Graduate Scholarships

Requirements:

1. Current member of AKD, dues paid.
2. Demonstrates leadership, scholarship, or service.
3. Any major under within any discipline of sociology (sociology, rural sociology, agricultural and rural policy studies (Ag Policy) or criminal justice).
4. 3.0 GPA or higher.
5. Full or part-time student.
6. Undergraduate – junior or senior standing at the time of award dispersal.
7. Graduate – completion of one-half year in graduate study.

One of the goals of AKD has been to stimulate scholarship through publication. The first publication of the organization was The Quarterly, established and edited by Dr. Bogardus from 1928-1932. The Quarterly became the Alpha Kappa Deltan: A Sociological Journal.

The purpose of the honor society is to promote scholarship, but the focus has always been fellowship for students, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Conferring a charter signifies that the institution meets high standards of program quality and scholarship.

Student scholarship in AKD is recognized in several ways. The Society sponsors student travel to regional meetings, supporting those who want to present their own work and learn from the scholarly presentations of others. The Society sponsors annual student paper contests, presenting awards which include monetary prizes, travel support, and scholarships. In addition, by funding research symposia and honoraria for guest speakers, the Society supports chapter activities which further education. The Society continues to recognize scholarly excellence in sociology by inducting approximately 4,000 lifetime members each year.

Requirements:

1. Junior, senior, or graduate student at the time of award dispersal.
2. Major or minor within any discipline of sociology (sociology, rural sociology, agricultural and rural policy studies (Ag Policy) or criminal justice).
3. Completed 12 credits in sociology at ISU.
4. 3.0 or above GPA at time of nomination.
5. Demonstrates actual or potential leadership ability.
6. Demonstrates desire to facilitate integration of students of color and/or international students into the department, university and/or community.

The George Freeman Memorial Scholarship was established in 1953 in memory of George Freeman, a former Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Iowa State University.

Freeman was born February 22, 1912 in Kansas City. His father was a railroad brakeman, and his mother was one of the first black teachers in the Kansas City elementary school system. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from South Carolina State College in 1935, where he was a football and basketball star and a campus leader. He was married in 1939.

After teaching at the high school level and working as a supervisor of a National Youth Administrative Camp, he entered the armed forces in 1942 and served in the African, European and Pacific theaters in the Quartermaster Corp during World War II. After the war, he entered Kansas State University, received his M.S. in 1949 and enrolled at Iowa State in the fall of 1949.

He was active in many campus organizations, served as President of the Gamma Chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta (the sociology honorary), and was head resident of Friley Hall in addition to his teaching duties and graduate studies. He was the first black person on the instructional staff at ISU. His predecessor, George Washington Carver, had been on staff as a researcher and scientist.

George Freeman died May 8, 1953 before completing his Ph.D. He was a diligent student, a dedicated humanitarian, active in many organizations but especially interested in interpreting and helping people better understand Black Americans. He believed he had to demonstrate by action and example competence as a representative of a minority group. After his death, his relatives and friends at Iowa State and from many parts of the United States set up and contributed to the George Freeman Memorial Scholarship.

Requirements:

1. Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
2. Sophomore through graduate class standing at the time of award dispersal.
3. Enrolled in any major within the discipline of sociology (sociology, rural sociology,agricultural and rural policy studies (Ag Policy) or criminal justice).
4. Recipient should demonstrate community involvement, how they have reached out to others and how they would use the scholarship to further their career goals.
5. Preference given to those demonstrating record of volunteerism.
6. References needed: one from service organization or community agency.

Sadie Gardine Lasley (1905-1992), the daughter of a pioneer farm family in Schuyler County, Missouri. She received a teaching certificate from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, now known as Truman State University, where she embarked on a teaching career until her marriage. When expecting their first child, she had to quit teaching (in those days, pregnant women were not permitted to continue teaching). She devoted her life to the family farm, and raising her own family including some of her grandchildren one of whom was Paul Lasley (Professor of Sociology, who served as Department Chair, 2002-2015). She helped raise Paul and his five siblings so that Paul’s mother could work outside of the home to help make a living.

Sadie Lasley’s life reflected the central sociological values of community, neighbors and family. She led a humble and modest life that focused on giving to others. She was a strong proponent of equality for everyone, which was perhaps influenced by the rural sociology course she took at NE Missouri Teachers College in 1924. Throughout her life, she wrote short stories and editorials for a wide variety of farm magazines, ladies magazines and newspapers. These writings date from 1929-1987.

This scholarship was created by Sadie’s grandson, Paul Lasley, to award a promising undergraduate or graduate student in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice who best represents Sadie Lasley’s ideals. The recipient must demonstrate leadership, community volunteerism, and evidence of a passion to help others.

Requirements:

1. Must be an undergraduate student majoring in agricultural and rural policy studies (Ag Policy) or a graduate student majoring in rural sociology.

Requirements:

1. Graduate student majoring in sociology or rural sociology.
2. Demonstrates academic achievement and professional promise.
3. Good citizenship and character.

Requirements:

1. Undergraduate and graduate students majoring within any discipline of sociology (sociology, rural sociology, agricultural and rural policy studies (Ag Policy) or criminal justice).
2. Demonstrates financial need (U.S. citizens must have submitted FAFSA by February 29, 2024 (early priority deadline). Graduate and undergraduate non-U.S. citizens must have answered the OneApp General Application question or the department Apply-To question explaining your family’s financial situation if it presents obstacles to pursuing your degree.).
3. 2.5 or above GPA.
4. Good citizenship and character.
5. Demonstrates promise of succeeding in chosen profession.

The George Henry and Maude Drew Von Tungeln Scholarship was established in 1969 by Mrs. Maude Drew Von Tungeln in honor and memory of her husband, George Henry Von Tungeln. Mrs. Von Tungeln received her M.S. degree from Iowa State in 1929. She passed away in 1973.

George Von Tungeln was born and raised on a farm near Golconda, Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1909 from Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Missouri, an M.A. in 1910 from Northwestern University, was a fellow at Harvard from 1911-1913 where he also received the Ph.D. He was one of the early pioneers in rural sociology and has been closely associated with its expansion in the United States.

In 1913, Dr. Von Tungeln was hired as an assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State College in the Department of Economic Science to teach two courses in sociology and one or more courses in economics. These first two sociology courses were rural sociology and applied sociology.

Dr. Von Tungeln initiated the first formal rural sociology research project with Agricultural Experiment Station funding at Iowa State College in 1915. In this project he introduced an element in his phase of farm tenancy which later became standard in all states and in the federal censuses (classifying tenants as (1) those related to the land owner, and (2) those not related to the land owner).

In 1919, Dr. Von Tungeln was one of a committee of 24 called to Washington, D. C. by President Wilson, through Secretary of Agriculture Houston, to discuss the possible organization of a Rural Life Study Section in the Department of Agriculture and to formulate a program and policy of work for the same, if it was decided that such a section should be organized. The organization of the Section on Farm Population and Rural Life Studies, USDA, came as a result of this committee’s work and counsel with the secretary of agriculture. In 1934 he was elected Chair of the Rural Sociology Section of the American Sociological Society. During his term of office he was instrumental in organizing the Rural Sociological Society. He was also a member of the committee which organized the Midwest Sociological Society.

Extension work in the department was begun in the field of rural sociology in 1921. Activities included conducting rural leader training schools, helping rural groups to organize and develop community activities and programs of service, providing program service help and direction for organizations, development of state programs and standards for rural group activities, and helping with the correlation and coordination of rural organizations’ activities in the state.

By 1932, Dr. Von Tungeln was Head of the sociology section of the department which had been renamed the Department of Economics and Sociology. There were 14 sociology courses being offered with an annual enrollment of 700 students. Four national organizations had asked sociology staff to assist them with their research: 1)The Committee on Cost of Medical Care; 2) Social Science Research Council; 3) President Hoover’s Commission on Social Change and Social Trends, and 4) National Probation Association of America.

Dr. Von Tungeln died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack on April 6, 1944 at 61 years of age as he was completing his thirty-first year as a member of the Iowa State College faculty.

This award is by selection only, no application is required or available.

Requirements:

1. Graduate student majoring in sociology or rural sociology.
2. Demonstrates financial need (U.S. citizens must have submitted FAFSA by February 29, 2024 (early priority deadline). Graduate non-U.S. citizens must have answered the OneApp General Application question or the department Apply-To question explaining your family’s financial situation if it presents obstacles to pursuing your degree.).
3. Demonstrates academic achievement.
4. Demonstrates professional achievement.
5. Preference shall be given to students who are United States Citizens or permanent residents who have individually overcome discrimination or other adversity, or benefitted from their heritage or culture, as determined by the administering authority and as permitted by Federal and State law and University policy.

Gerald Klonglan was born April 1, 1936 in Nevada, Iowa. He grew up on a farm and graduated from high school in Fernald, Iowa in 1954 as the valedictorian. He enrolled at Iowa State and received a B.S. in rural sociology in 1958, an M.S. in rural sociology with a minor in economics in 1962 and a Ph.D. in rural sociology with a minor in statistics in 1963. He married Donna Eileen Becvar in 1960. He became an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology in 1963, an Associate Professor in 1967 and a Full Professor in 1972. He served as Acting Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 1973-1974 and 1976-1977 and as Chair, 1977-1990. He was then appointed Assistant Director of the Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1995 and became Associate Dean for National Programs and Research until his retirement in June 2001.

Dr. Klonglan’s specialty areas were adoption/diffusion and communication of innovations, organizational effectiveness and interorganizational relations, social change and rural and community development, sociology methodology (theory construction), and domestic and international comparative studies.

Dr. Klonglan was especially interested in international development. As the Sociology and Anthropology Department Chair, he encouraged faculty to participate in international activities which resulted in foreign exchange agreements. In 1982, he co-taught the first sociology course in Beijing, China since the 1949 takeover by the Communists. Several Sociology and Anthropology faculty were involved as leaders of or contributors to various international programs on campus—the World Food Institute, the Third World Cultures Program, the Development Assistance Training Program, the Technology and Social Change Program, the International Studies Program, the Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development, etc.

Dr. Klonglan was extensively involved with the research and extension programs created to solve Iowa issues: technological impacts on Iowa agriculture, environmental concerns (water, soil, air), community development issues, family concerns, food safety, nutrition and health, labor issues including new immigrants, both refugees from Europe and Africa and Hispanic people from Mexico.

During his years as an administrator in the College of Agriculture, Dr. Klonglan provided major leadership for diversity programs in the college. Iowa State has developed the best programs with the 1890 Black Land Grants than any other 1862 Land Grant universities. Similarly, ISU’s College of Agriculture has been more involved with the new 1994 Tribal College Land Grant universities across the U.S. than any other 1862 or 1890 Land Grants.

Dr. Klonglan passed away on March 17, 2023.