UAH Honors College receives $100K bequest to fund Prevost Scholar Program

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, announced that Stanley E. Prevost presented the UAH Honors College with a $100,000 gift to fund the UAH Prevost Scholars Program. Prevost is a co-founder of Phase IV Systems Inc., in Huntsville where he also served as Vice President until its sale. He is a longtime benefactor to the Honor College’s mission and programs.

The Prevost Scholar Program was developed by the donor along with Dr. William Wilkerson, Dean of the UAH Honors College. It is designed to function as a kind of “Honors within Honors program” to attract the top STEM students to the College by providing an exceptionally rigorous educational experience, based on intensive course work and undergraduate research.

“The Stanley E. Prevost Honors Scholarship will allow the Honors College to attain one of its most important goals by effectively creating a higher caliber of Honors Student within an already rigorous Honors curriculum,” Dr. Wilkerson says. “This is a unique and singular program that sets the UAH Honors College apart from all others. To my knowledge, there is no other ‘Honors within Honors’ program that includes both a scholarship and a link to graduate education. We can never express all of our gratitude for this gift which will, in total, amount to $1 million and eventually fund an entire cadre of Prevost Scholars.”

The program is intended to target top STEM students within the Honors College, following the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) definition of STEM fields. These students will have the opportunity to apply in their second year and must submit a plan of study, a thesis field, a potential graduate/career path and an essay as part of the application process. In addition, students must have accrued at least eighteen Honors hours by the beginning of the third year and a minimum 3.75 GPA to be considered. Students who transfer from another Honors College may be eligible as well if they have obtained the equivalent number of Honors hours. Each application will be reviewed by the Executive Council of the Honors Council.

“Prevost Scholars (as they will be known) must go on to do a more involved Honors Thesis and complete 50% more hours than the standard Honors student,” Dr. Wilkerson explains. “For this more rigorous demand, they receive a generous scholarship in their junior and senior year with the potential to renew for their first year of graduate work at UAH.”

The Prevost Scholar Program will make a significant impact on student learning in the College. The scholarship will be an incentive to Honors students to apply for and to stay in the Program. Prevost Scholar awards will be given in addition to any scholarships students already receive; therefore, this honor will not replace student scholarship amounts already established. Students will also have the option of seeking a third year of scholarship assistance for a graduate degree if they have already begun graduate course work through UAH’s Joint Undergraduate Master’s Program (JUMP) and their honors thesis is approved and accepted.

The curriculum for Prevost Scholars will comprise: