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English Department

Scholarships, Awards and Honors

The English department proudly offers the following scholarships and honors to deserving students:

The Albert J. Millar Scholarship Created to honor the life and career of Dr. Al Millar, who taught at CNU from 1965 until his untimely death from cancer in 2001. Al was much beloved, and his wit and wisdom attracted generations of students into the English Department. He was also well known on the Peninsula as an entertaining and engaging speaker. His love of Edgar Allan Poe was legendary. This scholarship is funded by donations from the Millar family, students, colleagues and friends. It is given to English majors who demonstrate both a desire to study and financial need.
Cornette Scholarship The Cornette Scholarship Awards are funded by Jim and Jennifer Cornette to honor the memories of his father, J. Archie Cornette, and his mother, Wilhelmina Handy Cornette. The J. Archie Cornette Scholarship Award is given semi-annually to honor an English major (no track preference) who has achieved excellence in academic performance and who has also expressed a strong interest in pursuing a teaching career at the primary, secondary, or college level. The Wilhelmina Handy Cornette Scholarship Award is given in alternate years to honor a Music major (preference: piano major or performing pianist) who has also achieved excellence academically and has expressed a similar aspiration to teach.
Teresa Van Dover Scholarship Terry Van Dover entered CNU around 1980 as a German and English major, as well as Honors Student. For several years she had worked at 7-11. In her years here, she was a prominent contributor to the Captain's Log, eventually serving (if memory serves) as Entertainment Editor. She was a very bright, highly articulate, and absolutely uncompromising thinker-a genuine pleasure to have in class and to talk with informally. Although she'd intended to transfer to William & Mary, she changed her mind (or maybe didn't get accepted) and ended up quite satisfied with her education here. After graduation, she worked at the Shipyard (technical writer) and Best (a regional retailer). Terry had to contend with two bouts of cancer, the second fatal. Her husband solicited contributors from Terry's former employers as well as friends and family in order to establish the award, the criteria for which reflect Terry's interests and circumstances.
William Wolf Award Bill Wolf, who taught here from 1976 until his death in March of 1982, brought enthusiasm and scholarly credibility to the study of British Literature, especially Shakespeare. He had published on Shakespeare and was involved in original research with a colleague from Northern Illinois University, involving dramatic manuscripts discovered in Warwick. He had published a brief article on their findings by the time of his death. He served as Vice Chair of the Department (overseeing Freshman English) and faculty sponsor of both Sigma Tau Delta and Currents. Following his death, his widow established the award in his memory.
Dr. Joyce K. Sancetta Award The Sancetta is a book award-the funds from the award can only be used to buy books-and it is the best-endowed award in the English Department. The award is competitive (essay contest) and is given in the Fall semester. Joyce Sancetta taught at Christopher Newport College in the 1960s and 1970s. She enjoyed teaching at CNC, because, according to her daughter Connie, "the students were there because they really wanted to learn, many of them earning their own money to cover tuition." She was a graduate student at Yale during the Depression and "lived on toasted cheese sandwiches," and one year she, gratefully, received a book award from Yale. When, at the end of her life, Joyce Sancetta decided that she wanted to give something back to CNU, she remembered the book award that she had received in graduate school and began to work on endowing such an award here at CNU. After her death, her children, following her wishes, created the Sancetta in her honor.

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