Scholarship Information
National
Each year the national organization of Phi Kappa Phi sponsors a graduate fellowship competition. Presently, the Fellowship Program awards annually sixty Fellowships of $5,000 each and forty Awards of Excellence of $2,000 each for post-graduate study at accredited institutions of higher learning. Thirty-eight Study/Internship Abroad Grants valued at $1,000 are also awarded. [Click here for more information on the PKP Study Abroad Grants.]
The one-hundred Fellowships and Awards of Excellence scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis for first-year graduate or professional study. Each chapter may nominate one student for the national competition. All national nominees receive a one-year active membership in Phi Kappa Phi.
The first level of competition is on the local campus. At APSU, applications are usually available by October and must be turned in by December 1 for review by the local committee. Applications may also be obtained on-line at the national organization web page. See the link below. The best application is forwarded to the national committee by February 1.
Phi Kappa Phi members are asked to identify and encourage qualified students for this process. Students who will graduate at the end of a fall, spring or summer term of any given academic year and who will be entering graduate school in the fall or spring of the next academic year will be eligible to compete. The best help chapter members can give students is to mentor them through the application process.
One segment of the Graduate School Workshop that Phi Kappa Phi sponsors each fall is dedicated to the fellowship process. In addition, information about the application and dates for submission are published in the All-State, Insider and local PKP news formats. Please be on the lookout for these materials and contact Taylor Emery , Box 4487, (931) 221-6391, with any questions.
You may also visit the website of the national organization for more PKP Scholarship and Awards Information.
Chapter 191
Charles M. Waters Scholarships for Juniors:
The APSU Chapter of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi awards annually two scholarships in the amount of $500 each. The awards are made to the two members of the junior class who meet the criteria of having the combination of the highest GPA and the highest number of credit hours earned. The awards are presented at the Spring Induction Ceremony each year.
The awards date to 1985. They were named in honor of Professor Charles McManus Waters, who was President of the chapter that year and who was leaving the university for retirement at the end of that semester. Waters, a native of Montgomery County, is an alumnus of Austin Peay State University. Upon his discharge from the Army, he attended the university from 1946 to 1949, graduating in 1949. He earned his Master of Arts at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1952. Waters began working for APSU as instructor of English in 1948. He continued to teach courses in English, Journalism, and American Literature for 37 years. He was also Director of Public Relations for the university and a sponsor of the university's Annual and The All-State for a time. He received the university's Distinguished Professor Award in 1979. His varied publications include scripts for movies produced by the university in 1954 and 1956, The First Fifty Years of Austin Peay State University in 1977 and Historic Clarksville, the Bicentennial Story in 1983. Waters continued to live in the area with his wife, Peggy, where he enjoyed gardening and woodworking. Not only did Waters present the first awards in 1985, but he continued to present them at most induction ceremonies until his death.