Contribute to the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project

Two memorial funds have been established to provide scholarships for teachers and young writers who need assistance to attend the Summer Institute for Teachers or the Young Writers Institute. Please designate the fund you choose when you send your fully tax deductible gift.

Len Roberts Memorial Scholarship Fund

Fellowships for Teachers

Len Roberts, award-winning poet passed away in May 2007 at the age of 60. A beloved teacher of American literature and writing at Northampton College, Len was also an award-winning poet. His major accolades include three Fulbright Scholarships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the selection of his book, "Black Wings" for the National Poetry Series. Len's twelfth book of poetry, The Disappearing Trick, was released after his death by the University of Illinois Press.

The Western Pennsylvania Writing Project had a special relationship with Len, who taught intensive poetry writing at the Summer Institute from 1985-2000. Len’s pedagogy, practice and art served as a foundation for WPWP Fellows and friends. He taught Fellows to write poetry and then to teach what they learned. He was a beloved mentor to many.

In appreciation of Len’s work and his profound influence, WPWP Fellows have established the Len Roberts Memorial Scholarship Fund for Teachers. The fund will help teachers attend the Summer Institute and continue Len’s connection with teachers as writers in Western Pennsylvania.

Each contribution and each scholarship awarded from the fund will recognize Len’s work and life as a poet, teacher and friend.

 

Georgeann Rettberg Memorial
Scholarship Fund for Young Writers

Before becoming a Fellow of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, and before becoming a writer and a staff developer, Georgeann Rettberg was a gifted kindergarten teacherin the Pittsburgh Public Schools. She taught her students to write, read, problem-solve, and to speak clearly and articulately. She brought her passion for teaching and her deep connection with the power of writing to the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project. Later, as Associate Director of WPWP, she inspired and mentored students and educators. She became an active member of the Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop and wrote with the same commitment, seriousness and passionate energy she brought to teaching. She touched many with her poetry, her advocacy for effective writing instruction, and her honesty and support as a colleague.

 

Georgeann helped to establish the Young Writers Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. She believed that bringing children from city neighborhoods to the Cathedral of Learning to write during the summer broadened their sense of possibility while increasing their writing skill. She believed in the power of publishing, treating her kindergarten students as authors as she published their writing each year and making publication a vital component of the YWI. She sponsored the Chartiers Elementary School After-School Writing Club, which was the first of its kind in the city of Pittsburgh.

 

WPWP colleagues and friends established the Georgeann Rettberg Memorial Scholarship Fund for Young Writers in 2004 as a way to remember her and continue her legacy of an intensive summer writing program available to all youngsters in the Pittsburgh area, regardless of their ability to pay. The fund provides approximately $5,000 per year to underwrite scholarships for young writers.

 

If you would like to contribute to WPWP's work with teachers and young writers, please designate your gift for the Len Roberts Fund or the Georgeann Rettberg Fund and send it to:

University of Pittsburgh
Department of English
Western Pennsylvania Writing Project
4200 Forbes Avenue
526 Cathedral of Learning
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Make your check payable to the University of Pittsburgh.

Thank you.