All student awards in the English department are administered by the department’s Curriculum Committee.
There are two application deadlines each year--one during the Fall semester for travel grants and one during the Spring semester for travel and merit award. 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.
Apply for scholarships through AcademicWorks.
Listed below are brief descriptions of different grants and awards for which English students may apply, as well as additional information about eligibility. This information is also available at the UW scholarships and awards application site.
Travel Grants:
Please give concrete evidence of your role in the event to which you are traveling.
In the budget section of the application, please share as many specific costs as you can.
In your personal statement, please clearly explain the academic nature of the event to which you are traveling as well as how it will benefit you academically.
Merit Awards and General Tips:
Make sure to proofread your application and eliminate all known errors of style and diction. Put your best foot forward.
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.
Quality is more impressive than quantity in selecting your writing sample. Likewise, a recent piece will likely mean more than one several years old.
Awarded in the fall and spring.
Graduate Students Only:
Nanci and Sam Andrew English Department Graduate Studies Award (est. 2001):
Grants to graduate students in English for travel and research.
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.
Eleanor M. Kambouris Student Excellence Fund (est. 2007):
Eleanor M. Kambouris travel and research grants.
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.
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.
English has a range of awards, described below, that recognize your excellence in your English classes and in the major. We also have funds to support students in their academic travel and study abroad experiences (ie. research, conferences, course work). If you have questions about applying, please contact the English department at englishdept@uwyo.edu.
Awarded in the spring for the next academic year.
Graduate or Undergraduate Students:
Robert J. and Vivian R. Geer Scholarship (est. 2011):
Janice H. Harris Excellence Fund (est. 2008):
James F. & Margaret A. Wilson Award Honoring Mabel Land Dekay (est. 1965):
Undergraduate Students Only:
Wilson O. Clough Award (est. 1982)
Ruth Hudson Memorial Award (est. ?)
Clara F. McIntyre Award: (est. 1962)
Sandy Schwartzkopf Scholarship Trust (est. 2000)
H. G. Merriam Award for Creative Work in the Humanities
(Variable award based on number of applications, to be deposited into your UW account)
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 (recording), and 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 University of Wyoming student.
To apply, use the online WyoScholarships system.
The committee reserves the right not to confer this award in the absence of suitable applications.
