Bruce and Connie Peterman Scholarship in the College of Fine Arts

Bruce and Connie Peterman were born in Merrill, Wisconsin. Bruce earned an associate degree in aeronautical engineering at Spartan College in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Connie studied at the Wisconsin State Teacher College in Stephens Point, Wisconsin. They came to Wichita in 1952. Bruce graduated from Wichita University three years later with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering and earned a master’s degree in the same discipline in 1961. He enjoyed a long and successful career at Cessna Aircraft, retiring in 1996.

Connie devoted her attention to raising the couple’s three children and also took courses in education at Wichita State University. From 1972 to 1982, she taught at and became head of Friends Preschool. Because of the Petermans’ support for Wichita State and the College of Engineering, the Cessna Foundation made a gift to WSU in 1996 in recognition of Bruce’s service to the company. The Petermans matched that contribution to establish this scholarship, which supports students in the College of Fine Arts, School of Music and School of Art, Design and Creative Industries. In 2015, the Petermans endowed a second scholarship in the fine arts at Wichita State.