Dont pay it back. Pay it forward.
Thats the premise and philosophy behind a new scholarship fund established in the memory of Dr. EleanorEllieBlakely, a West Virginia University social work professor who died in February at the age of 57 after a long battle with cancer.
The idea ofpaying it forward,scholarship coordinators say, works like this: When someone does you a kindness, dont pay him back. Extend that same kindness instead to others in need.
Thats why social work students receiving monies from the scholarship fund will get something else: a written history on the origin of the scholarshipofficially known as the Dr. Eleanor H. BlakelyPay It ForwardScholarship Fundand a request to make a donation equal to the amount of their awards to the fund within 10 years after completion of their degrees.
Theres no binding obligation, and recipients will be asked to donate voluntarily, provided they are fiscally able.
The fund is open to graduate students enrolled in the Division of Social Work in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
Any remaining funds will then be available to social work graduate students needing emergency assistance. The Division of Social Work will make the final determination in those casesand those students will also be asked to make a donation with 10 years of earning their graduate degrees here.
Recipients must show academic promise, plus the attributes associated with Blakely: leadership skills, enthusiasm for academic work, pride in the profession of social work, compassion and generosity of spirit.
Donations to the Dr. Eleanor H. BlakelyPay It ForwardScholarship Fund are still being received. Contributions may be sent to the WVU Foundation, P.O. Box 1650, Morgantown, WV 26507 . Please noteEleanor Blakely Fundon the memo line of your check.
The fund will be administered by the WVU Foundation, a private, nonprofit corporation that generates, receives and administers private gifts from individuals and organizations for the benefit of West Virginia University.
Dr. Blakely
Blakely, who was hailed by her colleagues as a gifted teacher and administrator, took her mission beyond the four walls of the classroom. She focused on issues related to poverty, and she proudly served on WVU s Welfare Reform Task Force, a faculty research group that was formed to track the effects of federal welfare reform on the Mountain States poor and working poor.
She was active in several local outreach agencies, and was board president of the West Virginia Coalition on Food and Nutrition and In Touch and Concerned. She was president of the West Virginia chapter of the National Association of Social Workers from 2002-04. That group honored her posthumously as itsSocial Worker of the Yearfor the state of West Virginia.
A North Carolina native, Blakely joined WVU in 1989 after teaching for several years at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She held a bachelors degree from Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C., a masters from the University of Louisville and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
FOR MORE information on the Dr. Eleanor H. BlakelyPay It ForwardScholarship Fund, contact Dr. Rudy Almasy, Eberly College dean of development, atrudy.almasy@mail.wvu.edu “> rudy.almasy@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-4611.