4:35 p.m., Feb. 22, 2008--Delaware Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor has announced the availability of a scholarship opportunity for undergraduate students at the University of Delaware and Delaware State University to foster the understanding and promotion of constitutional ideals beyond the walls of academia.

All applicants for the First State Constitutional Scholarship must be Delaware residents. UD applicants also must have completed their first year as elementary education majors and must have chosen to concentrate in the area of social studies. At DSU, applicants must be majoring in history, political science or another related discipline to be eligible for the scholarship.

“I know that our students will greatly benefit from this new opportunity,” said UD Provost Dan Rich. “However, the real beneficiaries of this program are those children who will be learning from the scholarship recipients for many years to come.”

A total of $20,000 will be divided between the two universities each year, which will allow up to 10 students to benefit for a full three years of study, as long as they maintain satisfactory academic progress toward their degree. Funding for the scholarship comes from the First State Constitutional Scholarship Foundation, a not-for-profit organization formed in connection with the 1987 bicentennial celebration of Delaware's 1787 ratification of the Constitution, which made it the first state in the union.

At UD, the scholarship process is being coordinated by the Democracy Project at UD's Institute for Public Administration. DSU's Department of History, Political Science & Philosophy is overseeing scholarship administration at that institution.

Applications will be reviewed over the next two months by a selection committee representing the Delaware Department of State and the respective university. The names of scholarship awardees at DSU will be announced by May 1. Recipients from UD will be named at the University's Honors Day ceremonies on May 9.

For more information on the scholarship process, contact Edward Freel, UD, at [efreel@udel.edu], or Akwasi Osei, DSU, at [aosei@desu.edu].