AUSTIN, Texas – January 5, 2011—The University of Texas at Austin School of Information announces the establishment of The Professor Fred M. Bullard Endowed Graduate Fellowship & Student Research Fund. The $800,000 fund was a gift from the estate of Thaïs Bullard, a longtime Austin resident and visiting fellow at the iSchool in the late 1990s. The gift was made in memory of her father, Fred Mason Bullard
The Bullard Fellowship is the single largest gift supporting students at the UT School of Information and is among the most significant student endowments at North American library and information science (LIS) programs. The fund is structured to provide generous support to one or more MSIS and Ph.D. students as well as research funding for innovative student projects involving large datasets.
“We are honored to receive such a generous gift at this time,” said Andrew Dillon, dean of the UT Austin School of Information. “The ability to support the best students is essential to both our school’s and the field’s future. We aim to invest in Bullard Fellows who will help shape the field in the years ahead, much as Fred Bullard did in his own career.”
The iSchool will make awards to the first cohort of Bullard Fellows in Fall 2011.