Hixson is a native of Clarinda and sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust. She said the scholarships are intended to help create opportunities for students who have the desire and potential to succeed, but perhaps do not have the money or encouragement from home to attend college. This unique award program will provide the financial incentive and moral support for talented Iowa students, who, for a variety of reasons, did not believe they could attend a university like Iowa State. He added the university wants to provide a Hixson scholarship to a qualified student in each Iowa county.
Efforts already are under way to contact eligible students through Iowa's high schools.
The deadline for applying for the Hixson Awards is March 15. The scholarship campaign runs through 1998. Hixson is a leading philanthropist known for her financial support of charitable organizations, particularly in the Midwest and Nevada. The Lied Foundation Trust was created by the estate of Ernst F. Lied, an Omaha businessman who moved to Las Vegas in 1959. He died in 1980 at the age of 74.