The University of Dallas English Department Dona S. Gower Memorial Endowed Scholarship
is made possible by a generous donation from the Athena Foundation, which Dr. Gower
founded.
Dona (Spawn) Gower, who graduated from UD with an English Major in 1964, went on to receive a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. She was a passionate and inspiring teacher of literature at the college and high school levels, and in the last three decades of her life worked with non-profit foundations in Dallas dedicated to educating teachers. She created the Athena Foundation solely with this mission--to allow the renewal and enlargement of purpose for teachers through a communal experience of classic texts of literature.
Here is an essay Dr. Gower wrote and presented to the Athena Foundation.
The education Dr. Gower received at the University of Dallas was the foundation for her love of classic literature and the basis for her passionate belief in the power of literature to transform the lives of those who study it. Rising senior English majors may submit an application for the scholarship, including a brief essay reflecting on the importance of the role of the teacher.
For more information regarding the endowment application please contact the English Department. If you would like to support the Dona S. Gower Endowment please click on the link below alumni.udallas.edu/gower.
Gower Scholarship Recipients
2015-16 Ann Kuehl
2016-17 Mary Shannon McFall
"You bring me a letter of acceptance to a Catholic school for your child, and I promise your child will attend Catholic school." This is the promise Father Mark Hamlet, BA '68 MBA '70, makes to his congregation at every Mass. The pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Austin, Hamlet has spent much of his ministry advocating for Catholic school education through his nonprofit foundation, Our Kids at Heart.
+ Read MoreThis past summer, Yeabkal Wubshit, BA '20, earned the internship that every computer science major dreams of: a position at Google -- and spent the summer working on infrastructures for Google Service Accounts at Google's office in Sunnyvale, California.
+ Read MoreThe University of Dallas will celebrate the extraordinary achievements of four alumni with its 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards. Award recipients Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, MTS '00, Laura Felis Quinn, BS '86 MBA '18, Judy Kelly, BA '63, and John Parker, BA '83 MBA '89, will be honored for their contributions to their professions, communities and the University of Dallas.
+ Read More
