Columbia Central

William Russo Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Music

For continuing undergraduate students

The William Russo Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Music was established to recognize an outstanding student in the Composition program.

• How to be Considered

  No separate application is required for the William Russo Scholarship for Excellence in Music.

  • Students are nominated by Music Department faculty.
• About William Russo
  

  One of the most revered and influential composer-bandleaders in America, William Russo was the founder of Columbia College Chicago’s Music Department and was Director of Orchestral Studies at Scuola Europea d’Orchestra Jazz in Palermo, Italy.

  Russo’s career spanned five decades, and included performance, conducting, and composition work with talents as diverse as Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Leonard Bernstein, Cannonball Adderley, Yehudi Menuhin, Dizzy Gillespie, Seiji Ozawa, and Billie Holiday. Critics acknowledged Russo for his pioneering contributions to the big-band jazz canon. He authored groundbreaking jazz scores, rock operas, classical works, film scores, and texts on instrumental arrangement. During his career, he composed more than 200 pieces for jazz orchestra with more than 25 recordings of his work. In 1990 Russo received a Lifetime Achievement award from NARAS (National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences).

  William Russo retired from Columbia College Chicago’s Music Department in June 2002, following a bout with cancer. He passed away in January 2003. As Columbia’s first full-time faculty member and music department chair, William Russo embodied the high standards and adventurous, contemporary character that continues to thrive in Columbia College’s Music Department.

• Scholarship Terms
  • Previous amount of this one-year scholarship was up to $2,150, awarded half in Fall and half Spring
  • Scholarship is applied toward tuition only
  • Students’ scholarships that are applied toward tuition may not exceed the amount of their tuition costs
  • Recipients must maintain full-time, undergraduate enrollment during the 2024-25 academic year
  • Scholarship may not be used toward independent study abroad programs. Recipients who enroll in an independent study abroad program will forfeit their scholarship during the semester spent abroad
  • The rules and regulations governing other sources of financial aid (federal, state, institutional and other grants, gifts, or loans) will apply
  • Columbia College Chicago reserves the right to withhold the scholarship in any year in which, at the sole discretion of the scholarship committee, suitable candidates cannot be found among applicants

IMPORTANT DATES

• 12:00AM - 11:55PM 2024-25 Degree Completion Assistance Grant Application Deadline
  The Degree Completion Assistance Grant provides financial support to juniors and seniors who are nearing graduation, and who can demonstrate that receiving assistance from the grant will help them in achieving their academic goals. Preference is given to seniors who demonstrate significant financial need. The deadline to apply is May 17, 2024 (11:59pm). Now is the...Get the details

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