If you'd like to support scholarships or fellowships for outstanding English students, please click here.
Beverly Atkinson Scholarship for Outstanding Non-Traditional English MajorsWhen, in the early 2000s, then English chair Kent Bales approached longtime undergraduate adviser Beverly Atkinson (right, with student) about the establishment of a scholarship in her name, Atkinson's first thought was, "Why me (and not a professor)?" Her second thought was that she definitely knew a group of students who could use scholarship support: "non-traditional" students who might be older, raising children, or experiencing illness or some other significant challenge on the way to the successful completion of a degree.
Atkinson had counseled many such majors in her 30-some years of advising in English, those who, as she says, "in the broadest sense seem to have more barriers that make it difficult to have the time to develop their skills, their talents." Students such as Alysha Bohanon, who received the scholarship in 2011-12, as a sophomore: Alysha had been enduring for years a chronic condition called POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), along with daily headaches. "The pain from these conditions was nearly debilitating in the beginning," she remembers now, "which made it really difficult to function like a typical student. Each year I've gotten better at coping with it."
The year of her scholarship, Alysha was able to serve as Policy Reporter Intern for the Minnesota Daily and as Editor/Marketing Coordinator for Parachute literary magazine, an activity of FUSE (the Fellowship of Undergraduate Students in English)--in addition to her job as Student Writing Consultant at the University of Minnesota Center for Writing. A senior now, Alysha has been accepted into the University of Minnesota Law School for fall 2014.
"Receiving the scholarship was incredibly encouraging," she stresses, "and it motivated me to continue doing well in my studies. Also, getting to know the person behind the scholarship was a great experience. After I met Beverly Atkinson at the scholarship banquet, we kept in touch and even met for coffee. It meant a lot to me that she cared so much to get to know me."
The current Atkinson scholarship holder is Sam Anderson, a 28-year-old who hopes to be the first in his immediate family to receive a bachelor's degree. His father was a longshoreman out of Seattle. "I graduated with an Associate Degree in Multimedia Design & Production when I was 19," he relates, "and have worked in the tech industry since. After the sudden death of my father in 2007, I found myself questioning my path in life, including my unfulfilling career. My father had a great love of literature, and I began to read and write more vigorously, which led to my decision to return to school."
Anderson got a second Associate Degree at Seattle Central Community and transferred to the University of Minnesota. "Though I still work 20-30 hours per week while attending school, the generous Beverly Atkinson scholarship has allowed me to devote more time to my writing this semester," Anderson recounts, "as well as to volunteer teaching ESL at the Open Door Learning Center in my neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis." He plans to teach English abroad after graduation, while continuing his new practice, poetry: "I have enjoyed being immersed in a community of writers at the University of Minnesota."
Now retired, Atkinson enjoys talking with students such as Bohanon and Anderson at the CLA Scholarship lunch reception. "The students who have received this scholarship are unique in their needs and talents," she says. "All are so grateful for the support."
Garner-McNaron-Sprengnether Dissertation Fellowship in English More than 30 years ago, three department professors, all trained Renaissance scholars, printed up a simple brochure advertising eight 1980-81 classes with a focus on "Feminist Studies in Literature." It proved a controversial move with some English faculty, who felt feminist analysis had no place in the study of literature. Yet, over the next 13 years, the offerings featured in the annual brochure nearly quadrupled. The trio of Madelon Sprengnether, Shirley Nelson Garner, Toni A. H. McNaron (left to right) engaged other professors and numerous graduate students on the way to creating an official English subfield. Sara Eaton, now Professor of English at North Central College, Illinois, remembers work in the subfield as "feeling heady: always edgy, intellectually exciting, emotionally supportive." Each of the three professors would go on to publish groundbreaking books in the field of feminism and literature, at the same time nurturing graduate students to do the same.
The Garner-McNaron-Sprengnether Dissertation Fellowship was established to insure that students interested in feminist studies in literature continue to receive that type of support, beyond the careers of the influential professors. Former English staff member Trudy Lapic developed a deep respect for Garner during Garner's term as Department of English chair, and was inspired to honor the pioneering role she, McNaron, and Sprengnether played in the department by endowing a fellowship in their names.
The first recipient of the fellowship was English doctoral student Renee DeLong. She was able to spend the summer of 2009 focusing on her dissertation, entitled "Missed Bridges: The Invisible (and Hypervisible) Lesbian of Color in Theory, Publishing, and Media." The fellowship allowed her to explore the places where black lesbian writers were first able to find expression, such as Kitchen Table press, and to conduct interviews with activists and writers from collectives and publishing projects. "The Garner-McNaron-Sprengnether Fellowship gave me time and confidence," reports Dr. DeLong. "That summer I felt as though supporters huddled around my computer cheering as I pounded out each chapter; I drafted almost 75 percent of my dissertation." DeLong is now a tenure-track faculty member at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Read more about how Garner, McNaron, and Sprengnether's activism changed English and the University.
