Money is pretty cool. What’s even cooler? Money for work that you’ve already completed.
There are two major essay competitions that Bluffton holds annually, each of which offers a cash prize.
The first competition is the Naomi Brenneman Prize. This prize is for $75 and can be about any literary topic, outside of honors papers, creative writing projects and/or papers on grammar. The essay must be anywhere from 3 to 30 pages in length, typed and written during this year.
The second competition is the John D. Unruh Memorial Fund. This prize is for two $200 prizes and has to be about either social studies or humanities.
Outside of the essay competitions, who are Naomi Brenneman and John D. Unruh?
Naomi Brenneman was born on March 12, 1891, and passed away on April 16, 1985.
Brenneman studied at Goshen (Ind.) College, which was her hometown, for two years before graduating from Oberlin (Ohio) University. Also, before coming to Bluffton, Brenneman taught Greek, analytics, education and English at Olivet College. She also taught English at Goshen College.
Brenneman was at Bluffton from 1918 to 1961 where she taught English and was a member of both the curriculum and library committees for 25 years, where she also ran the library during World War II. She was also a chairman for the department of humanities for 43 years.
Bren-Dell Hall is actually named after Naomi Brenneman and M’Della Moon with the “Bren” from Brenneman and the “Dell” from M’Della. Upon having a hall named after her, Brenneman sent a letter to then president Lloyd L. Ramseyer. In the letter she stated, “I like the sound of Bren-Dell. What if, apropos of 1962 orbiting, you had hit upon Moonman!” implying that the Man from Brenneman and the Moon from Moon would join to create the name “Moonman” which in turn was funny due to John Glenn orbiting the Earth in 1962.
Another fun fact about Brenneman is that she saved Ropp from burning down after she noticed that smoke was coming from the building. She notified fireman and then began to throw water on the fire herself.
Brenneman was a major influential figure for Bluffton as she helped to run the English department, library, library committee, curriculum committee and the department of humanities.
Another major influential figure in Bluffton’s history was John D. Unruh.
Born in 1937 on October 4th, Unruh was a big part of the history department at Bluffton.
Before coming to Bluffton though, Unruh had an Associates degree from Freeman Junior College in 1957. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bethel College in 1959 then followed up by earning his Master’s degree from the University of Kansas in 1962.
When Unruh arrived to Bluffton, he became a member of the instruction committee at Bluffton College. Unruh was also a professor of history for 10 years. Also while at Bluffton, he earned his Ph.D from The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., in June of 1975. The following year, however, Unruh passed away from a brain tumor.
Before fighting through his illness, and even while so, he wrote a dissertation on Westward Expansion, which his wife (Elda Waltner) and his fellow colleague (Von Hardesty) helped to publish after his death. The dissertation was well renowned and became a big success.
Von Hardesty, in a essay written to the January 23, 1976, edition of “The Witmarsum,” briefly shared some thoughts on John D. Unruh.
“John’s work represents the true ideal of an unique, creative contribution to historical knowledge. The registrar’s office no doubt remembers that John was always late with his grades. Knowing John, we knew that the delay was not a procrastination on his part, but rather reflecting the meticulous way he graded and evaluated students.”
The John D. Unruh Memorial Fund supports the purchase of materials related to United States history for the Musselman Library collections. Special focus is given to books published on the topics of the: American West and Civil Rights.
The Naomi Brenneman Prize should be submitted by March 30 to Jeff Gundy via email (gundyj@bluffton.edu).
The John D. Unruh Memorial Fund essay should be submitted by April 2 at 5 p.m. to Alex Sider via email.
