Announcing the 2006 Competition for
The Tybel Spivack Scholarship
The Center for Women’s Studies and Gender
Research
About the Award
The Tybel Spivack Scholarship is designed to support students in women's
studies & language who are returning to complete their education. Because
Tybel Spivack achieved her goals at an advanced age, this scholarship aims to
offer this opportunity to others as well. The award for 2006 will be $2000.
Eligibility Requirements
• The applicant may be a graduate or an undergraduate student
• Preference is given to those 40 years of age or older
• Relevant language study should be included in the research
• Must be studying for a degree or a certificate or a minor within The Center
for Women’s Studies and Gender Research
Applicant should submit
· Transcript(s)
· A letter describing background, intent, goals, and need for the scholarship
· A letter of recommendation
· Personal interview with the Fund Administrator
·
A statement from The Center for Women’s Studies and
Gender Research confirming status
Applications due in April.
The award will be given in fall.
For further information or to apply contact the Fund Administrator:
Dr. M. J. Hardman,
384 Grinter Hall, 392-2194
hardman@ufl.edu
About Previous Recipients
Claire Brunetti, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 1991-92; dissertation focused on the
language of Theresa of Avila (Spain), famous 16th-century mystic, & Margery
Kempe (England), courageous 15-century thinker.
Sheila (Shea) Joy, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 1992-93; graduate student & TA
in English, Spanish & French, & research assistant in Women's Studies,
returning after raising a family & after work including expertise in
antiques.
Lynn Thomson Scott, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 1993-94; graduate student in
Spanish studying the works of Carmen de Burgos, from a background in art &
English returning after raising a family & teaching Spanish in high school.
Sylvia Ansay, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 1994-95; graduate student in Sociology,
research assistant in study of social families among single parent mothers in
government housing; dissertation research among women in prison.
Sandra Kay Haile, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 1996-97; undergraduate completing
her education working full time as secretary; honors thesis on images of older
women using materials from Tibby’s unfinished dissertation.
Lynne Barolet-Fogarty, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 1998-99; counselor education
with focus on gender and class in therapy.
Sara L. Crawley, Tybel Spivack Scholarship 2000, sociology, construction of
gender in language
About Tybel Burman Spivack
Tybel Burman Spivack was born in Connorsville, Indiana, in 1908, of Russian
Jewish immigrants. Yiddish, which she claimed not to speak well but loved dearly,
was part of her linguistic background. Her father was a dealer in scrap iron in
Cleveland at that time. When Tybel was 11, on medical advice, her father took
the family and headed south. It is said that when he reached Orlando, he
declared “I can breathe!” and there they settled. Mr. Burman ran a laundry,
operated a hotel, raised oranges, and was one of the founders of the Tangerine
Bowl, now the Citrus Bowl. In all, he became a prominent citizen of Orlando.
Tybel attended the Cathedral School of Orlando for beginning studies. She
received her baccalaureate in English from the University of Michigan,
graduating with honors. Shortly thereafter she met and married “Spivey,” Dr.
Abraham Henry Spivack. They spent a year in Vienna and Munich, then returned to
live in New York where they stayed until 1949. There she started a fashion
consultant business and reared her children, Ellen, now a systems analyst and
John, now a professor of history. Tybel also became an accomplished jewelry
maker, a craft which she continued throughout the rest of her life.
In 1949 the Spivacks returned to Orlando. Tybel worked in her father’s hotel,
and in her husband’s office. She was also an accomplished pianist, raised
orchids, and worked actively for the Florida Symphony and for hospital
volunteers. In the 50’s she developed an interest in Pre-Colombian art, which
became a consuming passion. This passion led her to travel in South America.
Her adventures during a stay near a remote train station 14,000 feet high in
the Andes always made for exciting stories. The University of Florida and the
Harn Museum have become major beneficiaries of her interest. As a major
contributor, Tybel is honored on the plaque in the lobby of the Harn Museum.
Many of her donated pieces can be seen at the entrance to the Latin American
collection.
The Spivacks retired to Gainesville in 1964. They both went back to school.
Tibby studied art while Spivey pursued a course of study in mathematics.
During this period, Tybel became concerned about the treatment of old people in
the United States. At the center of her concern, from the beginning, was the
use of language in defining the role and place of the old. One of her ‘pet
peeves’ were all the euphemisms for old, and the pretense that one was not old.
She did not receive the appellation of ‘young’ as a complement. As she often
said, she had earned the right to be old, that she had no intention of denying
her life experience, and thought it part of the negation of place for the old
to do so.
After Spivey’s sudden death in 1973, she focused all her attention on her
academic pursuits. She was admitted to the Department of Anthropology at the
age of 69. Two years later she finished her M.A. and was elected to Phi Kappa
Phi. She then treated herself to a cruise around the world. On her return she
was admitted to the doctoral program and dedicated herself to research in
anthropological linguistics. She completed her exams for the doctorate in 1984.
One of her professors wrote of her work “Her reviews of the literature on
metaphor and on non-verbal communication are easily the best I have ever
received from a student.” Her research focused on metaphor and old age from an
anthropological perspective, looking at the ways in which, by our use of
language, we see old people. The title of her dissertation was to have been
“The Generative Metaphors of Old Age.” She looked at some comparative work
cross-culturally and at how the definitions and the metaphors that are used are
correlated to the way in which old people are treated. In some of the work, for
example, she discussed root metaphors which are also a type of model, such as
old age as a disease (and therefore if one is healthy one is not “old” no
matter how many years one has lived), or old age as disability (and therefore
if one is old one is a charity case, no matter what one might be able to
contribute to society). She had done some analysis of the way in which old
people are addressed on television in contrast to the way other adults are
addressed, but her major focus was on current print media such as newspapers,
asking, for example, such questions as what are the underlying metaphors which
lead people to focus on certain aspects of the lives of people over 65 (our
cultural definition of the beginning of old age) and to ignore others? She also
showed how other linguistic (and cultural) features, such as sexism, interplay
with the metaphors of age.
Her increasing physical disability, which meant constant pain, limited the
speed with which she could work so that she could not meet graduate school
deadlines and extensions were denied her; time ran out before the last chapter
was written.
The University of Florida and The Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research are the beneficiaries of Tybel Spivack’s generosity and commitment to education. We feel honored to be able to award for the fourth time the first scholarship for Women’s Studies at the University of Florida.
Tybel Burman Spivack 1908-1991
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