Helen DeVitt Jones was born Dec. 7, 1899, in Fort Worth to the pioneering family. Her father founded the Mallet Land and Cattle Co. in 1903. His ranch, in the southwest corner of Hockley County, at one time encompassed 52,000 acres of oil-rich land. More than 1,000 oil wells dotted the ranch since 1938.

Jones split her childhood among Fort Worth and the ranch, where she and her family spent six months out of each year to secure their settlers claim to the land. The trip began by train, and ended after a long wagon ride from Big Spring to the ranch.

Jones later attended Texas Christian University for one year in 1917 before attending the University of California at Berkley in 1921, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English.

Helen DeVitt Jones, a great humanitarian and patroness of education and the fine arts, was born into one of the early ranching families of West Texas. Mrs. Jones funded the Helen Jones Foundation in 1984. She was an avid supporter of fine arts and organizations working with both public school and college students.

Helen DeVitt Jones devoted her later life to sharing her wealth as a patron of philanthropic causes. The Foundation continues to follow her philosophy as its guiding principals.

Scholarship Information

Approximately, thirteen $3,000 scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students enrolling full-time in the College of Media & Communication.

Preference will be given to entering freshmen or community college transfer students from the West Texas area.

Scholarship applicants must apply for admission to Texas Tech University at http://www.applytexas.org/adappc/commonapp.WBX before completing the scholarship application. Applicants will be required to create a user name and password. The scholarship deadline is February 1, 2011. The scholarship will be a minimum of $3,000.

Scholarship Criteria

• Scholarships will be awarded to undergraduate students enrolling full-time in the College of Media & Communication. Preference will be given to new freshmen or community college transfer students from the West Texas area enrolling in Media & Communication.
• Scholarships will be awarded by the College of Media & Communication Scholarship Committee.
• Merit scholarships will be awarded to students who have exceeded the minimum academic requirements established by the College of Media & Communication.
• Freshmen scholarships may be renewed for three additional years and community college transfer students may renews their scholarship for one additional year provided the student maintains a 3.0 grade average.
• Initial awards will be $3,000 annually with $1,500 awarded in the fall and $1,500 awarded in the spring. The amount of the wards may be changed upon recommendation of the dean and college scholarship committee.

Requirements

• Thank you note written to the donor.
• Attendance at the Scholarship Awards Event.
• Be involved in individual service project (not related to sororities or fraternities), such as community organizations (Boy Scouts of America, Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc) or church groups (choir director, teacher, camp counselor, trips, etc.) These service projects may be completed in the summer:
  • Ten hours each semester.
  • Activity to be pre-approved by the Scholarship Office.
  • Documentation in the form of a letter from an official community agent or church leader documenting the type of activity and hours of service provided.