Stamps School Launches $25K “Big Idea” Award For One Stamps Senior
In her April 2018 commencement speech, Stamps alumna Penny W. Stamps (1944-2018) issued a call to action to Stamps students. “What’s your big idea?” She prompted. “What are you willing to spend your moral capital, your intellectual capital, your sweat equity in pursuing outside the walls of the University of Michigan? You have your artistic skills, now develop your ideas — your big idea,” she said. “Imagination has no limits.”
Using Penny’s inspirational charge as a guiding light, the Stamps School is proud to announce the Big Idea Award. Provided with generous support from the Stamps Family, friends, and other supporters in the community, in memory of Penny, the award provides one Stamps senior $25,000 to help launch a major, ambitious project after graduation. The winner will be announced at the Stamps Commencement Ceremony. A committee of five external reviewers nominated by Stamps faculty and representing a wide range of expertise will determine the winner. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2020 (with faculty recommendations due no later than February 7, 2020).
While $25,000 will be a huge boon to the winning project, Stamps School of Art & Design Dean Guna Nadarajan feels that all ships will rise with the introduction of this prize. “This is an opportunity for the entire community to envision the boldest of futures for their biggest ideas.”
