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IATE Scholarship for Minority Teacher Education

IATE annually issues a call for applications for its minority scholarship awards to chairs of recognized language arts teacher-education programs in Illinois colleges and universities. Applications, which must include a sample of student writing, a student essay, a recommendation from a professor, and a cover sheet, will be accepted beginning in May of the current year. Applications must be mailed to Janice Neuleib, Executive Secretary of IATE, and will be accepted no later than September of the current year.

Jan Neuleib
Illinois State University
Campus Box 4240
Normal, IL  61790-4240.

The specific goals, procedure, and criteria are these: 

Goals:

The Illinois Association of Teachers of English is committed to recruiting minority* language arts teachers, for both humanitarian and practical purposes. To meet that commitment, IATE reserves $1000 each year for one scholarship as designated by the Minority Scholarship Committee, a subcommittee of the Minority Affairs Committee.

Procedure:

The Minority Scholarship Committee will send out a call for applications to the chairs of public, recognized language arts teacher-education programs in Illinois colleges and universities in the spring. A follow-up call will be made in August.

After applications are received, the Minority Scholarship Committee will judge the applications, issue an invitation to the winner to attend the fall conference when the award will be given, and assist the winner in making arrangements to attend the conference. When at all possible, the winner will be escorted by an IATE member.

In addition to the cash award, winners will also receive a complimentary one-year membership in IATE, free registration for the conference, luncheon and banquet tickets, lodging and mileage (if an escort cannot be secured).

Criteria:

  • The candidate must be a member of a minority group.
  • The candidate must be duly enrolled in a four-year or upper division, public, recognized teacher-education program in an Illinois college or university.
  • The candidate must have declared a major in English, English Education, or Elementary Education with a specialty in language arts (Junior or Senior status), and plan to teach in Illinois.
  • The candidate must have demonstrated potential for academic success.
  • The candidate cannot be an individual already on full scholarship, and some degree of need for the scholarship must exist.
  • The faculty member who recommends a student for one of the awards must submit these items in one envelope:
  • A sample of the candidate's writing done for a class in the past year (instructor comments included).
  • A candidate essay on this topic: "What piece of literature by a person of color would you especially like to teach? Explain why you chose this particular piece and how you would go about teaching it."
  • A sealed recommendation which addresses items 1-5 above in some detail
  • A cover sheet with the full name, home address and phone number of both the candidate and the recommender.
*As in other IATE matters, "minority" here is defined as non-white minority, a person of color.