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Department of Mathematics
University of Mississippi

Undergraduate Awards

The Department of Mathematics awards several scholarships on a yearly basis to mathematics majors. Some scholarships have specific requirements as detailed below. There is no direct application process; all mathematics majors are automatically considered for the different awards. Recipients are selected by the department’s faculty.

The Alfred Hume Award for Outstanding Senior in Mathematics
Established in 1960, the Hume Award is presented each year to the senior student majoring in mathematics who has the best four-year record in the subject. The recipient, together with the right to represent the Department of Mathematics on “Honors Day,” gets a one year membership in the MAA.

A Tennessee native, Alfred Hume (1866-1950) arrived at UM as a mathematics professor in 1890 after receiving three degrees from Vanderbilt University. He served as chairman of the Department of Mathematics for 51 years, also serving the university as Acting Professor of Civil Engineering, Dean of Liberal Arts, and Chancellor. An outstanding teacher, he made scholarly contributions to gravitational measurement, geometrical formulations, and the use of mathematics as a tool of the sciences. In 1963 a new science center, Hume Hall, was named for him.

The Hugh Lawrence Quarles and Corrie Dennis Quarles Scholarship
Recipients shall be full-time students who are mathematics majors and have a minimum of 3.25 overall grade point average. They will be chosen in the spring of their sophomore year to receive the scholarship in their junior and senior years. Preference will be given to students from Mississippi and Alabama. The scholarship carries an initial stipend of $4,000, payable at the rate of $2,000 per semester for the junior and, if extended, senior years of study. After selection, the recipient must maintain a minimum 3.25 overall grade point average and a 3.5 grade point average in mathematics. He/she has to be approved for continuance by the faculty.

The Quarles Scholarship was established in 1988 by Corrie Dennis Quarles (1914-2000), an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at UM, in memory of her husband, Hugh Lawrence Quarles (1904-1987). An Alabama native and retired U.S. Army colonel, Col. Quarles was a member of the mathematics faculty at UM before and after his career in the military. A native of Fayette, Corrie Quarles received her bachelor’s degree from UM in 1933 and her master’s in 1942.

The T. A. Bickerstaff Scholarship
The recipient shall be a junior mathematics major with the highest achievement as determined by the faculty. The scholarship will be announced in the spring of the junior year and the amount of the award shall be equal to the amount earned by the endowment fund during the previous period which usually amounts to $750 per semester. The award shall be effective for the fall and spring semesters of the senior year.

The Bickerstaff Scholarship was established in 1983 as a memorial to the late chairman of the Department of Mathematics. Dr. Thomas A. Bickerstaff (1904-1976), a native of Tishomingo, MS joined the faculty of the UM mathematics department in 1929, after obtaining a B.A. (1928) and M.A. (1929), from UM. Upon receiving his Ph.D. (Univ. of Michigan, 1946), he returned to Oxford and served as chairman of the UM mathematics department from 1946-1970, retiring in 1972. Known to thousands of students simply as ‘Dr. Bick’, he was a well-respected member of the UM community for nearly half a century and his devotion and loyalty to his alma mater were legendary.

The Alton C. Grimes Scholarship
The Grimes Scholarship was established by Mr. Grimes in 1989 to assist deserving students of high moral character who demonstrate scholastic ability and financial need. Awardees shall be in a curriculum which requires a minimum of 18 hours of mathematics beginning with calculus. The scholarship is in the amount of $1000 per academic year.

Professor Alton C. Grimes (1910-2001), a native of Carthage, MS received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1933. He completed his M.A. in Mathematics from UM in 1939 and was a graduate assistant during his tenure in Oxford. A World War II veteran, Professor Grimes taught in the Department of Mathematics at Mississippi State University from 1946-1975 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1975. There are Alton C. Grimes Scholarships at Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi as well.

The John Roger Moore III Scholarship
The Moore Scholarship was established in 1990 and is presented each year in the amount of $500 per academic year. The recipient shall be a full time student majoring in mathematics.

John Roger Moore III (1942-1990) from Holly Springs received his B.S. in Mathematics from UM in 1964. Mr. Moore was a consulting systems engineer for IBM in Memphis, TN.

The William T. Trusty Mathematics Scholarship
Established in 2014, the Trusty scholarship is designated for full-time undergraduate students who are majoring in mathematics at the University of Mississippi. Recipients will be Mississippi residents with at least a 3.0 grade point average.

William T. “Bill” Trusty of Water Valley, MS (1912-2011), a World War II veteran, earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1933 from UM. He was a respected leader who managed three businesses and served the community he loved through the local school board and an array of other business and civic organizations. Trusty evolved into the longtime successful manager of several businesses – the International Harvester Company dealership in Water Valley for more than 45 years, Trusty Hardware for 25 years, and Hotel Trusty for 10 years.

The Auvergne Williams Scholarship
Established in 2002 by Mr. Williams, the scholarship supports students who are engaged mainly in the study of natural science, mathematics, history and language.

Auvergne Williams (1887-1980) grew up in Eupora, Mississippi and received a B.A. in 1907 from UM in Science, Literature and Art. While a student at the university he served as the historian of the sophomore class and was recognized with an award for oration. Mr. Williams was admitted to the bar in Mississippi (1911) and Tennessee (1912). He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1910 and practiced law in Memphis his entire career.

The Irby C. Nichols Scholarship
The Nichols Scholarship was established in 1968 by Mr. Nichols’s wife, Pauline Wright Nichols, to provide the stipend of either an award or a scholarship to a deserving student in the field of mathematics in honor of Mr. Nichols.

Irby Coghill Nichols (1882-1952), born in Eudora, Mississippi, graduated from UM with a B.S. in 1906 and received a master’s degree in history in 1908. He received a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois in 1912 and a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in 1917, studying under noted mathematician Louis C. Karpinski. He taught mathematics at UM, Texas A&M University, and served on the Louisiana State University faculty from 1917 to 1948 as a Professor of Mathematics.

Pauline Wright Nichols (1889-1973), born in Oxford, Mississippi, studied mathematics at UM, earning her degree in 1909, and taught at Oxford High School for one year. She earned a bachelor’s degree in design from Sophie Newcomb College, and continued her art studies at Newcomb, under the tutelage of Ellsworth Woodward, and later at the Chicago Art Institute. She taught art at Belhaven College and at Newcomb College until 1918, when she married Irby C. Nichols and moved to Baton Rouge. She continued her design and art work, creating personalized bookplates, painting, and designing stage sets.

The Hattie Burke Jackson College of Liberal Arts Scholarship
This scholarship provides assistance to female students who are majoring in one of the following fields: Classics, English, History, Mathematics, Modern Languages, and Physics. The recipient must be a resident of Yalobusha, Calhoun, Lafayette, or Grenada Counties, and must maintain a 3.0 GPA on all courses. For additional information please contact the Departments of Classics, English, History, Mathematics, Modern Languages, or Physics and Astronomy.

The Hattie Burke Jackson Scholarship was established in 2004 by the estate of Miss Harriet Jackson, a UM graduate and long-time Latin and French teacher at UM, to honor her mother, Mrs. Hattie Talbert Burke Jackson (1868-1917), a Water Valley native, ‘a splendid woman, active in every civic and benevolent work’ (Water Valley Progress newspaper), who died at the age of 49, leaving Harriet and her three sisters to be raised by their father, Dr. Manuel Winter Jackson, ‘one of the most talented practicing physicians in the city (of Water Valley)’.

Miss Harriet Jackson received her B.A. (1924) and M.A. (1936) from UM. While in college she was a member of The Marionettes, a student drama club that William Faulkner helped found in 1920. Miss Jackson joined the Department of Modern Languages in 1950 where she taught Latin and French for 21 years, retiring in 1970. During her time at UM she was acting chair several semesters, a member of the Mississippi Modern Languages Association, the Faculty Senate, and was advisor to Phi Kappa Phi and the Latin Club.

The Pi Mu Epsilon Award
The Pi Mu Epsilon Award is presented annually to the outstanding member of The University of Mississippi Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon honorary mathematical fraternity, based on service and performance during the academic year. The recipient receives a five-year subscription to the National Pi Mu Epsilon Journal.

College of Liberal Arts
There are also scholarships available through the Office of the Dean in the College of Liberal Arts.  They are available to any major in the College of Liberal Arts, but there is not an application process.  Click here to see those possible scholarship opportunities.

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