The National Endowment for the Humanities has received a $1.5-million gift from a fund established by DeWitt Wallace, founder of the Reader’s Digest, to support its new teacher-scholar program.
The gift, the largest ever made to the endowment, will pay a third of the program’s costs over the next three years, according to Lynne V. Cheney, chairman of the neh
The program, announced in November, will provide stipends of up to $27,500 to enable teachers to undertake a year of independent study in the humanities. Depending on the number of qualified applicants, the endowment will select one teacher-scholar from each state, the District of Co6lumbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The neh will begin accepting applications this month; the deadline for applying is May 2. Teachers could begin their independent study as early as September 1989.
Interested teachers may obtain more information by writing the neh/Reader’s Digest Teacher-Scholar Program, Division of Education Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506; telephone: (202) 786-0377.
In a move intended to make educational loans available to a wider range of students, officials of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced last week that the organization will participate in a loan program aimed at students from middle-income families.
The program, known as ConSern, offers market-rate loans of up to $25,000 annually to cover student expenses at either colleges or independent schools. Created three years ago by a consortium of colleges in the Washington area, the program issued $10 million worth of loans last year, primarily for college students ineligible for federal student-aid programs.
The chamber’s involvement means that any of its 180,000 member businesses, for a nominal fee, can offer its employees the opportunity to obtain loans through the program, according to the Rev. John P. Whalen, president of University Support Services Inc., which administers the program.
The agreement between the chamber and the loan program stipulates that only firms belonging to the chamber may participate in the program, he said.
