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Besner establishes memorial scholarship in creative writing

Neil Besner, Provost and VP-Academic

Dr. Neil Besner, Provost and Vice President, Academic has made a generous gift to The University of Winnipeg to create an endowment in support of the new Judith F. Gainsbury Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing, established in honour of his mother.

As a woman with a passion for the written word, Judith, who passed away in 2003, was an inveterate letter writer and loved to compose plays, novels, and poems. As a professor in the English department, Besner noticed similar characteristics in some of the female students who were also creative writers, especially their devotion to writing. 

This scholarship will annually award $2,000 to a deserving female English major with an interest in creative writing, to assist with her cost of tuition and books.

Click here to see a video featuring Dr. Besner, in which he discusses the new memorial scholarship and his 30-year career at UWinnipeg.