A Legacy of Learning

When Ellen Christina Steffensen Cannon received her diploma in June 1895, she was one of just 48 graduates—22 of them women—to earn a degree from the University of Utah. The daughter of Norwegian immigrants who trekked across the Great Plains in the 1860s, Ellen grew up in the Salt Lake Valley, where hardship bred grit and where self-reliance and individual purpose became her hallmark.

As the second wife of George M. Cannon, Ellen raised 10 children largely on her own, instilling in them an unshakable sense of purpose and self-reliance. At her core, she was an educator—first as a primary school teacher, then as a mother determined that each of her nine surviving children earn a college degree.

“Grandmother was in the ‘potential business,’ ” recalled her grandson Tony Cannon Jr. in a university retrospective. “It was important that all of her boys and girls fulfill their potential, and she would say, ‘Be your best. Work your hardest. Help the most.’ ”

That ethos still echoes through the generations. In 1989, Tony’s uncle, Hugh Steffensen Cannon, honored Ellen’s legacy with a $3 million gift to establish the Ellen Christina Steffensen Cannon Endowed Scholarship Fund—then one of the largest scholarship endowments in the U’s history. To date, the fund has supported more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in education and the humanities.

At last year’s Steffensen Cannon Scholarship Luncheon, recipient Megan McCormick, a junior studying educational psychology and ethnic studies, reflected on the family’s continued generosity. “The family made me feel like they are genuinely invested in my success,” she said.

Ellen’s life and the enduring scholarship in her name demonstrate how one family’s commitment to education can leave a lasting mark. Today, more than 1,800 endowments across the U carry that commitment forward.