Funds That Support English
Above: English Professor Dr. Meagan Cass teaches creative writing at UIS (as well as other classes).
Make a Difference for English Students
Your gift in any amount to the funds below provide support for English students. You can use the Donate button to give online. Thank you!
General Funds
- English Department Fund
The Alchemist Review - English Faculty Development Fund
- Shelterbelt
Scholarship Funds
- John and Barb Blackburn Scholarship Fund
- Frank and Linda Kopecky Scholarship
- Rosie Richmond Scholarship Fund
- Mildred I. Roese Memorial Scholarship Fund
General Funds
English Department Fund
The English Department Fund provides support for:
- The Alchemist Review, and Uproot, two UIS literary journal (scroll down at the link for Uproot);
- Student Technology, Arts & Research (STARS), the UIS student research conference held on campus each spring.
Donations to this fund support many other special programs, as well as meeting important needs and creating unique opportunities for students of the English Department.
Your gifts will enrich our students immeasurably, enhancing the education they receive at UIS.
If you wish, you may specify that your gift be used to support a particular program (such as SHELTERBELT). Just indicate your preference in the memo line of your check or send a note along with your gift through the mail. If you use the online giving form (reached through the Donate button above), please scroll down on the form and make a note under “Special Instructions.” And thanks!
English Faculty Development Fund
This fund provides support for faculty development for English Faculty at UIS, such as attending professional conferences or expenses for research trips.
The Shelterbelt Reading Series Fund
This fund provides for Shelterbelt, the English Department’s creative writing and publishing reading series. The Shelterbelt Series presents emerging and established fiction writers and poets of national reputation. Visiting writers give readings from their work, discuss the writing (and publishing) life, and visit UIS classes. All Shelterbelt readings are free and open to the public. Your gifts in support of the program are always welcome.
Scholarship Funds
John and Barb Blackburn Scholarship Fund
The Blackburns give an annually funded scholarship each year. Although their gift each year is unrestricted (with no specific criteria), the scholarship generally goes to either an English or an education major, reflecting John’s Master’s degree in Educational Administration (’79) and Barb’s Master’s Degree in Literature (’81). Your gift to this scholarship will be added to the amount they give each year, increasing the size of the scholarship.
Frank and Linda Kopecky Scholarship Fund
An endowed scholarship fund that will be awarded either to an English student or a Legal Studies student. Frank Kopecky was a UIS Professor Emeritus in Legal Studies. Linda Kopecky, who earned a Master’s degree from UIS (then Sangamon State) in 1981, worked at UIS in the Brookens Library for eight years from 1992 to 2000. Since then, she has worked as Head of the Research and Instructional Support Department at the UWM Libraries at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Although this is the Kopeckys’ first scholarship for UIS students, they have been good friends to UIS for many years, providing support for the UIS Fund, Brookens Library, NPR Illinois, the Innocence Project, and most recently the Student Union.
Rosie Richmond Scholarship Fund
The Rosie Richmond Scholarship was established in 1994 by John C. Moore and Patricia O’Neill in memory of Rosie Richmond, an accomplished UIS (then Sangamon State University), graduate, author, and business owner. Rosie taught creative writing at SSU and was co-founder and member of Brainchild, a local women’s writing group. Before her death from cancer in 1994, Rosie asked that a scholarship be awarded annually to a female undergraduate student aspiring to be a writer.
Mildred I. Roese Memorial Scholarship Fund
The Alfred E. and Mildred I. Roese Memorial Scholarship was established by Deborah Roese, a 2002 UIS Special Merit Master’s Thesis winner, in memory of her parents. Applicants for the scholarship should be female graduate students in Communications or English, with a minimum GPA of 3.75 and course enrollment of at least four hours.