The LaVerne Harrell Clark Endowment Fund

LaVerne Harrell Clark graduated from TWU in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She began her journalism career in Fort Worth and then worked with various publishers in New York City. While taking a creative writing class at Columbia University in New York City, she met her future husband, L.D. Clark and they married in 1951. Mrs. Clark obtained both a MA and MFA degree from the University of Arizona where she was the first director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center. Her husband enjoyed a long career as an English professor at the University of Arizona and is the author of 14 books.

Mrs. Clark’s deep interest in folklore led to her writing six works of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a collection of photographic portraits of well-known and emerging writers. Her first book, “They Sang for Horses,” was a study of Navajo and Apache horse mythology winning the University of Chicago Folklore Prize and was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as a classic in Native American Studies.

Honoring his wife’s love of both Folklore and Journalism led to Dr. L.D. Clark’s establishment of The LaVerne Harrell Clark Endowment Fund. On every even year the scholarship goes to a student writer of the best feature article appearing in the student newspaper, “The Lasso” and on every odd year the scholarship goes to a student for the best paper or project related to folklore in a Folklore or English class. Both are awarded on the recommendation by a English or Folklore Professor and chosen by the Scholarship Committee of the Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Languages.