About the Scholarships

The . Welson Jones Memorial Research Scholarship and Gregg Johnson Research Awards are in honor of Dr. C. Weldon Jones, a longtime department member who passed away suddenly in 2003, and Dr. Gregg A. Johnson, a department member who taught at Bethel for 38 years.

C. Weldon Jones completed his undergraduate education at Harvard, followed by a Ph.D. from Harvard and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University Medical School. Before joining Bethel College (now Bethel University), he spent a year at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center of Harvard Medical School.

Named the Minnesota Professor of the Year in 1995 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Dr. Jones published extensively and received numerous National Science Foundation grants. He is best remembered as a quiet professor who truly loved biology and Bethel. His tireless energy and countless hours at Bethel changed the lives of generations of biology students. During his time as faculty advisor to the Gamma Omega chapter of the TriBeta National Honor Society, the chapter won the national Lloyd M. Bertholf Award for program excellence three times in eight years. Dr. Jones also had numerous student publications in BIOS, a national undergraduate research journal, along with his own publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Gregg Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Bethel College in 1969, continuing on for his master’s degree in genetic toxicology and his doctoral degree in plant cytogenetics at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Johnson is widely remembered by his students and colleagues for his broad interests, his passion for students, his generous spirit, and his sense of humor. He served as faculty advisor to the Gamma Omega chapter of the TriBeta National Honor Society for many years. He and his wife Lois generously opened their home for TriBeta events, including annual Christmas parties. Dr. Johnson’s research interests included human and plant cytogenetics, chromosomal abnormalities and cancer, somaclonal variation, and chromosome isolation in plant tissue culture. While at Bethel, Dr. Johnson mentored hundreds of undergraduates on independent research projects.