june 10, 2010
New scholarship created in memory of bullied teen
Phoebe Prince Memorial Scholarship to benefit public health students at UC Berkeley
A new scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health has been endowed in the name of Phoebe Prince, the Massachusetts teenager whose suicide in January garnered international headlines.
Prince, a high school student in Massachusetts, committed suicide after suffering months of constant bullying from classmates. Her death brought urgent calls for more stringent and specific anti-bullying laws across the United States. In March 2010, a State of Massachusetts anti-bullying task force was set up as a result of her death, and anti-bullying legislation was signed into law in the state in May 2010.
The Phoebe Prince Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund will benefit current and prospective UC Berkeley School of Public Health graduate students who are studying mental and physical health promotion and disease prevention among youth and adolescents. Contributions to the fund will be matched by the campus's Graduate Fellowships Matching Program, which provides matching funds for the endowment payout. Initial funding has been provided by author and researcher J. Michael Mahoney.
"We are honored to be working with Mr. Mahoney, and are hopeful that there may be other individuals who wish to do something in Phoebe's memory by contributing to the Phoebe Prince Memorial Scholarship Endowed Fund," said Dean Stephen Shortell. The scholarship will be available to students beginning in 2010.
Individuals can contribute to the Phoebe Prince Memorial Scholarship Endowed Fund using UC Berkeley's secure online giving site. A gift to the fund honors Prince's memory and may help prevent similar types of tragedies from happening by supporting students who wish to focus their studies and careers on addressing issues around adolescent health, mental health, and/or violence.
For more information on the Phoebe Prince Memorial Scholarship Endowed Fund, contact:
Patricia W. Hosel
Assistant Dean, External Relations & Development
(510) 642-9654
phosel@berkeley.edu