Foundation Scholarships

Balding, Terry Award

Students who will have junior or senior standing at the beginning of the upcoming fall semester are eligible to receive this award. Students should have at least a 3.2 GPA in biology. Candidates must have a recommendation letter from a field-oriented biologist from UW-Eau Claire. The person recommending the student must consider: moral character and love of the outdoors manifested pre- collegiate. The student must demonstrate evidence of extensive/intensive bird watching, insect collecting, plant collecting, hunting/fishing, or herptile collecting with captive specimens, etc. These activities must have been from an inquisitive standpoint, but not because they were a required project for school, 4H, girl/boy scout, etc. If childhood experiences cannot be mentioned, then one of the following substitutes may be used: 1) Must have taken or be enrolled in Biology 330 (Ecology) and either Biol 356 (Wisconsin Wildlife) or Biol 345 (Invertebrate Zoology); 2) Must have taken or be enrolled in a plant taxonomy course such as Biol 331 (Trees and Shrubs) or Biol 325 (Taxonomy of the Vascular Plants); 3) Must have taken at least one of the following: Biol 311 (Entomology), Biol 329 (Conservation Biology), Biol 340 (Ornithology), Biol 365 (Animal Behavior), Biol 379 (Ichthyology), Biol 410 (Mammalogy). The student should intend to become a naturalist or work at a nature-related career. Financial need may only be used when two candidates are otherwise tied and need must be verified by the Financial Aid office. A former scholarship winner may receive the award a second time if no other qualified candidates are recommended.

Applications materials can be found online at the Department of Biology website: www.uwec.edu/biology.

Second Monday in March

The Biology Scholarship Committee will make its selection based upon the criteria above. The Biology Scholarship Committee has faculty representation from the major sub- disciplines of biology. Applications will be evaluated both in terms of their academic merit and their compatibility with award eligibility criteria.

April 15

An award letter will be sent to the recipient by the Chair of the Department of Biology in May. The Chair will also complete and submit a “Scholarship Award Form” to the Financial Aid Office. The annual recipient will be honored at the biology department scholarship reception held in the spring.

The recipient must write a letter of thanks to Dr. Terry Balding a forward it to the UW-Eau Claire Foundation, S- 214.