Cordell Roy Scholarship

The Cordell Roy Scholarship has been set up to pay for student fees for internship credit for the Capitol Reef Interns. 

Cordell Roy began his NPS career as a volunteer at Everglades in 1972. He worked summer and winter seasons at Lassen Volcanic while finishing a degree in biological sciences at California State University, Chico. His first permanent NPS position was as a park technician at Petrified Forest in 1976. Assignments after that included Guadalupe Mountains (ranger), Chickasaw (district ranger), Capitol Reef, Everglades and Big Cypress (resource management specialist), Alaska Region (environmental specialist, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill damage assessment coordinator and coastal programs division chief), and Timpanogos and Chamizal (superintendent). He also served acting superintendent assignments at Wrangell-St. Elias, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Bryce Canyon and Golden Spike. Cordell held an NPS law enforcement commission for 28 years and worked numerous major cases. He was the RS 2477 specialist for the Intermountain Region. In 1996 he enjoyed a detail to the personal staff of Senator Robert F. Bennett.

Cordell's unique understanding of Utah issues, and high respect of the NPS held for his professional skills, led to his final assignment with the NPS as the Utah State Coordinator—a position he held from 2003 until his retirement in January 2011. As NPS State Coordinator for Utah, Cordell served as the principle representative of the NPS to the State of Utah. The Cordell Roy Scholarship is funded in part by a generous private endowment from G. Kevin Jones who wished to honor the accomplishments of Cordell Roy. Kevin is an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of Interior, representing the Utah units of the NPS and worked extensively with Cordell for many years. Cordell Roy also contributed to the endowment.