Foundation Scholarships

Crouse, Gale

One annual award will be made to an outstanding UW-Eau Claire French student wishing to complete a project involving him or her in a humanitarian cause in a French or Francophone environment. This involvement would not be typical of what students encounter in their every day life as students. The project could be connected to the regular service-learning project required for graduation at UW-Eau Claire. It could also be the topic of the capstone project that is required of each student. Since UW-Eau Claire has a study-abroad program located in Pau, France, the French Section of the Foreign Language Department, in collaboration with the Center for International Education, will ask their French counterpart for their assistance in finding places where such a project could be carried out. Possibilities could include: working with “Les Restos du Coeur” (a soup kitchen); working with “Les Compagnons d’Emmaus” (a charity organization); working with the Red Cross; helping homeless people; helping minorities; or helping the poor and the sick. Students who do not study in Pau will have to identify their own resources to serve a humanitarian cause in France or in a Francophone country. Possible options may be: working with “Habitat for Humanity” or working with “Medecins sans frontiers” (Doctors without Borders).

An application form available from the Foreign Language Department must be completed. If the targeted project is to be completed in conjunction with a study abroad experience, the applicant must be accepted into the university’s study abroad program as a requisite for receiving the scholarship. The application should include a letter explaining the project and at least one faculty recommendation endorsing the project.

March 1. The recipient will have up to 12 months from the date of notification of the award to complete the project, provide a written report and give an oral presentation on their activity.

A committee of current and emeriti English faculty shall review proposals and select recipients. Grants would depend upon available funds, the number and quality of applicants, and the scope of proposed projects.

Representatives from the French Section (and/or FL and/or CIE) shall review applications and references and select the recipient.

The recipient will be notified by a letter from the French Section.

This fund was established in 2007 in memory of Dr. Gale Crouse, who died of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in December of 2007. Dr. Crouse came to UW-Eau Claire in 1987 as a professor of French and Chair of the Foreign Languages Department. He retired in 2005. Thank you notes should be sent to Ruth Crouse in care of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation, S-214.