Photo by Alese and Mort Pechter

The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS) announced The Zale Parry Scholarship at the NOGI Awards Banquet in Las Vegas in October. Zale Parry herself made the presentation of this new scholarship in her name that will award $2000 per Recipient and a $500 voucher towards travel expenses to the Scholarship Presentation Ceremony. The Zale Parry Scholarship will be administered by The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences.

To offer financial support to individuals seeking to advance their knowledge or to enter professional careers in any of the following fields:

Ocean exploration

Diving equipment technology

Hyperbaric research

Marine conservation

Background of The Zale Parry Scholarship: Zale Parry is an internationally renowned pioneer of the early days of skin and scuba diving. As early as the 1950’s, Parry was an underwater equipment tester and (the only woman) executive at Scientific Underwater Research Enterprises (SURE), founded by her husband, Parry Bivens, M.D., who designed and built hyperbaric chambers. In 1954, Parry set a woman’s deep diving record at 209 ft/64 meters in the open sea as part of an experiment to test the Hope-Page non-return valve mouthpiece, which became a standard feature in all regulators from that day forward. Zale was the third female instructor to graduate from the L.A. County UICC program and served for many years as a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor. Zale Parry continues to lecture at venues around the United States, and she is writing a four-volume book, Scuba America: The Human History of the Sport of Diving, to record and preserve the annals of diving. Zale Parry is a NOGI Fellow and the Ambassador at Large for the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences (AUAS, Inc.), and as such, has chosen AUAS to administer this scholarship in her name. By creating the Zale Parry Scholarship, Zale hopes to encourage others to carry on her legacy of ocean exploration, dive equipment technology, hyperbaric research and marine conservation.

Scholarship Amount: $2000 per Recipient and a $500 voucher towards travel expenses to the Scholarship Presentation Ceremony

Selection Criteria: Based on merit and financial need

Candidate Requirements for The Zale Parry Scholarship:

Must be of college age or older

May be male or female

Must be a certified diver

Must be a citizen of North America

Must be a student enrolled in an accredited college or university

Application information:

Anyone may nominate one or more qualified candidates for The Zale Parry scholarship. Qualified candidates may also apply themselves. For a scholarship application to be processed, the following information must be submitted electronically by July 31, 2008. Please click Here to download your application.

1)     Scholarship candidate’s name, address, phone number, email address

2)     Nominator’s name, address, phone number, and email address

3)     Scholarship candidate’s date of birth, U.S. city and state of birth, gender, marital status, etc.

4)     Scholarship candidate’s resume or CV

A)     Two (2) letters of recommendation from experts such as (but not limited to) college professors who can vouch for the candidate’s credentials and academic achievements

B)     1,000 word essay discussing career goals

C)     Photocopy of Diving Certification card(s)

Terms: Scholarship Recipients must sign a scholarship agreement and waiver form, a legal document holds the Scholarship Committee and AUAS blameless for any accident or fatality that may occur while the Scholar is participating in any activities, diving or non-diving, that are related to The Zale Parry Scholarship.

Deadline for The Zale Parry Scholarship applications:

All applications must be complete and submitted together electronically by clicking Here. Hard copies and incomplete applications will not be accepted. Applications for The Zale Parry Scholarship must be received no later than July 31, 2008.

The 2008 Recipient of The Zale Parry Scholarship will be selected on Sept. 1, 2008 and notified within a few days of selection.

The presentation of The Zale Parry Scholarship for 2008 will take place at the AUAS annual NOGI Awards Banquet in Orlando, Florida, the week of November 8, 2008 (exact date TBA).

For more information about Zale Parry and The Zale Parry Scholarship, visit: www.auas-nogi.org.