Note: CoSIDA's mission is to serve and advocate for our membership and for the athletic communications profession. The CoSIDA scholarship and grant fund is one of our primary financial outreaches as we look to assist those who require more office support (with internship grants) and those who are undergraduate or graduate students who aspire to athletic communications careers. Additionally, CoSIDA annually sets aside college scholarship dollars for children of CoSIDA members.
Additionally, the CoSIDA Cares Fund provides opportunities to support CoSIDA members who have experienced extreme loss/weather-related losses. If you are aware of any CoSIDA members impacted by the recent Harvey and Irma Hurricanes, or the wildfires in the West, please contact a member of the CoSIDA staff or board.
By vote of the CoSIDA Board of Directors, the organization's scholarship and grant offerings for the 2017-18 academic year will be more than doubled.
The CoSIDA scholarship and grants are meant to assist those who require more office support (with internship grants) and those who are undergraduate or graduate students aspiring for athletic communications careers.
This year, the funds have increased from the $37,000 awarded for the 2017-18 academic year to a new total of $81,000 - an increase of 119 percent - for 2018-18 funds. The number of scholarship/grants also have been increased, moving from nine awards to 14
"I am beyond thrilled that the Board of Directors has been able to add to our scholarship and internship grant program," noted Rob Carolla, 2017-18 CoSIDA President. "Not only does this expansion of funds allow CoSIDA to reward more deserving students who have a passion for our profession and assist more of our members by funding internship grants, but It further cultivates the future leaders of communications in college athletics.
CoSIDA will announce the opening of the application period for its 2018-19 scholarship and grant program in early October, as the organization is introducing a new online awards portal. Applications will be open from October through April 2018, and specific information will be available later.
Scholarship Budget 2016-17 Scholarship Budget 2017-18
• 1 Graduate Internship Grant ($12,000 each) • 2 Graduate Internship Grants ($15,000 each)
• 2 Postgraduate Awards ($7,500 each/$15,000) • 3 Postgraduate Awards ($10,000 each/$30,000)
• 2 Undergraduate Awards ($3,000 each/$6,000) • 3 Undergraduate Awards ($5,000 each/$15,000)
• 4 Member-Child Awards ($1,000 each/$4,000) • 6 Member-Child Awards ($1,000 each/$6,000)
Total 2017-18 Awards: $37,000 Total 2018-19 Awards: $81,000
"Our scholarship committee has spent some extensive time the past few years developing a road map for the future of our awards program, envisioning more awards to benefit more CoSIDA members and greater scholarship amounts to assist the future members of our organization and the growth of our athletic communications profession," stated CoSIDA Scholarship Committee chair Jeff Griesch, University of Nebraska Senior Associate Communications Director. "In 2016-17 we experienced record numbers of applicants across several of our contests, nearly doubling our applications from the previous year. We believe we have an amazing opportunity in front of us to give more back to CoSIDA members than ever before."
The
CoSIDA Undergraduate Scholarship Program consists of the
Fred Nuesch Scholarships and the
Dave Wohlhueter Scholarships. Nuesch, who spent the majority of his career at Texas A&M-Kingsville and was CoSIDA's longtime secretary and E-Digest editor, and Wohlhueter, who is retired from Cornell and served as CoSIDA's treasurer for decades, are both CoSIDA Hall of Famers.
The
CoSIDA Phil Langan Graduate Internship Grant Program is designed to assist member institution sports information (media relations/athletic communications) offices with funds to support the addition of 10-month graduate internships. Langan was a CoSIDA Hall of Famer who worked at Ithaca, Princeton and Brown. He passed away in November of 2009. He served CoSIDA as secretary-treasurer and Digest editor from 1972 to 1977.
The
CoSIDA Langston Rogers Postgraduate Scholarships assist rising minority or female students working in sports information (media relations/athletic communications) offices who have expressed an interest in pursuing a career in sports information and require financial assistance for their education. Langston Rogers, retired SID and current special assistant to the athletic director at Ole Miss, is a former CoSIDA President, Hall of Famer, Trailblazer Award and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
The
CoSIDA Wylie Smith Postgraduate Scholarships are designed to assist outstanding students in sports information (media relations/athletic communications) offices who have expressed an interest in pursuing a career in sports information and require financial assistance for their education. Smith is a former CoSIDA Scholarships Committee chairman and long-time sports information director at Northern Arizona University.
The
CoSIDA Member Child Scholarship Program is designed to assist an outstanding
undergraduate students who are children of a CoSIDA member.
To read about the previous scholarship and grant winners, please go to the following link:
CoSIDA Announces Record Class of 2017-18 Scholarship Winners/Historical List of Recipients
http://cosida.com/news/2017/6/6/Membership_0606170641.aspx?path=mem