An ISU alumnus injured while attending Iowa State gave $50,000 to the ISU Foundation to establish a scholarship and a memorial fund for disabled students. The fund will honor the coordinator of disability resources who inspired him to keep going.

Keith Sargent, who received his doctorate in economics from Iowa State in 1997, said he hopes to touch the lives of individual students receiving the scholarship and raise awareness about a specific handicap each year.

“I wanted to show my gratitude to Iowa State, because my accident happened while I was there,” said Sargent, who currently works for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. as an economic analyst.

When he was an ISU student, Sargent rode his bicycle to and from class each day. One evening, on his way from Heady Hall to University Village, he crashed while crossing Squaw Creek. He fell into the ravine and hit his head. He remained there until a Cy-Ride bus found him 13 hours later.

“I remembered nothing for two weeks,” Sargent said.

Gradually he began to remember what had occurred that night.

Sargent said he had tried to cross the partially frozen creek on foot but kept breaking through the ice. Overnight exposure to the cold temperatures gave him frostbite, which resulted in the amputation of both his feet.

Joyce Packwood, ISU coordinator of disability resources from 1989 to 2000, contacted Sargent while he was still in the hospital. He was having doubts about returning to classes after the accident, he said, but Packwood arranged for a Cy-Ride van to take him to and from class each day.

“She was concerned about making things work for me,” Sargent said.

He said he was surprised to learn Packwood was a quadriplegic.

“To see [her] working so hard and to see how she was able to do so much was inspiring,” Sargent said.

Although he considered suicide, Sargent said, Packwood gave him the motivation to move on. Like Sargent, Packwood was not born with a disability, but became disabled through an accident.

“To hear how [Packwood] coped helped me to cope too,” he said.

Packwood retired shortly before her death in August 2000.

Sargent gave $5,000 of his gift to establish the Joyce Packwood Memorial Fund to provide needed equipment and aid to students with disabilities.

Packwood’s colleagues are raising money for the memorial fund, and Sargent will match donations up to $7,500 above and beyond his initial donation.

The Keith Sargent Scholarship for the Mobility, Visual and Hearing Disabled Students’ Fund will be created with $30,000 of Sargent’s initial $50,000 gift. The renewable scholarship will be granted each year to a disabled student with a 3.0 or better GPA.

The Keith Sargent Mobility, Visual and Hearing Disabled Fund will be created with $15,000 of Sargent’s gift. The fund will assist ISU students who have overcome challenges related to their disability and who promote awareness on the achievement disabled students. A different disability area will be targeted each year.

Sharon McGuire, director of the Academic Success Center, said about 480 students are registered at Iowa State who have some type of disability.

“That number is low, because not all students with disabilities seek services through Disability Resources,” she said.