Support Our Students

The Department of Economics has various endowed and current use funds that are used to support our undergraduate and graduate students.

Department Priority Fund

Friends of Economics: Perhaps the most important resource to the department, this fund provides unrestricted support for departmental needs. Donations have been used for student assistance and merit awards, to enhance student scholarships, for computer software in the student labs, to purchase subscriptions to publications for faculty and graduate students on the latest economic research, to support the undergraduate student board’s newsletter and student seminars on career planning, and for brown bag seminars where faculty and graduate students present their research for critical review.

Scholarships

Economics Student Aid Fund: This is a current use fund that provides scholarship support to undergraduate students in the department, taking into account both financial need and outstanding academic achievement.

Alberta C. Corkery Endowed Scholarship: Established in 1995 by Alberta Corkery to provide financial assistance to students with academic merit and financial need. Mrs. Corkery expressed a preference for, but not restriction to, female students. Scholarships are awarded annually at the department graduation ceremony in June for the following academic year.

Economics Graduate Support Fund: This fund supports graduate students through awards, salaries, equipment and software purchases, and other academic activities.

Albert L. Bogdan Scholarship: Established with a $50,000 bequest in 2007 by Albert Bogdan to endow a partial scholarship for Economics undergraduate students. Mr. Bogdan graduated from UW in 1936 with degrees in Economics and History. He spent much of his career teaching in the Enumclaw School District.

George and Pearl Corkery Memorial Scholarship: Established in 1978 by Alberta Corkery in memory of her parents to assist worthy and talented undergraduate students.

Clifford G. and Wanda M. Kahl Student Support Fund in Economics: Established in 2013 by alumnus Kerry Kahl (BA ’73, MBA ’83) in honor of his parents. While they did not have the opportunity to attend college, his parents made it possible for Kerry and his brothers to go. Kerry had the good fortune to take Intro to Economics from Professor Emeritus Douglass North, a Nobel Prize Laureate. Mr. Kahl is Senior Director of Technology Compliance and Enterprise Risk Management at UW, where he has spent his entire career. He is co-chair of the undergraduate Economics Mentorship Program and has been a mentor for three years.

Howard H. Preston Endowed Scholarship in Economics: Established in 1995 by a bequest by Professor Preston’s daughter, Bettie Jane James, in memory of her father. Professor Preston was an economist and long-standing member of the faculty when Economics at UW was still part of the business school. He served as Dean of the School of Business when Economics was separated and placed under the responsibility of the College of Arts and Sciences. Bettie Jane James’ husband also received his PhD in Economics from the UW in 1949. This scholarship provides unrestricted support.

J. Parker and Evelyn Cruz Sroufe Endowed Fund in Economics: Established in 1993 by the former chair of the Visiting Committee of the Department of Economics, Parker Sroufe, who was concerned by the small number of some minority groups who choose to major in economics, to provide encouragement and financial support to such students.

Rachel Storer Award: This award was set up in 1966 with an original gift of $1,279. The purpose of the endowment is to provide an annual award to an advanced or graduate student in the Department of Economics with an interest in labor economics.

Yanlan and Robert Yang Endowed Fund: This scholarship was established in 1988 by Visiting Committee Chair Emerita Olga Yang, BA ’82, and is used to provide support to undergraduate students who, because of financial need, would otherwise be unable to complete their education.

Graduate Fellowships

Economics Graduate Alumni Fellowship Fund: Provides fellowship support for graduate students in Economics doing research in any field.

Grover and Creta Ensley Fellowship in Economic Policy: The purpose of the Ensley Fellowship is to create a pool of economists trained in the application of theoretical and technical economic knowledge to policy formation and to increase the involvement of economists in policy-making and administration. The Ensley Fellowship is among the most prestigious awards offered by the University of Washington. It was created by Grover Ensley, who served as the first Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and as President of the National Association of Mutual Savings Banks.

James O. York Fellowship: Created in 1989 by the friends and family of Mr. York at his retirement as Vice President of R.H. Macy and Co. The Fellowship provides financial support to a graduate student with preference to those with an interest in land use and/or urban development.

James K. and Viola M. Hall Fellowship: Created in 1962 by friends and students of James K. Hall in memory of his many years of distinguished teaching at the UW. Professor Hall was a mentor to Dr. Grover Ensley, and is set up as a memorial to him. The Fellowship provides support to a graduate student with special interest in public finance.