A $50,000 gift from the widow of an Oswego UUPer provided the seed money to start a new scholarship program open to SUNY graduate students.

Honoring the wishes of the late Katherine Carter, the union’s College Scholarship Fund trustees established the William E. Scheuerman Labor and Social Justice Scholarship. Scheuerman is a former UUP president and a long-time Oswego colleague of the late Robert Carter.

The scholarship is worth $2,000 and is available on a one-time-only basis. The first post baccalaureate scholarship will be awarded in fall 2011.

“Members of the UUP Scholarship Selection Committee did a fabulous job in developing the new post baccalaureate scholarship program,” said statewide Secretary Eileen Landy. “Their hard work made it possible to get this scholarship program up and running.”

HOW TO APPLY

The eligibility guidelines for the post baccalaureate scholarship are similar to those of the union’s college scholarship program for undergraduate SUNY students. Among the criteria, applicants must:

• Be registered, full-time graduate or professional school students carrying at least nine credits at a SUNY state-operated campus;

• Possess the qualities and values represented by UUP: a dedication to the goals of the trade- and labor-union movements; integrity; a quest for academic and personal excellence; and service to the community;

• Have completed at least nine credits and hold a cumulative grade-point average of 4.0; and

• Applicants for law and health sciences programs must have completed at least one semester.

The deadline to apply is March 1.

Guidelines and applications are available on the UUP website at www.uupinfo.org. Click on Scholarships in the left-hand toolbar.

HOW TO DONATE

There are a number of ways for UUP members to give to the scholarship fund.

The easiest way to donate is to mail a check or money order to: UUP Director of Finance, c/o United University Professions, PO Box 15143, Albany, NY 12212. Make checks payable to the UUP College Scholarship Fund and write “Post Baccalaureate Scholarship” in the memo line.

Members can make memorial contributions in honor of family members, friends or colleagues, as well as in celebration of birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and other commemorative events. The names of honorees will be added to either the Eugene and Beulah Link Memorial Journal or the Robert and Katherine Carter Celebratory Journal.

For more information, contact UUP Scholarship Development Committee Co-chairs Deb Zinser of Plattsburgh at dazrn@verizon.net or Pat Ghee of Buffalo State at pghee429@gmail.com.

“Graduate and professional school students at SUNY who apply for and receive a scholarship will benefit greatly from the generosity of the Carter family and the selfless UUPers who give to this fund,” Landy said. “I am proud to be part of an education union that looks out for its students, both academically and financially.”

— Karen L. Mattison