabilitator, or a park ranger.”
Mrs. Mann said she looks forward to keeping in touch with Abby and watching her NC State story unfold.
“I hope to continue to build a strong relationship with her and I can’t wait to see what she ends up doing,” she said. “I know my husband would be proud.”
Story written by Beth Grace for the College of Natural Resources
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