Charles and Eiko Politz on a trip to the coast in the early ‘90s.

Eiko Politz gave the School a gift of $10,600 this winter to begin an endowment from which the scholarship money will be awarded each year. The gift is the School’s first scholarship endowment for graduate students.

"The scholarship will be a great additional resource for our graduate students, particularly those in the Literary Nonfiction and Professional Master’s programs," said Professor Leslie Steeves, director of Graduate Studies and Research.

Eiko Politz is not herself a graduate of the University of Oregon, but her late husband Charles Politz graduated from the SOJC in 1945. “My husband just loved the University of Oregon,” she said.

The Politz’ shared a mutual interest in the telling of stories that are true. “We both really respected good writing,” she said. "I think this is something that he would like to do."

After graduating from the SOJC, Charles Politz began his professional career as a writer in Hollywood. Later, he returned to Portland and worked as a freelance graphic designer under the business name Parabola Ltd. Over the course of his career, Politz worked on design projects for clients in Italy, Hong Kong and the United States. His clients included the Portland Opera Association, Jantzen Inc., Hoffman Construction Co., Marty Zell & Associates, Boys & Girls Aid Society, Legacy Emanuel Hospital and the PacWest Center.

Eiko Politz, a former social worker for abused and emotionally disturbed children, has devoted her time throughout the years to various projects dealing with children’s welfare. She has a particular interest in arts education for children.

She thinks it needs to be easier for Oregon students to complete their education in Oregon. She found that graduate students in writing often have fewer scholarship opportunities.

"With writing, you have to write the way people understand the truth," she said. "Writing is very important, and writing people usually don’t get money."

Politz hopes the scholarship will help make a journalistic writing life a possibility for more students. “There are so many good writers,” she said. “I like to see that kind of thing grow.”