Are you studying French at Mona?

If you are, the Bridget Jones and William Mailer Trust could help you .

The Bridget Jones and William Mailer Bursary for French Studies is designed specifically to support UWI students of French with their studies. It can provide help in a number of forms such as

•  a grant towards the cost of travel to a francophone country or to take part in events such as the Inter Campus Theatre Festival

•  a book grant

•  funds to meet any other need related to your study of French, such as the relief of hardship which is undermining your studies.

The amount of the award will not normally exceed the cost of return travel to a francophone country of the Caribbean .

 

If you would like to apply, go to the website of the Office of Student Financing ( http://myspot.mona.uwi.edu/osf/ ) and fill out and submit the application form. You will also be asked to write a short statement of the use to which the bursary will be put, show this to a member of the French staff, ask for their agreement to act as a referee and add their email address to the statement.

Here is what one recipient of an award has said:

Well, the Bridget Jones Memorial Fund helped to pay my first month's rent while in France . Having to pay for the air fare and transportation to get to our locations in France , as well have enough money to last until the end of November till we got our first pay, the fund eased a great financial burden .

 

The William Mailer Travel Fund was established to honour the memory of the longest-serving member of the French staff at Mona. Born in Scotland , he arrived in 1951 at what was then the University College of the West Indies , and stayed until his death in 1992. He became Head of the Department of French and Dean of the Faculty, and exerted a powerful influence on the teaching of French language and literature in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean . His own teaching was legendary. Few lecturers anywhere can have had his talent for making 17 th- and 18 th- century French literature come alive to a 20 th -century audience: mention of his name still brings back fond memories to the many students he taught from the 50s to the 90s.

 

Bridget Jones was born in England and came here with her Jamaican husband in 1963. She taught at Mona from 1964 until 1982. A specialist in 19 th - and 20 th -century French literature, she was instrumental in the development of courses in Caribbean and African literature in French, and published widely. She was an inspiring lecturer, who gave her all to her teaching, continuing it outside the classroom through play-readings and stage productions, and through countless hours spent helping students. After her return to England , she taught and worked very actively to encourage the study of French Caribbean literature at British universities, but she always kept a very soft spot for her students at UWI. When she died in April 2000, her family and friends established a memorial fund which would continue to help students of French at Mona.

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