The Richard J. Stelzer Starter Stipend provides graduating seniors with a bit of extra support as they move into their post-graduate life. The Stipend, made possible by a generous gift from Richard J. Stelzer, A&S ’71, was created to help students headed into a media-related career meet some of the financial challenges they could face as they start their journey on their professional path.
The Stipend is intended only for graduating seniors who participated in student media at Vanderbilt. Applicants will be evaluated by the story they tell, how they express themselves, the clarity of their vision, and by demonstrated financial need. The Stipend’s purpose is to fund early career activities of graduating seniors who are on and/or eligible for need-based financial aid.
The Richard J. Stelzer Starter Stipend provides each recipient with $3,000.
The deadline to apply is April 2. Applications may be submitted using this online form.
About Richard J. Stelzer
Richard J. “Dick” Stelzer wrote for The Vanderbilt Hustler and Versus while he was a student at Vanderbilt University. Those experiences provided him an early platform for long-form interviews and profiles with such people as Gloria Steinem, Mike Wallace, Erich Segal, Burt Bacharach and Dick Cavett.
After graduating in 1971, Stelzer earned a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Missouri. He then moved to southern California, where he has been an author, strategic consultant, and investor. Early in his career, he engaged in freelance writing and worked for a giant ad agency. At 25, he was under contract to write his first book, “The Star Treatment,” an interview-based look at celebrities and their experiences in psychotherapy. He later wrote “How to Write a Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School,” an outgrowth of his work as a consultant. There were three editions of this book in bookstores for 20 years. Stelzer lives in Los Angeles.
