St. Cloud State University

The Women's Center administers several scholarships. Carefully review the information to ascertain your eligibility and to ensure a complete application file.

Grace McDowall Memorial Scholarship
Mary Jane Young Scholarship for the Education of Women
Marcia Summers Career Opportunity Scholarship
Colleen and Jon Petters Annual Scholarship
Elaine L. Leach Scholarship for Women in Educational Leadership
Elizabeth Lehman Howard Scholarship for Women

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Unless otherwise noted, students should be enrolled full time (a minimum of 12 credits).

Please note that the application materials are due on April 1 at the close of the business day.

1. Review criteria for each scholarship to assess your eligibility.
2. Complete the application and sign it. (Download application: PDF - 2 pages)
3. Arrange for two letters of recommendation to be sent to the Women’s Center (one from a faculty member, unless you have been out of school for a long period of time). You may also include the letters with your application packet.
4. Write a letter/essay to the scholarship committee addressing the following points:
   • Describe your educational plan and goals, as well as your future
     career plans.
   • Discuss your financial needs and circumstances.
   • Outline obstacles and barriers that have affected your educational pursuits, thus far.
   • If you are applying for the Mary Jane Young or Grace McDowall Scholarship, please also address the following:
     - Describe your past/current volunteer, civic, or political activities.
     - Discuss how you plan to contribute to, or participate more fully in, your community, as a global citizen.
5. Submit your academic transcripts.
6. Either mail or drop off your packet

Application packets should be returned to the Women’s Center. The scholarship committee will meet in April and, if necessary, will interview scholarship finalists in early May. All applicants will be notified of the committee’s decisions by June 15.

Please call the Women’s Center at (320) 255-4958 if you have any questions about the application packet or process. .

Women’s Center
St. Cloud State University
Colbert House North
720 Fourth Avenue South
St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
(320) 255-4958

The deadline is April 1 at 4:00 p.m.

If mailed, packages must be post-marked by April 1. If April 1 falls on a weekend, deadline is the following Monday at 4:00 p.m.

The Women’s Center and St. Cloud State University are appreciative of the generous gifts of each of its donors.

GRACE MCDOWALL MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
(Undergraduate students receive priority consideration) $1300

The Grace McDowall Memorial Scholarship was initiated in 1990 by Grace McDowall's seven children in memory of their mother. Its purpose is to provide scholarships for female students, 35 years of age or older, who are working toward a degree at St. Cloud State University.

Grace McDowall encouraged women to get involved in the politics of the St. Cloud area. True to form, she served on the St. Cloud City Council from 1960 until 1968, the last four years as president. She also received a number of honors in her lifetime. She was named one of the Outstanding Women in Minnesota by Business and Professional Women (BPW). In addition, a housing project for the elderly in St. Cloud (1521 Northway Drive) was named in her honor.

Grace McDowall was active in a number of civic, charitable, and private causes. She served as a Red Cross instructor during World War II. She was vice chair of the 6th district Republicans and, for 25 years, she served as treasurer of the Sherburne County March of Dimes.

She was a member and past president of the Zonta Club of St. Cloud, a member of the St. Cloud Business and Professional Club, St.Augustine's Christian Women, Daughters of Isabella, Daughters of the American Revolution, Big Lake Study Club, and the Minnesota Federation of Women's Clubs.

Following the death of her husband, Ms. McDowall and her son assumed control of the family’s sheet-metal roofing company.

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

• Non-traditional female students age 35 or older
• Part or full-time students (award pro-rated for part-time students)
• New or continuing students; any major
• Undergraduate students receive priority consideration, but graduate students are eligible to apply, and have received awards in the past.
• Must show evidence of academic ability; minimum 2.75 GPA required
• Must show evidence of community service; volunteerism or political action and work on social concerns in the past, and in future plans

MARY JANE YOUNG SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN
MARY JANE YOUNG 1916-1989
(UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY): $1500 (6 SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE)

Mary Jane Young believed in empowering women through education and was committed to providing opportunities for re-entry women to pursue their educational goals. She graduated from West High School in Minneapolis and attended the University of Minnesota where she received a BA in sociology and Masters degrees in psychiatric and medical social work.

After graduation, Mary Jane worked as a medical social worker at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, and Family Services in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Later, she moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where, as a psychiatric social worker, she served as intake supervisor and therapist at the Child Guidance Center, a private psychiatric agency for children and adolescents. In 1963, she returned to Minnesota, where she worked half-time in the newly established Ramsey County Community Mental Health Center and half-time as a social work supervisor for the inpatient child psychiatry unit. She was also a member of the Child Abuse Team in Ramsey County, from its inception in 1969, until her retirement.

Mary Jane Young was a life-long Episcopalian, an active member of the National Association of Social Workers and Zonta International, and an ardent feminist who committed her life, her work, and her resources to the betterment of women’s lives. Mary Jane Young is respectfully remembered by many women of non-traditional age for her generous contributions to three colleges and universities in her home state.

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

• Women 25 years of age or older and U.S. Citizens
• Transfer students who will be applying for admission to SCSU, and currently enrolled SCSU students
• Single, widowed, or divorced women with custody of children, or married women with inadequate resources of their own, who delayed their education to raise a family
• Evidence of academic promise and well-defined academic plans; any major
• Minimum of 45 credits completed, full time enrollment preferred; Full scholarships are available to students enrolled in 12 credits or more. Scholarship award can be pro-rated for students enrolled in 9-11 credits.
• Minimum GPA of 2.7
• Re-entry married women with family financial base unstable or destroyed because of illness, divorce, or other extenuating circumstances
• Demonstrated financial need
• Students transferring to St. Cloud State University from community colleges are encouraged to apply

ELAINE L. LEACH SCHOLARSHIP FOR WOMEN IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
(GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY) $500

Elaine L. Leach is a professor at St. Cloud State University, teaching in the field of educational leadership and administration with a long, distinguished career in educational administration. She has taught in inner-city schools and rural settings in various parts of the country. Leach has served as departmental chair, on the board of the Rural Education Association, and on numerous other boards and committees dedicated to the strengthening of educational programs for current or aspiring administrators. She established this scholarship to support women in this field who need financial assistance for their educational pursuits and career advancement.

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

• Women who plan to establish or continue their career in rural Minnesota as a school principal or superintendent
• Women who have at least three years’ experience as classroom teachers
• Women who have well-developed plans for their academic goals
• Women who may have special need for financial resources, such as an unstable personal or family financial base because of illness, disability, etc.

An off-campus member of the Minnesota Principal Association and/or Minnesota Rural Futures will participate in decision-making for the scholarship recipient. Those who qualify for the scholarship are eligible to reapply a second and third year, if they continue to qualify.

CLAUDE F. AND HELEN I. DELZOPPO SCHOLARSHIP
(Undergraduate only) $500

The Claude F. and Helen I. DelZoppo Scholarship was established with memorial gifts by colleagues, family, and friends following Claude F. DelZoppo’s death in 1985. The DelZoppos’ commitment to maintaining the tradition of educational opportunity for students at St. Cloud State University is demonstrated through this award.

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

• Women at least 25 years of age, who are working to overcome significant personal obstacles to continue working toward completion of their undergraduate degrees
• Have financial need
• Have a 3.0 grade point average, overall or, if several years have elapsed between an earlier period of college education and the present period, it is permissible to use only the present record if (in the minds of the selection committee) they have demonstrated themselves to be serious students
• Will be a Junior or Senior during the award period

MARCIA SUMMERS CAREER OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP FOR SINGLE MOTHERS
(Undergraduate students) $500

Dr. Marcia A. Summers, faculty member in the SCSU English Department from 1969 until 1996, created this fund to assist single mothers in obtaining college degrees and increasing their career opportunities.

The purpose of the Marcia Summers Career Opportunity Scholarship for Single Mothers is to financially assist St. Cloud State University students who are single mothers of minor children (the applicants may be never-married, widowed or divorced with custody).

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

• Women who have demonstrated the ability to achieve academically as shown by attainment of sophomore standing (minimum of 30 credits) with GPA of 3.00 or higher
• Women who have defined degree and career objectives
• Women who demonstrate financial need
• The Scholarship Committee of the Women’s Center (including a representative of the Women’s Studies program and Marcia Summers or her designee) will determine scholarship awards. Those who receive the scholarship are eligible to reapply for a second scholarship if they continue to qualify.

COLLEEN & JON PETTERS SCHOLARSHIP
(Graduate or Undergraduate) $650.00

Jon Petters and Colleen Hollinger Petters believe higher education can provide the knowledge and self-confidence some individuals need to affect their life’s direction. Circumstances, prior decisions, and family environment often present obstacles and barriers for women to alter their own life’s course, and this is especially so for single women with children.

Often, it is the beginning or the first step toward change that is the most difficult. Jon and Colleen hope that the establishment of this specific scholarship will provide some initial support to single women with children who are willing and wanting to change their lives by pursuing higher education for themselves.

Colleen is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and Jon is a graduate of St. John’s University, with an MBA from St. Cloud State University.

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

• Non-traditional female students
• Single, with children; or coming from a disadvantaged background
• Pursuing a degree with at least one-half credit load
• If eligible, recipient is given preference for scholarship for two
  consecutive years

ELIZABETH LEHMAN HOWARD SCHOLARSHIP FOR WOMEN
(Undergraduate students only) $750.00

Elizabeth Lehman Howard received her two-year teaching degree in 1949, her bachelor’s degree in education in 1954, and her master’s in education in 1960, all from St. Cloud State University.

The scholarship donor, who grew up in St. Paul and in northern Minnesota, taught at several schools in the St. Cloud area. She had a particular interest in teaching art and reading. Though she hadn’t visited Minnesota for more than a decade, she had maintained contact with close friends in St. Cloud until her death in December 2001 in Bentonville, Arkansas.

WHO IS QUALIFIED?

Undergraduate women who:

• Are 25 years or older with financial need
• Have financial need
• Those who have demonstrated the ability to achieve academic succession college.
• They may have bee in the upper one/third of their high school graduating class or have 24 or higher on the ACT. If a transfer student, they should hold a 3.0 GPA or better in previous recent college work. If because of age or circumstance none of these criteria apply, letters of recommendation and a clear goal may be considered.
• Have a personal career goal requiring a college degree in order to help others directly, through teaching, a career in medicine, or a similar field.