The Lady Kate Medders Alumni Society Scholarship Honors Lady Kate Medders - “Mother of the Library Service Department”

In June 1925, the first library course was taught by Pearl McCracken, the UNT college librarian. Soon after, in the early 1930’s, Lady Kate Medders was hired as the first full-time teacher in librarianship. She offered innovative courses designed to meet standards which effectively trained and prepared teacher-librarians for school library settings.

Medders, lovingly nicknamed Mother of the Library Service Department, instilled a mutual sense of respect, love and appreciation in her students. Students were exposed to three primary values from Medders during their studies: intelligence, understanding and love. In the 1936 edition of Call Number, one of her first students said of her, “Many are influenced by her; the people with whom her students come in contact must perceive a spark in them that Lady Kate kindled. This spark may be enthusiasm, appreciation of beautiful things, their practical skills – Lady Kate Medders fanned that flame.”

Medders honorably served the college and its students from 1935 to 1953. In 1976, the department’s alumni organization, The Alumni Society, polled its membership requesting approval to establish an endowment in the name of Lady Kate Medders, stating that the fund would be nourished by the Alumni Society membership fee. The interest from the endowment fund would support student scholarships.

For fifty years, every fall semester, applications are received from Information Science students desiring to be recognized as the Lady Kate Medders Alumni Society Scholar.

To be eligible for consideration, an applicant for the Lady Kate Medders Alumni Society Scholarship must possess the following characteristics:

• Meet the minimum entrance and continuing academic performance standards of the Department of Information Science in effect at the time of any award.
• Maintain a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.00 basis on all college level work.
• May be either an undergraduate or graduate student.
• Maintain full time enrollment in the Department of Information Sciences at the University, unless they have fewer than twice the number of semester hours required to be full time remaining in their degree program.  In the event no qualified applicant possesses this characteristic, part time students in the Department of Information Sciences at the University will be eligible to be considered. 

To apply: http://informationscience.unt.edu/scholarship-application-procedures