The Texas Pauli Murray Scholarship Fund at Seminary of the Southwest

About the scholarship and the Rev. Pauli Murray:

The purpose of this fund is to provide academic scholarships to enrolled students of color (with demonstrated financial need) pursuing a degree in the seminary’s Master of Divinity program or Diploma in Anglican Studies program. A Pauli Murray Academic Scholarship award may be disbursed only for the award recipient’s living expenses based on the award recipient’s demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Seminary in its sole discretion.

quote-true-community-is-based-on-upon-equality-mutuality-and-reciprocity-it-affirms-the-richness-pauli-murray-142-41-15.jpeg — About **the Rev. Pauli Murray**

**The Rev. Pauli Murray** was the first African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Moreover, she was among the first of all women to be ordained by the Church.
With dreams of attending Columbia University, she attended Hunter College in New York City, after being denied admission to Columbia because the university was only open to men. After graduating from Hunter College, she attended law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Although she graduated first in her class, she was denied the opportunity to enroll at Harvard University for additional studies- again, because she was a woman.
A successful lawyer and author, her experiences fueled her passion to advocate for women and play a role in the civil rights movement. Murray broke several glass ceilings that brought about rare opportunities for Black women during that time. In 1946, she was hired as California’s first Black deputy attorney general. As a civil-rights activist, she marched alongside the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ms. Rosa Parks. She, however, protested against discrimination- not only on the basis of race, but also gender.
Murray worked in academia as vice-president of Benedict College, later becoming a professor at Brandeis University until she went to the seminary and was later ordained. The Rev. Murray was the first woman to celebrate the Eucharist at an Episcopal church in North Carolina. She eventually committed her life to one of mission reconciliation and focused on ministry to the sick in a parish in Washington, D.C.
A woman before her time, Murray left a rich legacy of achievement, not only in the Episcopal Church. As just one example, Yale University posthumously named one of its residential colleges in her memory. The Rev. Pauli Murray was a forward-thinking force to be reckoned with.

Scholarship Criteria

A student who is eligible to receive an academic scholarship award provided in whole or in part by this fund is defined as one who is:
Admitted by the seminary and enrolled full- or part-time in a Master of Divinity degree program or Diploma in Anglican Studies program;
Entering as a first-semester student or otherwise as a continuing student in good academic standing at the time of award;
Presenting a demonstrated financial need; and
Selected as an award recipient by the seminary’s director of enrollment or other authorized officer.

Scholarship Eligibility

In determining eligibility for an academic scholarship award provided in whole or in part by this fund, the Seminary shall make awards in the following descending order of precedence:

Postulants of the Diocese pursuing the Master of Divinity degree;
Students within the Diocese enrolled in the Diploma in Anglican Studies program;
Postulants of all other dioceses pursuing the Master of Divinity degree; and
Students within all other diocese pursuing the Diploma in Anglican Studies program.