The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association presented a check for $5,000 to the Norman F. Olson Cheese Research Scholarship fund July 23, bringing the fund to “critical mass” for annual support of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student.

The yearly installments from Wisconsin”s cheese industry trade association have built a permanent endowed scholarship fund at the University of Wisconsin Foundation. A UW-Madison undergraduate in food science or a graduate student working at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship each year from the fund. This year”s winner is Ph.D. candidate Leyda Ponce de Leon.

With this year”s gift, the endowment has reached about $25,000, and can now support the scholarship on an annual basis. Until now, the WCMA has provided an additional annual gift of $1,000 to support the scholarship while the endowment was growing.

The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association named the scholarship in recognition of Norman F. Olson, UW-Madison professor emeritus and former director of the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research. Olson is one of the nation”s preeminent cheese researchers, and this scholarship will target a student emphasizing cheese technology or cheese research studies at UW-Madison.