Since 1993, when Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Association of Colorado, was created, we have awarded a total of $84,500 under our competitive scholarship program to help PBK initiates begin or continue graduate school. The purpose of the scholarships is to further the pursuit of knowledge and academic excellence. In 2021 we will award one $3,000 scholarship and one $2,000 scholarship.
Who May Apply
Any ΦΒΚ member or initiate who meets one of the following criteria:
- has received, or will be receiving, an undergraduate degree from a Colorado university or college
- has been accepted for, or is currently enrolled in, a graduate program at a Colorado university or college
- is residing in Colorado at the time of application
- is a current member of the Alpha Association of Colorado
How to Apply
The application for the 2021-2022 graduate scholarship is now available (click here). All applications and supporting materials must be received by June 30, 2021. The awards will be announced no later than August 15, 2021.
Payment of Scholarship: Each award check will be sent to the college or university where the recipient is enrolled for his or her credit.
Taxation of the Award: Scholarships are tax free to the recipient only if he or she is a candidate for a degree and the funds are for tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at a qualifying educational institution. The scholarship will also be tax free if it covers fees, books, supplies, and equipment for courses at such an educational institution. The portion of any scholarship that covers associated expenses, such as room and board, travel, research, clerical help, and equipment, is not tax free. Recipients of taxable scholarships should report the taxable amount on their income tax returns, and they may have to pay estimated federal and state income taxes throughout the year.
If you have questions, please contact us at scholarship@pbkcolorado.org.
2020 Scholarship Recipients
First-Place Tie for 2020 Scholarships
The Alpha Association of Colorado is pleased to announce the 2020 winners of its two graduate study scholarships. For the first time the Scholarship Committee selected two applicants who tied for first place — Verónica Gonzalez from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Kaloyan Parvanov from Lake Forest College in Illinois. With the addition of an anonymous, one-time donation, the committee and the board of directors voted to award two scholarships of $3,000 each in lieu of a $3,500 scholarship and a $2,000 scholarship.
Mr. Parvanov is an international student who lives in Germany, and due to circumstances beyond his control, he has been forced to defer his doctoral program in mathematics at CU Boulder until next year. Again, for the first time and in light of this year’s unprecedented global circumstances, the committee and the board of directors voted to waive the requirement that the scholarship be used during the year that it is granted. Mr. Parvanov’s award will be held until he is able to begin his doctoral program in 2021.
Thank you to all Alpha Association members for the donations that make these awards possible, and to the Scholarship Committee for their diligence in thoroughly evaluating the applications and choosing the winners.
The committee consisted of Barbara Berryman (chair), Tom Hall, Rob Wellington, Amy Rell, Jim Elkins, Julie DeWoody, and our newest member, Kate Silz-Carson.
Since 1994 the Alpha Association has awarded $84,500 in scholarships.
Verónica Gonazalez
Verónica Gonzalez is a Latina dual citizen of Ecuador and the United States. She grew up bilingual and bicultural in the Denver Metro area, with regular trips to her family’s hometown of Cuenca, Ecuador. After graduating magna cum laude from CU Boulder, with a double major in mathematics and Spanish, Verónica also earned her master’s degree in educational equity and cultural diversity at CU. During her studies in her master’s program, and while teaching in bilingual elementary and secondary classrooms, Verónica found her passion for civil rights and felt a growing desire to pursue law in order to positively impact education and society. She will be a first-year law student at the University of Colorado in the 2020–21 school year.
Verónica is a member of the NAACP Boulder Branch and has become active in the Black Lives Matter movement after the tragic death of George Floyd. In addition to activism and working as a paralegal at a personal injury firm, Verónica enjoys running, playing hockey, and skating in the professional ice crew of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
Kal Parvanov
Born in Montana, Bulgaria, Kal Parvanov graduated summa cum laude from Lake Forest College in May 2020 with a BA in mathematics and economics. While at Lake Forest Kal helped establish the Mathematics Student Advisory Committee, which focused on providing vital student feedback about the department’s hiring initiatives and curriculum changes. Kal also served as a portfolio manager for the Lake Forest College Investment Club, where he was a part of a team responsible for managing the club’s virtual stock portfolio and generating reports and analyses on potential investments.
Kal started the Quantitative Finance Club at Lake Forest College, helping promote a data-scientific and statistical approach to trading in line with current trends in the industry. Kal has been accepted to the applied mathematics doctoral program at CU Boulder, where he intends to study stochastic processes, partial differential equations (PDEs), and probability starting in the fall of 2021.
Previous Scholarship Recipients
- 2019: Emma Whitehead and Jedediah Doane
- 2018: Jenny Wool and Tyler Irani
- 2017: Andrew Pham and Lauren Lustig
- 2016: Elliot Mamet and Angela Delano
- 2015: Kristina Barber and Pilar Ingle
- 2014: Taylor Sutcliffe and Emma Duffy
- 2013: Peter Heng
- 2012: Mariko Fujita
- 2011: James Hobbs
- 2010: Jacqueline Danzig
- 2009: Paul Gansky
- 2008: Jamie Justice
- 2007: Caroline B. Alden
- 2006: Lindsay VanGilder and Asuka Ishizaki