Foundation Scholarships

Betts, Jane Colville English

The Jane Colville Betts English scholarship is awarded annually to an English major with some financial need who, through their class work, has demonstrated an enthusiastic and mature grasp of the subject matter. In addition to answering the usual scholarship application questions, applicants for the scholarship will be asked to write either a personal essay or a fictionalized short story or poem illustrating the motivation or inspiration for becoming an English major, and any difficulties that may have been encountered and surmounted on the way to becoming a college student. Examples, among many possible, include the life experiences of a single parent or a returning veteran.

Application forms are available in the English Department Office. In addition to the personal essay, short story, or poem (described above), applicants must submit a letter of application, a current transcript, and a resume along with the names of two UW-Eau Claire English professors who can speak to their qualifications for this scholarship.

March 1

The English Department Scholarship Committee will select the recipient based on the scholarship criteria and the strength of the application.

Approximately April 1

Notification to the recipient will be made by the English Department Scholarship Committee. The recipient will be formally honored during the annual English Festival Awards Ceremony. The English Department should complete and submit a “Scholarship Award Form” to the Financial Aid Office.

Jane Colville Betts lived in a time when her father was not unusual in saying, “Women don’t need to go to college.” However, after World War II he changed his mind, and she had the great happiness of four years at Wilson College, a bachelor degree program for women in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. After those years of great help and attention from faculty in this small college, she received her Master’s Degree from Columbia University, where there was very little individual attention, and eventually her Doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She taught in Emma Willard School, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the University of Minnesota as a T.A. After years of paying her dues, she achieved a place at UW-Eau Claire, and had a career of twenty years, teaching Creative Writing, World Literature, Modern British Literature, as well as the usual but challenging Freshman Composition. In her retirement, she has published a book of her poems spanning fifty years of her life, to leave to her daughter and grandchildren and her husband and friends. Recipient must write a letter of thanks to Jane Colville Betts and forward to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation Office, S-214.