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George H. Nofer Scholarship for Law and Public Policy

About This Scholarship

The George H. Nofer Scholarship for Law and Public Policy is for full-time graduate students with a pre-lingual bilateral hearing loss in the moderately-severe to profound range, who use listening and spoken language as their primary method of communication, and who are attending full-time an accredited mainstream law school or graduate school working towards a masters or doctoral degree in public policy or public administration.

This scholarship was established to recognize George H. Nofer’s service and generosity to the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) and to the fields of law and deafness research and education. Mr. Nofer, a retired partner of the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP in Philadelphia, is a former member of the AG Bell board of directors. He is a Trustee Emeritus of the Oberkotter Foundation and served for more than 15 years as its Executive Director.

Up to three awards of up to $5,000 each may be awarded per year. Previous recipients of the George H. Nofer Scholarship may re-apply for a scholarship, provided that they are still in school and a minimum of nine credit hours was completed in the previous year of study.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply for this program, you must meet all of the following criteria:

You use listening and spoken language as the primary mode of communication.
You have a pre-lingual hearing loss (diagnosed prior to the fourth birthday).
Your hearing loss is bilateral and in the moderately severe to profound range. You must have an unaided Pure-Tone Average (PTA) of 60dB or greater in the better hearing ear in the speech frequencies of 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz. If you have cochlear implants, you meet this eligibility requirement. Unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss does not qualify.
Formula for calculating the PTA: On the unaided audiogram, look at the results for the better-hearing ear at 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz and add those three numbers together, then divide that total by three. The result is the Pure Tone Average. To be eligible for this award, the applicant's PTA must be 60 or greater.
You have been accepted to or are enrolled in an accredited law school or masters/doctoral program in public policy or public administration as a full-time graduate student for the academic year beginning in the fall following the application period.

Application

Please note:

We do not confirm receipt of applications upon delivery. If you would like confirmation that your application was received, you may choose to send your application using a delivery services (e.g., US Postal Service certified or express mail, Federal Express, DHL, etc.). We ask you not to require a signature or in-person certification as this may delay delivery. AG Bell does not accept any responsibility nor make exceptions for delivery delays including those resulting from delivery confirmation requirements. To ensure timely delivery, applicants are encouraged to submit applications well in advance of the deadline.
Faxed applications will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Late and incomplete applications will not be considered under any circumstances.
Applications will not be returned for any reason.

Please do not contact AG Bell seeking an exception to these policies.

Administrative Processes and Notification
Once the review of all applications has been conducted by the Award Selection Committee, you will receive notice of the committee’s decision whether to award you a scholarship. All communications will be made to the email address provided in your application.

Questions?
Send us an email.