Scholarships and Awards for English Majors

Roy W. Bergmann was a founding member of the University of Missouri – St. Louis in 1963. Known as the “Committee of 28,” this visionary group saw the grounds of the former Bellerive Country Club as a potential opportunity for an institution of higher learning. A practicing attorney, Roy had an interest in writing. Though never published, his essays and poems are included in the Roy W. Bergmann Papers, 1932-1996. These are archived in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. His late wife, Hilda, had a passion for water color painting, especially for natural subjects.

Scholarship Criteria:

1. Recipients must be undergraduate students at UMSL who are majoring in English literature with a demonstrated interest in historical and fictional writing.
2. Recipients may be sophomore-, junior-, or senior-level students.
3. Recipients must have a minimum GPA of 2.7 on a four-point scale.

Scholarship Criteria:

1. Be a Missouri Resident
2. Have an EFC of $12,000 or less
3. Be an Undergraduate English Major
4. Recipients must have a 2.5 GPA or better

Scholarship Criteria

1. Recipients will be enrolled at UMSL as either a graduate or undergraduate student. Undergraduate students must be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours (full time). Graduate students must be enrolled in at least 6 credit hours.
2. Undergraduate candidates must be a declared English major with an emphasis in Creative Writing. Graduate Candidates must be enrolled in the English Master of Fine Arts in the Creative Writing program.
3. Recipients must maintain a GPA requirement. Undergraduate students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or better and an English GPA of 3.0 or better. Graduate students must have a graduate GPA of 3.25 or better.
4. Preference will be given to students who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and demonstrate financial need.

Scholarship Criteria:

1. Recipient must be in good standing with English Department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis

Eugene Murray (1928-1995) came to UMSL in 1971 after stints at Rutgers and Indiana, and retired from the department twenty years later.  He was an expert in the Romantics, particularly Percy Bysshe Shelley, and edited three volumes of the Bodleian’s Shelley manuscripts and the first volume of the Oxford Prose Works of PBS. He also wrote a book on the Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe.

Past Award Winners:

Charles “Chuck” Larson (1944-1998), a Nebraska farm boy, joined the department in 1970 after getting his PhD at Indiana U.  A Renaissance and Milton scholar, he was chair 1979-1982 and again 1988-1994. He was married to now retired English faculty member Dr. Deborah Aldrich-Watson, who spearheaded the scholarship fund that bears his name. 

Past Award Winners: