English Scholarship and Awards

Many of us fondly remember Mary Beth as an outstanding student, a committed learner, and a gracious, energetic human being.  Born in Great Falls in 1970, Mary Beth came to MSU in 1988, after receiving a four-year Elks Foundation scholarship and being awarded a Presidential Scholarship. While at MSU she amassed a stellar; record.  She received the Duane Hoynes Scholarship as the outstanding senior English major and an Artcraft Printers Scholarship for her promise as a writer.  Mary Beth was also a member of Phi Kappa Phi. She graduated from the Honors College with a bachelor's degree in English, with highest honors, in 1992.

During her years at MSU, Mary Beth's passion for learning and life kept her actively engaged in a number of activities: she played intramural tennis and chess, was a violist with the chamber orchestra, was both a disk jockey for the campus radio station and a writer for the Exponent, and tutored other students in subjects ranging from math and earth science to English. For a time, she was a student intern for the College of Letters and Sciences newsletter, for which she researched and wrote a number of feature articles.  All this while working to help support herself and her husband Bill, who was also a student.

After leaving MSU, Mary Beth continued her love of learning. She earned a master's degree in library science from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1988, and in 2000 received another BA in history from Arizona State University at Tempe.  At the time of her tragic and untimely death in 2003, she was working on a master's degree in creative writing from Regis College at Denver.  She was also employed as a content analyst of legal books for Shepherd Publishing in Colorado Springs and was a self-employed genealogical researcher. Her exhaustive book, Every-Name Index to the Marathon County, Wisconsin, 1910 Federal Census, is now a prized holding of the MSU English Department·. The book provides genealogical information regarding more than 55,000 individuals, and has been distributed to key research repositories throughout Wisconsin and the United States.  Her book is available throughout the world on CD and microfilm through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

We remember the vibrant life of Mary Beth Vender Fay through her book and, especially, through the scholarship presented in her name. That the life of this brilliant, human, and energetic soul was far too short is a cause for sadness; that her memory lives on in this scholarship is and will be a continual cause of celebration.

Duane J. Hoynes retired from the Department of English at Montana State University-Bozeman in 1983 after having taught English Education for sixteen years in a joint appointment with the Department of Secondary Education.  In addition, he served as acting department head of English for one year.

MSU was very fortunate to have hired Professor Hoynes. A graduate of Malta High School, he had vast experience in secondary education, both in Montana and abroad.  After receiving his graduate degree from the University of Montana, Profess Hoynes taught English at Fort Benton junior and senior high schools and served as principal of Fort Benton High School.  He also served as Superintendent of the Public Schools in Fort Benton. Professor Hoynes was awarded two Fulbright Scholarships to Denmark, in the latter working with secondary schools and teacher training colleges.  He was a professor of English at Western Montana College and served as Executive Secretary of the Montana School Boards Association in Helena, a position that included lobbying for public education at the state legislature.  At MSU, he was known as a gifted teacher, one who inspired potential teachers with his knowledge, his enthusiasm, and his generosity of spirit.

When he retired, Professor Hoynes developed an endowment for scholarships for English students. You are among the excellent students who since 1983 have benefited from his on-going support and caring.

John Phillips Parker, class of 1934 AplSci, professor emeritus of English, who instilled an appreciation of concise language in several generations of MSU students, died October 29, 1999 at the Gallatin Rest Home following a brief illness. He was 87.

A native of Bozeman, Dr. Parker attended Bozeman schools.  Following his graduation from Montana State College in 1934, he taught English and science at the Baker, Montana, high school from 1934-1936 and later in Great Falls from 1937-1940.  Dr. Parker earned a master's of education degree at the Graduate Teachers College of Winnetka, Illinois, in 1937, and a doctorate in philosophy (English) at the University of Washington in 1960.  Dr. Parker joined the faculty of Montana State College in 1946 as an instructor in English.  He served as department head from 1965 to 1972 and retired in 1974 as professor emeritus in English.  His principal teaching interests were in effective communication, most notably in technical writing.

Dr. Parker also served in the U.S. Army from 1940-1946 and remained in the Army Reserve until he retired in 1968 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel with the infantry division.

Dr. Parker's wife, Margaret, has created an endowment in his name, to reflect his ongoing interest in and commitment to students in English.

Margaret Gina Sachs (January 16, 1967 – August 20, 1995), was a 1994 MSU English graduate, an outstanding student and generous human being.  The summer after she graduated and before she began graduate school in Oregon, she was tragically killed in a traffic accident.  BilliJo Doll, a 1994 MSU graduate in Range Sciences, says of her friend Margaret Sachs, "She was one of the most caring, considerate, and kind people I've ever met.  She touched so many people's lives in a positive way, even though she was here only for a short time."

In 1997, on the anniversary of Margaret Sachs's death, BilliJo Doll created an endowed scholarship in memory of her friend, an endowment to which Margaret's family and friends also have contributed.

The Margaret Gina Sachs Memorial Scholarship is awarded in alternate years to students in English and in Agriculture. The recipient must be a junior or senior who is over traditional age, whose GPA is consistent with university honors, who has financial need, and who demonstrates compassion and caring.

Note: awarded every other year; jointly shared with the College of Ag.

This prize is given in the memory of Edith Ronald Mirrielees, a former resident of Montana and a creative writer of distinction. 

Edith was born in Canada in 1878 and moved with her family to Big Timber, Montana, where her father became the postmaster and general store owner.  After completing school in Big Timber, Edith became a schoolteacher, until she entered Leland Stanford Junior College in 1904 as a history major.  She quickly developed an interest in writing and became an editor of Sequoia, the campus literary magazine.  Two years after graduation, she returned to Stanford as an instructor in English, where she remained on the faculty until her retirement as an Emeritus Professor in 1944. 

One former student of Edith’s reports advice he was given as he was heading into the world to become a writer.  She told him, "It's going to take a long time, and you haven't any money.  Maybe it would be better if you could go to Europe."  After asking her "Why?" she replied, "Because in Europe poverty is a misfortune, but in America it is shameful.  I wonder whether or not you can stand the shame of being poor."  That student was John Steinbeck. 

At her death in 1962, her longtime friend Wallace Stegner said of her, "She was very rare -- rare in her person, in her delicacy and tact, in her generosity and kindness, in her mischievousness and capacity to take delight from life.  It was a very old lady who died on June 3^rd, but was as young a spirit as ever inhabited flesh."  Her legacy lives on in the young people who win this prize.

The Inklings Awards honors the many students whose outstanding contributions have made the English Department a vibrant, intellectual and creative community.

The award is named after the Inklings group formed at Oxford in the 1930’s by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, including among their members some of the most brilliant authors and poets of the day. An informal literary, linguistic, and political discussion group, the Inklings explored contemporary politics, philosophy, science, and social theory over brandy and cigars.  However, their greatest contribution to the humanities came from the members sharing their writing with each other, criticizing drafts, and encouraging revision.  From Inklings discussions came the earliest space travel novel, C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, as well as his Narnia series, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.