About the Baber Scholarship

The Baber Graduate Fellowship Grant was established by Dr. Eric R. Baber upon his passing in 1991 for graduate students who are outstanding performers/studio artists in music, art or theatre. Recipients are those students who "obviously have the potential to become well-recognized professional career performers."

The purpose of the fellowship is to nurture the highest possible quality of excellence in individual performers in the Fine Arts, through emphasis upon the studio approach, rather than training for teaching. This does not preclude grant fellows from engaging in music education or art education work, but the main thrust of the grant program should be to help develop top-notch individual performers, and to enhance ISU's prestige as a place where the very finest musicians and artists study and perform. ISU's acceptance of this grant program implies a good-faith effort by Fine Arts faculty members to actively seek out and help attract ... performers in Music, Art and/or Theatre. These should be persons who obviously have the potential to become well-recognized professional career performers.

Baber Trust, Second Amendment, Sec. ii.

Essentially, Dr. Baber had hoped that that the Fellowship would attract, in his words "a big hitter."

Dr. Eric R. Baber passed away at 78 years, in 1991 in Newton, Kansas where he moved in 1976. He joined the faculty at ISU in 1965 and retired in 1972; while here he served as the director of Research Services and Grants at ISU. His degrees were in music education and in educational administration.