English Department Grants and Awards

All student awards in the English department are administered by the department’s Curriculum Committee except the Creative Writing Excellence Fund (see Director of Creative Writing) and the H. G. Merriam Award for Creative Work in the Humanities (see Director of Creative Writing Minor).  There are two application deadlines each year and a provision for exigency funding from the Kambouris or Andrew funds at other times.  Applicants must be registered as English majors or English graduate students.  All travel grants are contingent on the proposed travel actually taking place.  Recipients of either travel grants or merit awards will in some cases be required to send letters of gratitude to the donors.  Click on the links indicated for the application forms.

October 1st:  Travel Grants

Graduate Students Only:

Nanci and Sam Andrew English Department Graduate Studies Award (est. 2001):

Grants to graduate students in English for travel and research.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall (travel only) and spring (travel or other)

Graduate or Undergraduate Students:

Janice H. Harris Excellence Fund (est. 2008):

Grants to English majors and graduate students for travel to conferences, second-language immersion programs, acquisition of special editions of texts and other special educational opportunities.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall (travel only) and spring (travel or other)

Eleanor M. Kambouris Student Excellence Fund (est. 2007):

Eleanor M. Kambouris travel and research grants.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall (travel only) and spring (travel or other)

Undergraduate Students Only:

Jane L. Tanner Study Abroad Award (est. 2002):

Award for undergraduate English majors, sophomore or above with 3.0 GPA or better, for up to a year of study abroad (minimum eight weeks).  At most 80% of the budgeted costs will be reimbursed.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the start of the semester following application.

$ typically $1000-3000 but amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall and spring

English Study Abroad Scholarship Award (est. ?):

Smaller awards for travel not of the scope or duration required by other travel awards. Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the start of the semester following application.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall and spring. 

February 15th: Travel Grants and Merit Awards

Graduate Students Only:

Nanci and Sam Andrew English Department Graduate Studies Award (est. 2001):

Travel grants:  Grants to graduate students in English for travel and research.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.  Also awarded in the fall.

Other awards to graduate students of financial assistance on the basis of need and/or merit.  Special application for exigency funding.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall (travel only) and spring

Graduate or Undergraduate Students:

Janice H. Harris Excellence Fund (est. 2008):

Grants to English majors and graduate students for travel to conferences, second-language immersion programs, acquisition of special editions of texts and other special educational opportunities.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.  Also awarded in the fall.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall (travel only) and spring (travel or other)

Eleanor M. Kambouris Student Excellence Fund (est. 2007):

Travel grants:  Grants to English majors or graduate students in English for travel and research.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.  Also awarded in the fall.

Eleanor M. Kambouris Graduate Fellowships.  For MA candidates between 1st and 2nd years of study.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the end of the semester of application, typically $2000.

Other awards  to undergraduate English majors and graduate students of financial assistance on the basis of need and/or merit.  Special application for exigency funding.  Expenses are reimbursable with receipts up to the amount awarded.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall (travel only) and spring

James F. & Margaret A. Wilson Award Honoring Mabel Land Dekay (est. 1965):

Award for junior, senior, or graduate student who must enroll the following year in the College of Arts and Science with an English major at UW.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the end of the semester of application.

$ typically $500 but amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, spring only

Undergraduate Students Only:

Wilson O. Clough Award (est. 1982):

Awards to undergraduate English majors who must enroll the following year in the College of Arts and Science with an English major at UW.   Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the end of the semester of application.

$ typically $1000, but amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, spring only

Ruth Hudson Memorial Award (est. ?):

Awards to English majors who must enroll the following year in the College of Arts and Science with an English major at UW.  Preference will be given to women who apply.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the end of the semester of application.

$ typically $500 but amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, spring only

Clara F. McIntyre Award: (est. 1962):

Awards to 1) a senior English major who intends to pursue graduate study at the University of Wyoming or elsewhere, or 2) a junior English major.  It is not intended for students who are already graduate students. It is only to be given to a junior in the absence of senior meeting the criteria.  Preference will be given to women who apply.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the end of the semester of application.

$ typically $1000 but amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, spring only

Sandy Schwartzkopf Scholarship Trust (est. 2000):

Award for non-traditional student over 25 who must enroll the following year in the College of Arts and Science with an English major at UW.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the end of the semester of application.

$ amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, spring only

Jane L. Tanner Study Abroad Award (est. 2002):

Award for undergraduate English majors, sophomore or above with 3.0 GPA, for up to a year of study abroad (minimum eight weeks).  At most 80% of the budgeted costs will be reimbursed.  Award will appear as a lump sum deposit in UW student account by the start of the semester following application.  Also awarded in the fall.

$ typically $1000-3000 but amount at discretion of Curriculum Committee, fall and spring

Application forms: Submit by e-mail to englishdept@uwyo.edu or in hard copy to English Department, 201 Hoyt Hall

Travel Grants

Merit Awards

Exigency funding

Tips and Frequently Asked Questions:

Travel Grants:

1. Indicate all sources of confirmed and possible funding.  Update your application with current information, if it changes.
2. Give concrete evidence of your role in the event to which you are traveling.  Papers and panels are more likely to get funding than just self-nourishment.
3. Don’t inflate travel costs or per diem costs.  In many cases federal per diem is two or three times what an economical scholar needs.  Reasonable budgets will always be preferred over unreasonable ones.  Unreasonable ones may be trimmed.
4. Explain clearly the benefits of your travel for your research or creative project and give evidence of past travel that has borne fruit.  Explain how this project fits into your English department work.

Merit Awards and General Tips:

1. Make sure to proofread your application and eliminate all known errors of style and diction.  Put your best foot forward—not into your mouth.
2. Ensure that your referee has a copy of your application and addresses its merits in the reference letter.  General character references are not so helpful.
3. If the same referee writes for more than one applicant, the referee must clearly indicate the order in which they rank.
4. Quality is more impressive than quantity in selecting your writing sample.  Likewise, a recent piece will likely mean more than one several years old.

H. G. Merriam Award for Creative Work in the Humanities

In 1976 retired professor Harold Guy Merriam (1883-1980) endowed this award "to be used . . . for study, by an undergraduate or graduate student in the University, of some cultural aspect of life in the Rocky Mountain region of our country, or for a cultural work characteristic of the region . . . in appreciation of the instruction I received."  Merriam, a UW graduate in the class of 1903, received one of the first Rhodes Scholarships in 1904 and subsequently read English language and literature for two degrees at Oxford University (Lincoln College).  He taught at Whitman, Beloit, and Reed Colleges and in later life received a doctorate from Columbia University.  In 1919 he began a thirty-five year career building the creative writing program at the University of Montana, where he also endowed a prize and scholarship.  He directed the federal WPA writers' project in Montana and was one of the founding members of the Wyoming chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (1940).  In 1962 UW awarded him an honorary degree.

Past submissions for the award have been literary (poetry, essay, fiction, drama), musical, or artistic (painting, photography, sculpture), and we encourage this year's applicants to submit from any of these categories. To be eligible for this award, you must currently be a full-time University of Wyoming student. To apply, send a one-page letter describing your creative work along with a sample of that work: a hard copy of a piece of creative writing, a recording of a piece of music, and/or slides of a piece of artwork. Also arrange for a confidential letter of recommendation from one of your professors. The committee reserves the right not to confer this award in the absence of suitable applications.

Submit the full application to Valerie Pexton, Chair, H.G. Merriam Award Committee, Hoyt Hall 201, Department of English, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071.

Deadline: March 19th, 2012
Successful applicants will be notified by April 18th, 2012.