Named Funds and Scholarships at SKSM

Balázs, ScholarTransylvanian Ministry. Scholarship covers expenses for Transylvanian Minister to attend Starr King for one academic year. 

Josiah and Laile Bartlett Tuition Scholarship Award 

William Smythe Boyd, IIII Tuition Scholarship AwardFor the education and training of men in the ministry.  This fund was established by Miriam Boyd Gray in 1984 in memory of her father.

Olympia Brown Tuition Scholarship AwardOlympia Brown attended St. Lawrence, a Universalist Divinity School and overcame the doubts of her male classmates and professors with the skill of her preaching.  Her ordination on June 25, 1863 was the first recognized ordination of a woman in the Universalist denomination.  After serving two churches in MA and one in WI, she retired from the parish ministry in 1887 to work full-time for the women’s suffrage.  This scholarship will help enable the education of women and ethnic minorities.

John Buehrens Tuition Scholarship Award: “This scholarship is to be granted a student in the entering class at the Starr King School for the Ministry who is adjudged by the President of that School to have the highest academic achievement and intellectual promise, as well as outstanding potential for effective ministry, and demonstrated financial need.  Grantees will be citizens of the United States.  Grantees who continue to excel in both their academic and professional formation will be eligible for additional grants.”

Rev. Lilia Cuervo Tuition Scholarship Award: Students are a beneficiary of her annual Student Financial support.

Cutten Family Tuition Scholarship Award: Established in 2006 by Merrit Cutten to honor his parents and the legacy of ministerial leadership his family experienced as members of the First Unitarian Society of San Francisco.

Mark DeWolfe Tuition Scholarship AwardFrom a 1981 SKSM graduate who died shortly after graduation from AIDS, one of the first UU ministers to do so.  His parents began endowed scholarship at SKSM in 1999. For students in need

Aron and Eve Gilmartin Tuition Scholarship Award: Established in 1989 by Art and Arliss Ungar and other members of the Mt. Diablo UU Church in Walnut Creek, CA. Aron Gilmartin was Minister there from 1959 until his retirement in 1973. Gil was a social activist and Humanist. He served other UU congregations previously and after his initial retirement. Eve Gilmartin was an active lay leader at Mt. Diablo and other churches.

Raymond Goodman Tuition Scholarship Award: Established in 2004 by Ray Goodman who is quoted as saying, “I would not have been able to attend college and medical school without such aid and consider it a gift to myself to be able to do this for others.”

Arnold and Ariel Grace Tuition Scholarship Award: Established by SK graduate, William A. Grace for his parents Arnold and Ariel Grace.  His father attended Wentworth Institute, was a WWII Army veteran, and worked at George Junior Republic as a Plant Engineer for 48 years. Award is for returning, 2nd through 4th year students.

Gail Hamaker Tuition Scholarship Award: Established in 1987 for a ministerial student with financial need who is interested in some aspect of women and religion.  Age, marital status, gender, and race are not to be considered.

Henry Hanhisalo Tuition Scholarship Award: For a student who wishes to incorporate music into his or her ministry. The Rev. Hanhisalo is a retired Universalist minister of Finnish descent who lives in New Hampshire. He served the Norwell, MA church from 1959-61.

Earl K. Holt, III Tuition Scholarship Award: Established in 2002 for a single recipient with a strong commitment to the parish ministry, hopefully with a particular interest in Unitarian history and the Puritan-congregational tradition.  Rev. Holt is a retired minister and former member of the Starr King Board of Trustees.

Janet Scott King Tuition Scholarship Award

David and Norma Lewis Annual Scholarship Award

Charles & Hilda Mason Tuition Scholarship Award

Gordon and Phyllis McKeeman Tuition Scholarship Award: Established in 2002 for a student with a particular interest in Universalism who plans to enter parish ministryThe Rev. McKeeman served in churches in Ohio and Massachusetts.  He then served as President of Starr King School from 1983-88, when he retired.  Phyllis has been active in church life and UU fundraising for decades.

Rosamond Reynolds Tuition Scholarship Award: Roz was an artist, friend and mentor to many Starr King students. She served as a former Trustee to the School and led the campaign to establish the Aurelia Henry Reinhardt endowed faculty position at SMSM, held since by Clare Fischer and Gabriella Lettini.

Elmo A. Robinson Tuition Scholarship Award: These funds were given to the School for the “education of ministers” by Elizabeth Magers Robinson, Elmo’s widow, in 1986 upon her death. Elizabeth was a member of the church in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Harry B. Scholefield Tuition Scholarship AwardEstablished in 2002 to honor Rev. Harry Scholefield, who was Minister Emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco where he served as senior minister from 1957-1973.  During his ministry in San Francisco he was active in the civil rights and peace movement, and he received the Adin Ballou Grassroots Peace Award from the UU Peace Fellowship in 1986.

Nancy M. Shaffer Scholarship: Founded to honor 2004 Starr King graduate Rev. Nancy M. Shaffer, who passed away June 5, 2012. Nancy served congregations in Maryland, California, Virginia, Illinois, and Michigan, and was well-known for both her lifespan faith development ministries and her poetry, publishing the meditation manual “Instructions in Joy” and the posthumous “While Still There Is Light: Writings from a Minister Facing Death.” This scholarship was created by Nancy’s father, Lee Brooks, to benefit a female student every year.

Shelter Rock Tuition Scholarship Award

The Charlotte Shivvers Fund for Ministries of Social Change: An endowed fund established by Robert Baker and Rev. Charlotte Shivvers, for the purpose of providing a field education program to place Starr King students in community organizations and institutions that work for social justice.

St. Lawrence Tuition Scholarship Award

Jacob Trapp Tuition Scholarship Award: Jacob Trapp graduated from the Pacific Unitarian School (now SKSM) in 1929. He served several congregations including the Summit, NJ church where he was minister for 25 years. Jacob wrote many hymns including his best known, Wonders Still the World Shall Witness. A down-to-earth explorer of prayer, meditation, and the mystical aspect of the religious, he has been acknowledged as one of the principal contributors to modern UU liturgy.

Tsubaki Scholarship AwardTo support students traveling to Transylvania.

White Tuition Scholarship Award

Earl Morse Wilbur Endowed Scholarship Fund: The Wilbur Scholarship was stablished in 2019 by Rev. Dr. Jay Atkinson and named in honor of the pioneering work of Earl Morse Wilbur (former President of SKSM) on the history of the Polish Brethren. This scholarship fund will provide a scholarship to an SKSM student who has demonstrated a robust interest in UU history, with strong preference given to applicants with an academic focus on the history of the Polish Brethren.

UU Women’s Scholarship: These funds were originally held by the Massachusetts Association of Universalist Women. They were given to Tufts University which then gave them to SKSM in 1975. These funds are for general assistance.