Join us in congratulating Tricia R. Johnson, who is being awarded a Bernadette H. Perham Scholarship and will be honored at the 13th annual Indiana Woman of Achievement Award Dinner on October 17th! Tricia is one of four students being honored with this scholarship out of the forty nominated. The Bernadette H. Perham Scholarship is awarded to women who demonstrate academic excellence and leadership. It is offered in memory of Dr. Perham, who was a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences for 16 years until her passing in 1996 and who belonged to the American Association of University Women. Dr. Perham was committed to breaking down the barriers to achievement for all women.

*Photo provided by Tricia Johnson

Tricia came to Ball State from Bluffton, Indiana. She is in her final year and is majoring in Literature with minors in History and Humanities. Tricia’s goal for her undergraduate education was to gain “a wide understanding of the humanities” and “the best background possible in literary history” and literature, and she says that’s exactly what she got at Ball State. Tricia wants to pursue a career as a professor of English and is applying to doctoral programs at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Iowa, and Indiana University among others.  Areas of focus in her graduate studies might include Modernism, Film Studies, Narrative Theory, or Gender Theory.

Aside from being awarded the Bernadette H. Perham Scholarship, Tricia also spent a year as a Teaching Assistant in an Honors Humanities course under Dr. James Ruebel and Professor Elizabeth Dalton. This assistantship gave her experience as a teacher as she “graded papers, talked to students,” and led a unit which she helped to design. Tricia was also awarded an Honors Fellowship during which she worked with Dr. James Connolly and Dr. Frank Felsenstein on their What Middletown Read project (find more information about the project here). In addition to her studies, Tricia also volunteers as a docent at the David Owsley Museum of Art.

Tricia is “really, really honored” to be awarded this scholarship, and plans to use the funds to defer the cost of applying to graduate school.