Undergraduate Scholarships
Open to English Majors Only
Established in 2010 by Velma Berkey, the wife of Dr. Barry Berkey. The purpose of the fund is to provide a prestigious annual award for undergraduate students pursing a degree in English that recognizes and encourages writing excellence in general and creative nonfiction in particular. Candidates must be a junior or senior as defined by at least 60 completed credit hours at the time of application, and must submit a personal essay of 1,000 words or less. Submissions must be original, not previously published, and entirely true. Candidates must include their G numbers on the essay as their names will be blinded. Recipient may be an in-state or out-of-state student, and may be either full or part-time. Junior students may submit in both junior and senior years. One essay per applicant per year may be entered.
Open to English Majors
Established in 2006 in memory of Christine W. Eames, Communications ’99, an alumna of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, by her mother, Joan Christensen Eames. The purpose of the fund is to provide scholarships for students who are aspiring writers. Recipients must be an undergraduate majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing or in Communications with a concentration in Journalism. Recipient may be a full-time or part-time student and an in-state or out-of-state student, and qualify on the basis of academic merit and financial need. The scholarship is renewable, subject to the availability of funds.
Established in 2006 by Randolph W. Church, Jr. and Lucy C. Church, ’81, MPA ’86 to attract outstanding students majoring in English, history, modern languages, philosophy, psychology, political sciences, humanities, or economics. Mr. Church, an attorney, is a former rector of the Board of Visitors and former trustee of the George Mason University Foundation. Mrs. Church, a former trustee of the foundation and a former faculty member, is an alumna of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Recipient must:
- Be an incoming freshman with a minimum high school GPA of 3.5 and a strong record of scholastic achievement in college preparatory courses;
- Be a full-time undergraduate student;
- Be a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia;
- Show unusual promise of superior scholastic achievement in the opinion of the CHSS Dean; and
- Major in one of the following: English, history, modern languages philosophy, psychology or economics.