11/08/07

Gift establishes scholarship to enhance opportunities for undergraduates in English

LAWRENCE — A long-term friendship and shared collegial interests have produced a new scholarship supporting a broad range of activities for undergraduates in the Department of English at the University of Kansas.

Bernard “Bud” Hirsch, associate professor of English, died in 2006 after more than 30 years on the department faculty. He left a bequest of $100,000 to KU Endowment to establish the Mary A. Klayder Scholarship. Klayder, University Honors Lecturer in English, worked with Hirsch for more than 20 years. In an unusual move, Hirsch named the scholarship in Klayder’s honor but left to her the final determination of its details.

When defining the scholarship, Klayder built in flexibility to enhance opportunities for undergraduates such as study abroad, research support and conference travel. Klayder said she and Hirsch had a commitment in common.

“We shared in advising undergraduates,” Klayder said. “He was a tireless adviser. He spent hours every day talking to students. He was also a great, energetic, impassioned educator in the classroom.”

Hirsch taught British poetry and Native American literature. He also was longtime coordinator of undergraduate studies in the department and won a W.T. Kemper Fellowship for teaching and advising shortly before his death.

Dorice Elliott, chair of the English department, said the scholarship presents new and unique possibilities.

“I hope it will enable students to take advantage of study abroad opportunities who might not be able to otherwise,” she said, “especially serious students who want to go for the right reasons, who would benefit from the experience, but just can’t afford it.”

Klayder said she and Hirsch had experience with scrambling to find money for students so they could study abroad. She said she knew, based on years of working with Hirsch, what he wanted.

“We talked a lot,” Klayder said. “Bud loved study abroad. He had taken students to conferences. He knew he was going to die, and he had decided this would mean more to me than leaving me the money. It was more representative of what we believed in.”

The Mary A. Klayder Scholarship will be managed by KU Endowment, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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