Resources & Scholarships in Mathematics

Eligibility:

• full-time students
• mathematics majors
• Junior
• Preference to students from Mississippi and Alabama
• 3.25 overall GPA
  
  

Application process:

• No application 

About Hugh Lawrence Quarles and Corrie Dennis Quarles:  

The Quarles Scholarship was established in 1988 by Corrie Dennis Quarles (1914-2000), an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at UM, in memory of her husband, Hugh Lawrence Quarles (1904-1987). An Alabama native and retired U.S. Army colonel, Col. Quarles was a member of the mathematics faculty at UM before and after his career in the military. A native of Fayette, Corrie Quarles received her bachelor’s degree from UM in 1933 and her master’s in 1942.

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Mathematics Major
• Juniors
  
  

Application process:

• No application required

The Bickerstaff Scholarship was established in 1983 as a memorial to the late chairman of the Department of Mathematics. Dr. Thomas A. Bickerstaff (1904-1976), a native of Tishomingo, MS joined the faculty of the UM mathematics department in 1929, after obtaining a B.A. (1928) and M.A. (1929), from UM. Upon receiving his Ph.D. (Univ. of Michigan, 1946), he returned to Oxford and served as chairman of the UM mathematics department from 1946-1970, retiring in 1972. Known to thousands of students simply as ‘Dr. Bick’, he was a well-respected member of the UM community for nearly half a century and his devotion and loyalty to his alma mater were legendary.

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Mathematics Major
• Financial need (FAFSA required)
• high moral character
• Minimum of 18 hours of mathematics beginning with calculus
  
  

Application process:

• No application 

About Alton C. Grimes:

Professor Alton C. Grimes (1910-2001), a native of Carthage, MS received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1933. He completed his M.A. in Mathematics from UM in 1939 and was a graduate assistant during his tenure in Oxford. A World War II veteran, Professor Grimes taught in the Department of Mathematics at Mississippi State University from 1946-1975 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1975. There are Alton C. Grimes Scholarships at Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi as well.

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Junior
• Math major
  
  

Application process:

• No application 

About John Roger Moore:

John Roger Moore III (1942-1990) from Holly Springs received his B.S. in Mathematics from UM in 1964. Mr. Moore was a consulting systems engineer for IBM in Memphis, TN.

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Math major
• Mississippi residents
• at least a 3.0 GPA
  
  

Application process:

• No application 

About William T. Trusty:

William T. “Bill” Trusty of Water Valley, MS (1912-2011), a World War II veteran, earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1933 from UM. He was a respected leader who managed three businesses and served the community he loved through the local school board and an array of other business and civic organizations. Trusty evolved into the longtime successful manager of several businesses – the International Harvester Company dealership in Water Valley for more than 45 years, Trusty Hardware for 25 years, and Hotel Trusty for 10 years. 

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Senior 
• mathematics or history major
  
  

Application process:

• No application 
  
  

About Auvergne Williams:

Auvergne Williams (1887-1980) grew up in Eupora, Mississippi and received a B.A. in 1907 from UM in Science, Literature and Art. While a student at the university he served as the historian of the sophomore class and was recognized with an award for oration. Mr. Williams was admitted to the bar in Mississippi (1911) and Tennessee (1912). He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1910 and practiced law in Memphis his entire career.

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Major in mathematics
  
  

Application process:

• No application 
  
  

About Irby Coghill Nichols:

Irby Coghill Nichols (1882-1952), born in Eudora, Mississippi, graduated from UM with a B.S. in 1906 and received a master’s degree in history in 1908. He received a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois in 1912 and a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in 1917, studying under noted mathematician Louis C. Karpinski. He taught mathematics at UM, Texas A&M University, and served on the Louisiana State University faculty from 1917 to 1948 as a Professor of Mathematics.

The Nichols Scholarship was established in 1968 by Mr. Nichols’s wife, Pauline Wright Nichols (1889-1973), who was born in Oxford, Mississippi, studied mathematics at UM, earning her degree in 1909, and taught at Oxford High School for one year. She earned a bachelor’s degree in design from Sophie Newcomb College, and continued her art studies at Newcomb, under the tutelage of Ellsworth Woodward, and later at the Chicago Art Institute. She taught art at Belhaven College and at Newcomb College until 1918, when she married Irby C. Nichols and moved to Baton Rouge. She continued her design and artwork, creating personalized bookplates, painting, and designing stage sets.

Eligibility:

• Full-time student
• Major in classics, English, history, math, one of the modern languages, or physics
• Junior
• At least a 3.0 GPA 
• Resident of Yalobusha, Calhoun, Lafayette or Grenada county
  
  

Application process:

• No application process

About Hattie Burke Jackson: 

The Hattie Burke Jackson Scholarship was established in 2004 by the estate of Miss Harriet Jackson, a UM graduate and long-time Latin and French teacher at UM, to honor her mother, Mrs. Hattie Talbert Burke Jackson (1868-1917), a Water Valley native, ‘a splendid woman, active in every civic and benevolent work’ (Water Valley Progress newspaper), who died at the age of 49, leaving Harriet and her three sisters to be raised by their father, Dr. Manuel Winter Jackson, ‘one of the most talented practicing physicians in the city (of Water Valley)’.

Miss Harriet Jackson received her B.A. (1924) and M.A. (1936) from UM. While in college she was a member of The Marionettes, a student drama club that William Faulkner helped found in 1920. Miss Jackson joined the Department of Modern Languages in 1950 where she taught Latin and French for 21 years, retiring in 1970. During her time at UM she was acting chair several semesters, a member of the Mississippi Modern Languages Association, the Faculty Senate, and was advisor to Phi Kappa Phi and the Latin Club.

Who is eligible to take the ALEKS PPL assessment?

This assessment is available only to students who have not previously taken DS 099 (Intermediate Algebra) or any college-level math course and who meet at least one of the following criteria. (If you have taken the SAT since spring 2016, this is designated in our catalog as SATR.)

• Students with no ACT/SAT score.

• Incoming freshmen who have an ACT math sub-score of 17-18 (or SAT math score 460-500).

• Incoming transfer students, as officially classified in our system, who have an ACT math sub-score below 19 (or SAT math score below 510).
• Incoming freshmen (or incoming transfer students) who have an ACT math sub-score of 22-23 (or SAT math score 540-570) wanting to enroll in MATH 261, CHEM 105, or BISC 160.

Anabell Elsner is the Project Coordinator for ALEKS and can be reached at aelsner@olemiss.edu.

Students who meet one of the first three criteria and either choose not to take the ALEKS test or are unable to achieve a sufficient score for their desired class will need to enroll in DS 099 (Intermediate Algebra). Please note that students may have to be added to the DS 099 waitlist.

Mississippi students who have earned an 80 or higher on their Essentials for College Math course in high school, are eligible for any 100-level math course and will not be allowed to take the ALEKS PPL.

If students have additional questions or are unable to add Math courses (including DS 099) to their schedule themselves, they should contact the Math Department or fill out a Math Add Form. (Talk to your advisor before filling out the add form.)

Please note that once a student starts their math pathway by enrolling in their first math course, they will no longer be permitted to use the ALEKS placement test to bypass that course.

Students will be provided with two (2) proctored placement assessments to reach their desired score for math placement and one (1) learning module in between each assessment. The cost to take the ALEKS PPL Placement Assessment is about $25 (plus tax). Students are given up to four (4) hours to complete each proctored assessment.

Your ALEKS score shows what course, or courses, you would be eligible to register for after taking the placement test. Below is a chart showing which course(s) corresponds to your score.

If you wish to take the assessment, after you’ve read the information above, you must apply so that we can verify your eligibility.

Apply to take the ALEKS PPL Placement Assessment

• All placements have an active web camera and will be monitored/reviewed. The University of Mississippi’s Academic Discipline and Conduct policy will be enforced.
• The application for the ALEKS will be taken down the Friday before the first day of classes of the Fall and Spring semester.
• To place into a math course for a specific term, students must take the ALEKS test before the start of each term; it will not be accepted once classes have started.

Check with your academic advisor to determine which math course(s) are required for your degree program.