Undergraduate or Graduate Scholarships
The 2024-25 scholarship application period has ended. The Bobcat Online Scholarship System (BOSS) allows you to search and apply for university and external scholarships. The opportunities include scholarships specific to your college, major or area of interest.
Students can apply for multiple scholarships. Each scholarship application must have a SEPARATE online form completed.
Scholarship recipients MUST attend the Annual Alumni Reunion and Student Celebration.
Only scholarships listed on the current year application form will be awarded.
1) The Giordano-Mastroianni Family Endowed Scholarship in Geography
honors the parents of Alberto Giordano and Marta Mastroianni: Maria Bordin and Ferdinando Giordano and Adriana Zanato and Angelo Mastroianni. While Alberto and Marta’s parents could not afford going to college, they taught their children the values of education from a very early age, and all they have accomplished in life, they owe to their parents. Ferdinando was able to complete high school, briefly played professional soccer, and went on to a rewarding career for a number of retail companies. He passed away in 2008. Maria is a stay at home mom who raised four children and kept everybody sane and organized in the first sixteen years of her marriage to Ferdinando, during which the Giordanos lived in nine different cities in Italy. Angelo Mastroianni joined the Air Force at age seventeen and worked as a radio operator until he retired. He and Adriana raised two children. Adriana started working as a seamstress at age 8 and continued in the profession throughout her life. Maria Bordin, Angelo Mastroianni and Adriana Zanato live in Treviso, a northern Italian city near Venice, where a combined four siblings and eight nephews and nieces all live.
Alberto and Marta have established this scholarship to award two first-generation college students, one undergraduate and one graduate, per year. Alberto and Marta declared “We cannot think of a better way to honor our parents. They taught us that honesty, integrity, and empathy are the values we should live by.”
2) The Peggy Steele Clay / Brock Brown Scholarship
was created to encourage outstanding students at Texas State University to enter the geography and social studies public education field and to provide financial support during the student teaching semester. This scholarship is named for Peggy Clay, a retired teacher and former Teacher in Residence at National Geographic Society, and Brock Brown, retired Texas State geography professor and former Director or Geography Education Institutes at National Geographic Society.
In order to be eligible for this scholarship:
1. Three types of pre-service teachers are eligible:
A. Texas State University undergraduate geography majors or minors seeking secondary social
studies or geography teacher certification;
B. Texas State University undergraduate or graduate students seeking elementary teacher
certification with a geography concentration;
C. Texas State University Geography B.A. or BS. Graduates returning for post-baccalaureate
secondary certification in geography or social studies and
2. Have a minimum cumulative Texas State University GPA of at least 3.0.
3) The Richard A. Earl Gamma Theta Upsilon Geography (GTU) Scholarship
honors Dr. Richard A. Earl for his dedication and service to students,
Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), and the Department of Geography. One
scholarship is awarded each spring pending available funding, and applied to
the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be an active member of GTU
2. demonstrate outstanding service to GTU
3. provide evidence of service to the Department of Geography, Texas State,
and the community
4. have a geography GPA of 3.5 or higher and an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher
4) The Four Brothers Scholarship in Geography (NOT OFFERED IN 2020)
honors four brothers (Armand, Carlo, Cesare, and Vincenzo Stea) who, as
sons of an immigrant family, made major contributions to painting, sculpture,
design, and music in the Western Hemisphere throughout the 20th century.
One scholarship is awarded each spring, and applied to the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be a student who has come to the United States from another country
2. demonstrate financial need
3. demonstrate academic promise/achievement
4. be enrolled in at least 9-12 hours
5) The Zach A. Howard and Kristin A. Scholer Scholarship
was established to support students who are bearing the financial
responsibility that comes with pursing a degree in higher education. One
scholarship is awarded each spring pending available funding, and applied to
the following fall.
Applicant must:
1. be declared an undergraduate or graduate Geography major
2. possess a 2.75 Texas State GPA
3. be enrolled full time in the Fall semester
4. submit an essay (maximum 1 page) on how the award will help him / her
achieve their degree in Geography and how he / she want to apply their
education to his / her career
6) The Jeffries Family Scholarship in Geography
honors Donna Rankin Jeffries. One scholarship is awarded each spring pending available funding, and applied to the following fall.
Applicant must:
1. be an undergraduate student in the top 10 % of their high school graduating class
2. be an undergraduate student in the top 30 % of the ACT or SAT scores of the University’s entering
freshmen class
3. be an undergraduate student majoring in Geography for at least 2 years
4. be a graduate student with a 3.5 GPA in graduate and undergraduate course work
5. be a graduate student with a combined 300 score or above on the GRE
6. be an undergraduate or graduate student with demonstrated leadership abilities
7. be an undergraduate or graduate student with a record of participation in extracurricular activities
8. be a graduate student majoring in Geography
7) The Lester / Wahl Family Scholarship
honors the James and Ingeborg Lester family. The scholarship also honors Angelika Lester Wahl for her accomplishments mentoring Texas State students, particularly women and persons from underrepresented groups. One scholarship is awarded each spring pending available funding, and applied to the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be an undergraduate or graduate student attending Texas State full-time as a geography major
2. have a minimum 3.0 overall Grade Point Average (GPA) if an undergraduate student or a minimum 3.5
overall Grade Point Average (GPA) if a graduate student and
3. write a 500-word essay discussing either:
A) Demonstration of the recipient’s community volunteerism; or
B) Recipient’s goal toward an element of geography
4. preference shall be given to a female student
8) The Military Veteran Geography Award for Excellence
honors a military veteran Geography student for their commitment and service to the people of
the United States of America. One scholarship is awarded each spring
pending available funding, and applied to the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be a U.S. military veteran from any of the armed services with an honorable
discharge and a copy of the DD 214 (discharge record)
2. be a junior or senior Geography major with at least 15 credit hours in
undergraduate Geography course and with at least a 3.2 GPA in Geography
and a 2.8 Texas State GPA OR be a graduate Geography major with at
least 9 credit hours in graduate Geography courses and with a
Geography graduate GPA of at least 3.4
3. have membership and a demonstrated record of service in a student
organization sponsored by the Geography Department
9) The Joe and Jerry Moore Scholarship
honors Joe G. Moore Jr. for his outstanding contributions to water resource policy development in Texas and the nation, as well as his lifelong commitment to professional excellence, and Jerry Moore for her unwavering support of Joe Moore's vision for the wise use of our water resources. One scholarship is awarded each spring pending available funding, and applied to the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be an undergraduate or graduate student
2. have earned a grade of "A" in either GEO 3434, 5334, or 7334
3. have a GPA of 3.5 or higher
4. provide evidence of service to the department, the community, and the State of Texas
5. demonstrate financial need
10) The Touchstone-Kimmel Scholarship in Geographic Interpretation
honors the lifelong commitments of Roy H.Touchstone and Ross Kimmel Jr.
to education. One scholarship is awarded each spring pending available
funding, and applied to the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be a major in the Department of Geography at Texas State
2. have a GPA of 3.5 or higher
3. write an essay (four pages maximum) describing the student’s interest in
geographic interpretation and how the scholarship will help the student
achieve specific goals
11) The Adriana Samantha Visser Memorial Scholarship honors Adriana
Samantha Visser, a bright little girl with the courage and fortitude to lovingly
face an impossible situation. One scholarship is awarded each spring
pending available funding, and applied to the following fall.
Applicants must:
1. be a female who is either an undergraduate or graduate student in good standing as a major or minor
in geography
2. be the caregiver of a disabled or handicapped child (see criterion #3)
3. if no one is eligible under criterion #2, the scholarship may be awarded to the caregiver of one or
more dependent children
4. if more than one applicant is eligible under the first two criteria (or criteria 1 and 3), undergraduate
students take precedence over graduate students
5. if there are 2 qualified undergraduate applicants (or 2 graduate applicants), the scholarship is
awarded to the student with the highest scholastic achievement (i.e. highest grades, etc. not
necessarily the most senior student)