Emalie Appleton Brooks Memorial EndowedScholarship

The scholarship was founded by the friends and family of Emalie Appleton Brooks, an alumna and former English instructor at the University of Memphis, who passed away in 2006. Emalie first taught in the public school system in Memphis after receiving an undergraduate degree at Rhodes. She was dedicated to communicating her love for the beauty of the English language and literature to her students, and she furthered her study of the Romantic poets, Shakespeare and the 19th century English novel at the UofM, where she received a master of arts in 1970.
Emalie had a passion not only for learning but also for exploring ? often traveling to Europe to visit places that figured in literature. Among her favorite places were Stratford-upon-Avon, England, where she saw plays performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company; the Lake District, where she visited the home and grave of her favorite Romantic poet, William Wordsworth; and Florence, Italy, where she toured the apartment of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She felt that travel deepened her own understanding of language and literature and she shared this with her students.
In the late 1980s, Emalie began teaching at UofM, carrying her passion for learning into the classroom. Cathy Dice, an instructor of English at UofM and a longtime friend, said, “Emalie saw teaching not simply as a job, but as part of her identity. Her dedication to her students was obvious. She believed in challenging them and making sure that they lived up to their responsibilities, but she genuinely wanted them to succeed and was constantly looking for new topics to discuss and new strategies to use in the classroom.” And Emalie’s brother, Thomas Appleton, said, “She was regarded as a superior classroom instructor and mentor.”
The Emalie Appleton Brooks Memorial Scholarship was established in 2007 to provide an annual award to a junior or senior undergraduate student majoring in English with a minimum GPA of 3.0. This scholarship honors Emalie’s legacy as a talented and beloved teacher and preference is given to those considering a career in teaching.
“Emalie was an amazing individual – she seemed to know something about every topic under the sun,” said Dice. “When we are screening applicants for the scholarship, one of the main qualities we look for is Emalie’s passion for learning and for soaking up as much life as the world has to offer.”