Day of Giving 2025

Angie Turner KingScholarship

The Angie Turner King Memorial Scholarship commemorates the life and legacy of Dr. Angie King, who dedicated her life and career to teaching and mentoring students in the sciences. In keeping with Dr. King’s passion for preparing students to enter healthcare fields, the Dr. Angie Turner King Memorial Scholarship will be awarded each year to a STEM student. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, $5,000 in matching challenge money is available to help this scholarship reach its goal of $25,000.

King graduated from high school at age 14 in 1919. She graduated cum laude from West Virginia State in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and mathematics. King began her career in education at West Virginia State High School, West Virginia State's laboratory high school. She attended graduate school during the summers at Cornell University, where she received a master's degree in physical chemistry in 1931.

Dr. King was one of the first African-American women to gain degrees in chemistry and mathematics, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1927 and a master’s degree in 1931. She went on to a PhD in mathematics education (University of Pittsburgh, 1955), the first African-American woman to do so. She taught mathematics and chemistry in high schools and colleges. King was a powerful influence on many of her students, including Katherine Johnson (the central mathematician in Hidden Figures), WVSU alumnae, class of 1937, and Jasper Brown Jeffries, a physicist and mathematician who would later work on the Manhattan Project in World War II. Jeffries earned his BS in 1933 from WVSU.

Dr. Turner was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc., and a dedicated mentor who played a pivotal role in shaping the experiences of countless sorority sisters. She also served as the advisor of the Pan-Hellenic Council for many years, and was instrumental in promoting collaboration among various sororities and fraternities, encouraging a spirit of unity and support.

She was a member of the American Chemical Society, the West Virginia Academy of Science, and the American Association of University Professors.

Dr. King was an associate professor and refurbished a laboratory to improve the quality of students' scientific research. King spent her entire college teaching career at West Virginia State University and retired in 1980.

Dr. King continued to live in her on-campus house at WVSC. She died on February 28, 2004, in Institute, West Virginia. She was 99.