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HATTON W. SUMNERS SCHOLARSHIP
Oklahoma City University School of Law is one of only two law schools in the country to receive the generous assistance of the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation to help fund several full-tuition scholarships for incoming law students. Scholarships include full-tuition waivers, and book and living stipends. Applicants must submit a separate HWS Scholarship application. If selected as a finalist, applicants will interview with members of the Sumners Board of Trustees in March, 2008.
application process
Step 1: APPLICATION
Print the Hatton W. Sumners Scholarship application. Take care to answer all questions accurately and in detail. Include one color passport-size photograph suitable for scanning with your application, attached to the application in the designated place.
Caution: Although you may complete this application online you MAY not be able to save the document unless you have the appropriate software. This means that once you fill out the application, you will need to print it or risk losing the information you have already input. Alternatively, you can print the application and fill it out by hand.
Residents of or students/graduates of colleges or universities in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, or New Mexico are eligible to apply for the Hatton W. Sumners Scholarships. Because the scholarship application is due February 1, candidates must take the June, October or December LSAT in order to be considered for this award.
Step 2: ESSAY
Prepare an autobiographical essay of approximately 750 words, addressing your background, your attitude toward law, and your ambitions for professional and public service.
Step 3: LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
Application for the Hatton W. Sumners Scholarships requires the submission of three letters of recommendation. Letters submitted on your behalf for admission to OCU LAW may be used for this purpose or you may elect to have new letters sent.
Step 4: SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
Send your signed application, a photograph, and autobiographical essay to:
Admissions and Scholarship Committee
Oklahoma City University School of Law
P.O. Box 61310
Oklahoma City, OK 73146-1310
HWS Scholarship Deadline: February 1, 2008
To be considered for this scholarship, you must be admitted to OCU LAW by February 1. Therefore, the application for law admission must be submitted online and your LSDAS report must also be complete and ready for release to OCU (all transcripts and letters of recommendation must be on file) by February 1.
The admissions office strongly encourages you to submit your scholarship application, your law school application, and to confirm that your LSDAS report is complete by January 15 in order for us to help verify that all documentation is in order prior to review by the Scholarship Committee.
Due to the early deadline, those who take the February 2008 LSAT are not eligible to apply for the Hatton W. Sumners scholarship.
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meet the current Sumners Scholars!
Meet the current Hatton W. Sumners Scholars -- Christin, Derek, Jay, Josh, Michael, Jodi, Andrew, Bria, Lori, Melissa, Andrew, and Dearra. Read their bios and email them with questions about the scholarship selection process, the Sumners Scholars program or about law school in general.
award information
Award recipients receive full-tuition waivers, and book and living stipends.
eligibility requirements
Sumners candidates must be residents of or students/graduates of colleges or universities in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, or New Mexico in order to be considered for this scholarship. Because the Hatton W. Sumners application is due February 1, candidates must take the June, October or December LSAT in order to be considered for this award.
selection criteria & process
Selection is based on academic proficiency, extracurricular achievement and demonstrated capacity for public service. Typically, students with LSATs and GPA's in the top quarter of our class (>152 and >3.5) are most competitive for this award. However, we welcome all applications
Applications for the Hatton W. Sumners Scholarship will be reviewed in early February by members of the administration and faculty at Oklahoma City University School of Law. Approximately twenty applicants will be selected for interviews with the Hatton W. Sumners Board of Trustees on the OCU LAW campus (all travel and lodging expenses will be paid). Interviews will take place in March and the selection and notification of selected scholars is made following the interviews. Those individuals selected for interviews who do not receive the Sumners Scholarship will be considered automatically for additional scholarships awarded through Oklahoma City University School of Law.
renewal policy
Renewal of this award requires that recipients attend law school full time and maintain a cumulative GPA average in the upper one-third of the class of which he or she is a member, to be determined on an annual basis. They are expected to attend class regularly, abide by the rules and procedures of the OCU LAW and maintain a constructive relationship with the law school.
responsibilities of recipients
The Sumners Program is designed to foster and encourage excellence in legal scholarship and to assist students in developing the highest sense of duty to serve his or her community. During the Scholar’s first year of law school work, he or she will be expected to take an active role in one or several aspects of community service. By community service, the trustees mean and intend that the Scholar will take a positive and meaningful role in one or more of the following activities: work as a volunteer in a University or law school project; work as a research assistant to a law professor in a project for which the professor receives no compensation, such as assistant to a law professor in a project for which the professor receives no compensation, such as the preparation of articles for publication in legal periodicals; work as a volunteer with a religious organization, school, hospital, civic or service organization; work as a volunteer legal assistant to a county or state trial judge, or in the city or county attorney’s office; or engage in some other activity deemed by the trustees to be appropriate and equivalent service.
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The purpose of the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation, as stated in its governing documents, is to encourage the study, teaching and research into the science and art of self-government, to the end that the American People may understand the fundamental principles of democracy and be guided thereby in shaping governmental policies.
To that end, the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation supports programs and activities that will result in an increased understanding by the public of the benefits of individual freedom and civic and personal responsibility, and the corresponding threat to liberty posed by a lack of informed, active participation by citizens at all levels of government.
The Sumners Foundation maintains a close relationship with the National Center for Policy Analysis, which sponsors prominent speakers and other notable programming on issues of national significance. Scholars are invited to attend these programs which are held in the Dallas, Texas area. Recent speakers have included associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, current and former members of Congress, a former U.S. president, and chief executive from major private, public and non-profit organizations.
Congressman Hatton W. Sumners was a key figure in the unfolding drama of American democracy during the first half of the 20th century, a period that encompassed two world wars and produced startling changes in many phases of this nation's life. The Congressman's role was not that of a spectator. He served as a decision-maker and as a policy formulator throughout his 34 years of congressional service, which spanned the first administration of President Woodrow Wilson to the end of World War II.
