Students

The Ida V. Hall and George Kohfeldt Endowed Scholarship is intended to assist students whose studies focus on the Native American Southwest. The scholarship was established in 1999 by Ms. Ida Hall, who graduated with a BA degree in 1974 at 61 years of age, as a result of her interest in Native American culture as a long-time resident of Oklahoma.

The $1,000 scholarship is intended to help qualified students defray their expenses at UTA. Eligible students include those working in, but not limited to, the fields of history, anthropology, political science, art, music, geography, Spanish, English, art history, and the history of cartography. Among the factors considered in the review of applicants are a history of involvement with the Native American community, a strong academic record, and demonstrated financial need.

A seventh generation Texan, Thomas McDonald graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas Christian University and earned his PhD in biology from Tulane University. Dr. McDonald spent his professional career as an executive in Research and Development at Alcon Laboratories. Upon retiring in 2004, Dr. McDonald spent many years researching his Texas ancestors, the Callahan family, who founded the town of Seguin. In 2021 his research project was published under the title, Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Realtors: James Hughes Callahan and the Day Family in the Guadalupe River Basin, by the University of Oklahoma Press.

The Tom and Shinko McDonald Award in Texas History is given to an MA or PhD student doing research in the period of Texas history from 1821 (Mexico’s independence from Spain) to 1861 (the outbreak of the American Civil War). It can be awarded for work already completed or to support a prospective proposal.

A prominent Fort Worth attorney, Jenkins Garrett was a long-time benefactor of the University of Texas at Arlington. An active collector of Texana and US-Mexico War materials, Garrett donated more than 10,000 items, a collection of books, broadsides, song sheets, lithographs and maps, to UTA Library’s Special Collections in 1973. In addition, he helped to create an endowed chair in the history department, the Jenkins and Virginia Garrett Chair in Cartography, and was instrumental in the founding of the Center for Great Southwestern Studies.

The Jenkins Garrett Award of $500 is given to the best undergraduate or graduate student research paper using the archival materials in the UTA Library’s Special Collections.