THIBODAUX, La. — Nicholls State University received a $20,000 donation to create the Sentilles-Truxillo Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship is designed to assist graduating seniors in defraying the cost of an admission application for graduate study.
The donor F. Dennis Sentilles, Jr., a 1963 Nicholls graduate, wishes to pay forward faculty support that changed the trajectory of his life and career. An anonymous professor, as yet unknown to Sentilles, secured graduate support for him in a very strong program, from which followed a life and career well beyond any ambition he could’ve imagined.
“As every coach knows, you cannot teach born talent, you can only develop it. It’s the same with a gifted mind, and that’s what we’re trying to do here. And I must express my unending thanks to long retired Nicholls faculty — Lowell R.Tappan, Elise M. Hughey, Palmer F. Smith — for the push they gave us all way back then,” said Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Missouri, Nicholls alumnus and donor, Dennis Sentilles.
The annual proceeds of this endowment are to be awarded to a graduating senior in either, or both, the College of Sciences and Technology or the College of Liberal Arts. Applicants must be:
- A Louisiana resident
- A full-time graduating senior for the semester the application is completed
- Pursuing a major within the College of Sciences and Technology and/or the College of Liberal Arts
- Have at least a 3.75 cumulative GPA based on a 4.0 grading scale
- Submit admission for graduate study in a department or program ranked by at least two recognized national rating services to be among the top 50 graduate programs nationwide in the student’s intended area of study, or a program in the top one-third of programs nationally in the case of there being fewer than 150 nationally ranked programs
- Provide evidence of said ranking of the department from previous requirement
- Provide confirmation of application to the target program(s) and of application to take the Graduate Record Exam
At least two annual awards will be made by the Scholarship Committee during each student’s senior year to cover the cost of the student’s graduate admission application and the cost of taking the GRE that year. Any leftover funds in the student’s award are to be used to fund further admission applications as chosen by the student.
Each recipient will receive the scholarship only once, and the maximum amount each student will receive is $500 or 5% of one-half the value of the principal as policy of the Nicholls Foundation. The number of awards and amount of the award may be increased as the endowment grows. Receipt of this award is not contingent upon successful admission for graduate study.
To apply for scholarships at Nicholls, please visit https://www.nicholls.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, November 1, 2022
MEDIA CONTACT: Jerad David, Director of Communications, 985.448.4303 or jerad.david@nicholls.edu
