Student Awards

The English Department offers no scholarships for entering freshmen or transfer students or scholarships that students may apply for. All scholarship nominees are identified by faculty in the department after students have declared their majors and have completed their sophomore or junior academic years. In some cases awards are reserved for graduate students who are nominated by graduate faculty.

• The Freshman Writing Award
• The Richard C. and Virginia Peck Awards
• The N. C. Beasley Scholarship
• The Virginia Derryberry Memorial Scholarship
• The Neil D. Frazier Writing Award
• The Christine Vaughan Scholarship
• The Homer Pittard Creative Writing Scholarship
• The Heather Uffelman Scholarship
• The William J. Connelly Writing Award
• The William R. Wolfe Graduate Writing Award

The Freshman Writing Award

The Freshman Writing Awards are sponsored by the English Department's Lower Division Office with the assistance of the Peck Fund. Essays from students enrolled in English 1010 and English 1020 in the fall or spring semester are eligible. The student's essay must be nominated by the faculty member for whom the essay was written.  

Specific details about the criteria and the current semester's deadlines can be found here. You can also download a copy of the cover sheet.

First place winners in each category  receive $300, second place winners $200, and third place $100.  See Cindy Maguffee in Peck 324 for a cover sheet, which must accompany the submission.

Submission Guidelines, 2009-10
Submission Cover Sheet

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The Richard C. and Virginia Peck Awards

The Richard C. and Virginia Peck Awards were established in 1975 with a gift from Virginia Peck after Richard Peck's death and have provided over $150,000 to outstanding English majors. Students are nominated by the English Faculty and are then selected by the committee charged with administering the funds. Stipends of $1000-$1500 are presented each year to academically talented and deserving English majors, graduate and undergraduate, who have been identified by faculty as deserving of the honor and encouragement.

For more information contact Dr. Claudia Barnett.

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The N. C. Beasley Scholarship

The N.C. Beasley Scholarship was established in 1980 to honor the former MTSU Dean of Admissions and father of former English Department Chair William Beasley. It is awarded to an English major with a minimum 2.5 GPA whose career choice is the teaching of English. Preference is given to applicants from the Shelbyville/Tullahoma area. The scholarship will be awarded for the first time in the Spring 1999 semester.

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The Virginia Derryberry Memorial Scholarship

The Virginia Derryberry Memorial Scholarship was established in 1994 by Virginia's sister, Dr. Faye Julian, in honor of this colleague of more than thirty years. The Derryberry Scholarships go to English majors who plan to teach at the middle school, high school, or college level. Students must have at least 30 credit hours and must demonstrate both need and academic achievement (a 3.0 GPA minimum). Faculty nominate students for this award during fall semester; nominated students who meet the qualifications are then invited to apply early in spring semester. Under certain circumstances, the scholarship is renewable.  For more information contact Dr. Pat Bradley.

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The Neil D. Frazier Writing Award

The Neil D. Frazier Writing Award was established in 1982 by two former students and commemorates the first chair of the English Department. From 1923 until his death in 1944, he taught a very popular course entitled "The Bible as Literature." Paul and Karen Gore Farmer, who have enjoyed long and distinguished careers in public education, were so fund of Mr. Frazier that they have generously underwritten this award by a contribution to the MTSU Foundation.

Open to any undergraduate or graduate student, this award is given annually for the best original essay (1000-2500 words in length) on the use or influence of the Bible in literature or in the other humanities. For more information contact Dr. Bob Petersen.

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The Christine Vaughan Scholarship

The Christine Vaughan Scholarship was established in 1983 in honor of our longtime colleague from Manchester, Tennessee. Miss Vaughan, who taught in the public schools and at MTSU, specialized in children's literature and "Methods and Materials of Teaching English." She was an officer in various state and national educational organizations, a life long resident of Manchester, TN, and a world traveler. Her true passion in life was teaching, and she has been described as a person who "lived a long, exemplary life, a fine woman who loved to have fun. She gathered students around her, cared for them, and encouraged and educated them to become teachers." The scholarship, funded by her colleagues and friends, is awarded annually to an English major from Coffee County. For more information contact Dr. Bene Cox.

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The Homer Pittard Creative Writing Scholarship

The Homer Pittard Creative Writing Scholarship was established to honor Homer Pittard, a longtime member of the Education Department. The scholarship is awarded each year to an English or History student, junior or senior, just as long as the recipient plans on being in school the following year, and preference is given to students for whom an interest in creative writing is central. The deadline each year is sometime early in the spring, with the announcement of scholarships (sometimes one, but often two) made later in the semester. Distribution of funds is divided between the two semesters of the following academic year. Applicants must complete a simple application. For more information contact Dr. Gaylord Brewer.

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The Heather Uffelman Scholarship

The Heather Uffelman Scholarship was established in 1992 in memory of our student Heather Uffelman. Jeremy Rolfs, Heather's fiance', another of our students, started the scholarship and left the proceeds of his estate to it when he died in 1997. Because Heather and Jeremy were active both in the Mass Communications Department and in the English Department, the scholarship benefits students of either department.

The scholarship is available to students who reflect Heather's love of the written word and her dedication to media projects; it is awarded in the spring semester. Applicants compete in an essay contest, with finalists interviewed by faculty members representing both departments. For more information contact Dr. Mary Nichols.

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The William R. Wolfe Graduate Writing Award

The William R. Wolfe Graduate Writing Award is named after Professor Emeritus Dr. William R. Wolfe, former Director of Graduate Studies in English, and supported by the Peck Fund, this award goes to the authors of the best essays written each year in English graduate courses. A student may submit only one essay, perhaps revised, written for a graduate course in the Spring, Summer, or Fall semesters. Entries will be read by a committee appointed by the Graduate Director; the up to $1000 award is given in the spring, and the winners are recognized at the Liberal Arts Awards Ceremony.

Five unmarked copies of each entry should be submitted blind, with the author's social security number at the top of the first page. One cover sheet must be included with the copies, and it must list the author's name, social security number, address, phone number, and information identifying the course for which the essay was originally written.

Contact Debbie Flanigan, Graduate English, 898-2665, for more information.

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