Mississippi Library Association

Minority Scholarship Initiative at the University of Southern Mississippi

The University of Southern Mississippi has received a generous grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Studies (IMLS) in order to fund ten minority students’ education for our fully accredited, online, Master of Library Science program. Students who are chosen for the grant will receive full tuition waiver, $400.00 per semester for the purchase of books, a laptop computer, and $9,000.00 per year as a stipend. They also will attend special programming and training from the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC), and will attend the American Library Association annual meeting in 2011. Scholarship recipients must take nine hours (three classes) in the fall and spring semesters and six hours (two classes) in the summer, and work five hours per week at either USM’s Cook Library or the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC) in Jackson; we are investgating whether we may be able to arrange work experience in additional locations. The program will take two years to complete.

This grant is designed to train and mentor students who might not otherwise be able to attend a full-time Master’s program in library science. Students will emerge from the program ready to take leadership positions in the field and to advocate for minority librarianship. They must agree to work for at least two years in a Mississippi library after earning their degree.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in applying or learning more about the scholarship, please contact USM’s School of Library and Information Science. All students must be admitted to the program and the Graduate School, and all materials for admission (including GRE scores) must be received in time to enroll for the fall semester (August, 2010).

You can find a flier on USM’s SLIS website here.

Entry Filed under: News
Posted on: February 12th, 2010