The Greater Milwaukee Foundation Mary Jo Read Geography Fellowship Fund (MJR) provides fellowships and travel grants to students who demonstrate academic excellence in the field.
Specifically, the fund earmarks the following:
- Fellowships for geography graduate students, typically to provide additional financial support to those also holding teaching, project, or research assistantships.
- Travel grants for graduate students to fund research and professional development opportunities.
Mary Jo Read (MJR) Graduate Student Awards
There are two award types:
- Fellowships
- Purpose of award: financial support
- Who should apply: all graduate students apply annually
- How to apply: submit MJR fellowship application plus two letters of recommendation
- Travel Grants
- Purpose of award:
- conference travel
- laboratory/field experience
- Who should apply: all graduate student attending conference or for lab/field work
- How to apply: call made annually or as required; Requirements: application form and TMEA
- Purpose of award:
Greater Milwaukee Foundation Mary Jo Read Geography Fellowship
Both new and continuing students are eligible for MJR fellowships, with awards based on each student’s academic record and competitive standing. Both new and continuing students should complete the UWM general scholarship application in the university’s scholarship portal and the department application.
Your application is used both for this opportunity as well as all other opportunities available campus-wide.
MJR Travel Grant
The MJR Travel grant is open to graduate students in the geography master’s or doctoral programs. The amount awarded to applicants varies from year to year depending on the funds available and student needs.
MJR Travel grants are made to graduate students under two categories:
- Category 1– Travel support, typically once per year, for students to present (paper, poster or other) their research findings at a major academic conference, or comparable professional development opportunities;
- Category 2 – Travel support to gain field or laboratory experience to facilitate thesis or dissertation research.
Awards can cover documented airfare, lodging, meals and incidental expenses, and conference registration. They cannot cover membership fees in professional organizations. Students must follow UW System Travel Policy and abide by UW System allowances for lodging, meals, and incidentals.
Calls, which will include the application form and information on the process, are made annually by the Department Chair, but students are encouraged to inquire of the Department Chair whenever needs arise. Due to the year-to-year variation in funding amount, in some years travel funding may be available for students to attend more than one conference. In this case, students are welcome to apply to attend an additional conference/workshop/meeting specific to their research with approval of their advisor.
Biography
Dr. Mary Jo Read was born in Pella, Iowa, February 2, 1911, daughter of Orlan and Bessie Read. Following elementary and high school in Pella, she attended Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) and received her BA in 1931. Dr. Read completed a master’s degree in geography at the University of Chicago in 1932.
After several years of public school teaching, she progressed to college level instruction joining the faculty of Milwaukee State Teachers College (currently the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) in 1940. Aside from a brief period during World War II when she taught at the University of Washington, Dr. Read remained with the Department of Geography until 1965, serving as its Chair from 1958 to 1963. During her early years in Milwaukee, she was the first woman to complete the PhD in Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1942. Read spent ten years as Professor of Geography at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, retiring in 1975 with emeritus status and returned to Milwaukee for her retirement.
Read was in great demand as a lecturer, since she excelled in photography and had documented her adventures around the world. Her travels included every continent, and she was one of the first tourists in Antarctica. Professionally, she was widely recognized as a specialist on the cultural geography of Latin America.