[450] Going Back to College Easier At MTSU with Osher Scholarships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 4, 2011
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

GOING BACK TO COLLEGE EASIER AT MTSU WITH OSHER SCHOLARSHIPS
MTSU Only Tennessee Four-Year School Offering Reentry Stipends to Adult Learners

(MURFREESBORO) – Middle Tennessee State University is now the only four-year institution of higher learning in the state to offer reentry scholarships to nontraditional students from the Bernard Osher Foundation. Nine of the first 11 recipients will have the full $5,000 amount for 2011-2012.
The Osher Reentry Scholarship is granted to nontraditional students who are beginning or resuming their first undergraduate college degrees. Stipends are applied exclusively to student tuition fees.
The Bernard Osher Foundation, located in San Francisco and founded in 1977 by businessman Bernard Osher, seeks to improve quality of life through support for higher education and the arts. The foundation provides post-secondary scholarship funding to colleges and universities across the nation with special attention to reentry students.
“MTSU was awarded the grant because of (its) percentage of nontraditional students … and the services that they receive from the University and the Older Wiser Learners (OWLs) student organization,” says Dr. Carol Ann Baily, assistant professor of French and faculty adviser to OWLs and Pinnacle, the honors society for nontraditional students.
Each applicant must experience a cumulative gap of five or more years in his/her education, demonstrate financial need, show academic promise and a commitment to completing a degree and anticipate participation in the workforce for a significant period of time subsequent to graduation.
The first MTSU recipients of full Osher Reentry Scholarships, their majors and hometowns, are:

 Kimberly Barcroft, computer science, Milton;
 Stephanie Brown, nursing, Spring Hill;
 Betty Ann Gill, business administration, Murfreesboro;
 Leslie Kelly, advertising/public relations, Santa Fe;
 Soraya Kosko, liberal studies, Murfreesboro;
 Christie LaHayne, nursing, Murfreesboro;
 Melani Mood, social work, Spring Hill;
 Anthony Rayburn, engineering technology, Shelbyville;
 Stephen Sisk, history, Winchester.

Recipients of part-time Osher Reentry Scholarships for part-time enrollment are:

 Laura DiPaolo, professional studies major, Murfreesboro;
 Daniel Strawser Jr., liberal studies major, Murfreesboro.

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Fourteen other MTSU students will benefit from scholarships awarded by
OWLs for the 2011-2012 academic year. Tracey Boyce, a psychology major from Shelbyville, and Hope Sims, a McMinnville native majoring in interdisciplinary studies, are winners of the group’s annual Challenge Scholarships. These stipends provide $1,000 per semester for one year.
Ten students will benefit from OWLs Academic Service Scholarships. These stipends provide $1,500 per semester and require five hours per week of work on campus, usually in offices associated with the students’ majors. Each scholarship is renewable for up to eight semesters if the recipient maintains a 3.0 semester grade-point average and a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average each semester. Recipients must be enrolled full-time while receiving the scholarships.
The 2011-2012 Academic Service Scholarship winners, their majors and hometowns, are:

 Joey Keasler, anthropology, Murfreesboro;
 Samer Khoury, accounting, Murfreesboro;
 Darrell Land, interdisciplinary studies, Murfreesboro;
 Lauren Livingston, global studies, Murfreesboro;
 Jennie Lovvorn, interdisciplinary studies, Murfreesboro;
 Tazamisha Maston, exercise science, Chattanooga;
 Tamra Mezera, political science, Thompson’s Station;
 Amanda Mills, sociology, Murfreesboro;
 Mysti Motz, nursing, Lafayette;
 Delton Warren, animal science, Nunnelly.

Applicants of Challenge and Academic Service Scholarships must be U.S. citizens seeking their first undergraduate degrees. They also must be full-time students who have completed nine hours of courses at MTSU and be up-to-date, dues-paying members of OWLs. Challenge Scholarship applicants must have GPAs between 2.5 and 2.99. Academic Service Scholarship applicants must have GPAs of 3.0 or better.
The Jane Nickell Taylor Scholarship, which is endowed privately, is presented each year to a nontraditional senior female student who is undergoing life changes. The recipient must have a 2.9 GPA or better and plan to enroll full-time. This year’s winner, business education major Dianna Melton of Crossville, will receive $500 per semester.
The Joan Nickell Bailey Scholarship also is endowed privately and provides $500 per semester for a senior adult learner seeking a degree. The recipient also must have a 2.9 GPA or better and plan to enroll full-time. This year, OWLs is funding one semester of the scholarship for each of two students slated to graduate in December 2011. They are Lyndol Greene, a recording industry major from Franklin, and Amanda Vannatta of Shelbyville, a double major in accounting and English.
For more information about OWLs, contact Baily at 615-898-5646, cabaily@mtsu.edu or owls@mtsu.edu. To learn more about the Osher Reentry Scholarships at MTSU, go to http://mtweb.mtsu.edu/owls/osherreentryscholarship.htm.


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