Velma McDermett Music Endowed Scholarship

Gifts for music scholarships in honor of former Sam Houston State University Dean of Women, Mrs. Velma Cunningham McDermett, were received as long ago as 1980. Upon the sad occasion of Mrs. McDermett’s death in 1990, many more gifts were received in her memory. Thus, the Velma McDermett Music Scholarship was established by the Music Department at SHSU to enable deserving students to pursue degrees in music. Velma McDermett is the mother of former education faculty member, Emily “Bess” McDermett Osburn-Koehnle, and former student of SHSU, Joy McDermett Liuzza. It is the Donor’s intent for the endowment to provide one or more annual scholarship awards to be announced in the spring and disbursed the following academic year, half in the fall and the remaining half in the spring semester. Scholarship awards shall not exceed the earnings of the endowment. This scholarship was established to assist with education expenses.