The Christie and Chinua Achebe Scholarship Fund is aimed at promoting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive scholarly environment in which outstanding undergraduate students support the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the university. Established by the Christie and Chinua Achebe Foundation, the fund will provide support each year for undergraduate students majoring or minoring in Afro-American Studies or students with demonstrated interest in Native American and indigenous heritage.

Novelist, poet, and critic Chinua Achebe and his wife Christie—both born to Igbo parents in Nigeria—met had three children only a few years before the country was overtaken by a bloody civil war in 1967. The Nigerian-Biafran War, fought between the Igbo people’s Republic of Biafra and the government of Nigeria, culminated in the death and genocide of over two million Igbos. During the war, Chinua Achebe served as roving ambassador for Biafra, and Christie set up schools for children on the front.

In 1972, Chinua Achebe accepted an offer to teach at UMass Amherst as a visiting professor of English. He and Christie moved their family and found community, friends, and an opportunity to recover from the devastating effects of war. Christie enrolled in the doctorate program in Education where she was exposed to Native American history.

The Achebe family acknowledge that in moments of their vulnerability they discovered other sources of strength in our human condition. Because of their relationship with UMass Amherst, the Christie and Chinua Achebe Foundation established this scholarship in the spirit of moving forward, transcending, and extending concerns to help future generations of students, hoping that they will pass on this insight to improve the world around us.

• Jane Lunin Perel Poets’ Fund
  The bequest of poet Jane Lunin Perel ‘71MFA will provide support to rising second-year MFA poetry students who demonstrate a passion for poetry and exceptional development of their craft.
• Kathleen Lugosch Architecture Award Fund
  Established in honor of Professor Kathleen Lugosch upon her retirement to support graduate students pursuing a Master’s in Architecture.
• Robert Rothstein Prize
  Established in support of undergraduates and in honor of Professor Robert Rothstein, who directed the Russian, Eurasian, and Polish Studies Program and held the Amesbury Professorship in Polish Language, Literature and Culture.
• Maureen Tracy Venti Memorial Fund
  Established in honor of Maureen Traci Venti ’72, this fund supports three awards supporting scholarships, internships, and study abroad.
• John H. Bracey Fellowship Fund
  Provides summer fellowship support for doctoral students in the W.E.B.Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies to enable students to make significant progress at the early stage of research or the final stages of completing their dissertations.
• Edwin Gentzler Translation Center Fund
  Gifted by professors Edwin Gentzler and Jenny Spencer, the fund supports the founding principle of the Translation Center as it pertains to ensuring civil rights in the context of translation and particularly languages of limited diffusion.
• Lisa Hayward Basile Scholarship
  Established in honor of Lisa Hayward Basile—artist, teacher, and wife of Isenberg School of Management graduate Stephen Basile ’75—this fund supports students in the art education program with financial need.
• Nadine Shank Double Major Scholarship
  Established in honor of Nadine Shank, who taught piano in the department of music and dance for over 40 years, this fund supports music students pursuing a second major in a non-arts field.