New awards office expanding ‘the realm of the possible’

A new office designed to encourage talented undergraduates to reach for the pinnacle of academic success – including prestigious awards such as Rhodes Scholarships – makes its debut at the UW–Madison this fall.

Called the Undergraduate Academic Awards office (UAA), the student service will serve as a single consolidated home for all of the campus-wide awards and scholarship programs, as well as a resource for national and international award competitions. Julie Stubbs, who completed her Ph.D. in history at the University of Michigan, will direct the new office and brings extensive experience with academic enrichment programs. Stubbs ran a program at Michigan on girls and mathematics sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Offices such as UAA are part of a national trend among public universities to encourage greater participation in the highly competitive world of academic scholarship programs. While the Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford may be the most recognized, a growing number of scholarship programs exist for undergraduates to compete on a national scale.

“We want to change the culture of the university to encourage more students to believe they can compete at the highest levels academically and build habits in our faculty and staff that contribute to that goal,” says Virginia Sapiro, associate vice chancellor for teaching and learning and champion of the new initiative.

While winning a prestigious award is certainly the underlying dream, organizers emphasize that the academic road traveled is as valuable as the destination. Sapiro says participation in these programs immerses students in the very best that undergraduate education has to offer: research and service opportunities, honors-level courses, internships, leadership opportunities and writing refinement.

This, Sapiro says, is the four-year road to building an exceptional portfolio for graduate school enrollment or coveted career opportunities.

Stubbs says one goal in the first year will be to create a successful transition to UAA of the campus-level awards, such as the Hilldale and Holstrom undergraduate research awards, the University Bookstore awards for academic excellence and the Herfurth-Kubly awards for student initiative. Stubbs will look to promote greater participation across a wider diversity of student backgrounds and academic disciplines in those programs.

Another important task will be to increase awareness of the value of these national competitions, she says, and to recognize and nurture that talent early. In addition to Rhodes, other national opportunities include:

• The Marshall Scholarships, which include a stipend plus tuition and fees for U.S. citizens to study at a British university;
• The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship, which provides up to $50,000 per year for the length of a graduate degree program;
• The Harry S. Truman Scholarships, for students who show leadership in any phase of public service.

UAA will work with campus advisers in identifying students, then work with those students through the multi-year application process. The national competitions usually require an official university nomination before students move forward.

“I really emphasize the motivation issues with students,” Stubbs says. “They need to think, ‘is this opportunity really something I want and am I prepared to put in the work it requires?’ It’s important to see the process itself as rewarding.”

UAA will network with many of the other like-minded academic services, such as the Morgridge Center, International Studies and Programs, Letters and Science Pathways to Excellence and the L&S Writing Center, to maximize existing services for students.

Stubbs says the UAA will help the university promote “all the things that make for a truly great undergraduate experience.” Having more student winners of these scholarships (UW-Madison had three Rhodes Scholars in the 1990s) also enhances the university’s national academic prestige and ability to recruit top-flight students.

“The common thread for my career has been helping students discover opportunities,” Stubbs says. “It’s really rewarding to see the realm of the possible expand for students.”

The UAA office will be located in 271 Bascom Hall. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to contact Stubbs to learn more about the office and its services. She can be reached at (608) 890-0370, or stubbs@wisc.edu.