National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky
Academic Scholarship Program
The National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky is proud to have had the opportunity to award academic scholarships to deserving blind individuals enrolled in post-secondary institutions across Kentucky for nearly 30 years. The first National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Scholarship was awarded in 1997. At that time, the scholarship was named the Emerson Foulke Memorial Scholarship. The NFB of Kentucky wished to honor long-time Federationist, Emerson Foulke. Emerson worked as a psychology professor at the University of Louisville for many years, and he was known worldwide for his research in tactual perception and Braille reading. The following was published in the Braille Monitor upon his death…
Emerson Foulke Dies
by Marc Maurer
On Monday, December 29, 1997, Dr. Emerson Foulke, a long-time member and leader in the National Federation of the Blind, died of cancer at his home in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Foulke was well known in the field of research regarding blindness and Braille. He established the Research Laboratory at the University of Louisville, where he served as a professor of psychology for a quarter of a century. For over a year in 1995 and 1996 he was the director of the International Braille Research Center, an international research organization focusing on Braille and communications for the blind.
Dr. Foulke was a leader of the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Research and Development Committee of the National Federation of the Blind, and he was one of the principal researchers designing innovative products for the Federation. In 1993 he was granted the Distinguished Blind Educator of the Year Award by the National Federation of the Blind. He was widely published in the field of Braille and tactile communications. He worked extensively to enhance understanding of Braille codes and to ensure their ease of use. He is one of the best-known authors dealing with research into the use and importance of Braille.
These are facts about the life and contribution of Emerson Foulke, but they do not demonstrate the character of the man. He was enormously curious about the way things are done and how people think. He was warm and generous and always prepared to offer a joke or a story. He could be serious and analytical, but he felt that the leavening of an amusing anecdote or a shaggy dog story would help to lighten the mood and make the day go better. He was prepared to give a hand and help a friend, but he was also prepared to share his knowledge, his experience, and his resources with someone he had only recently met. Among his enormous curiosities, he conducted the most extensive research in the nation regarding the way in which blind people learn through tactile images. His contributions must be measured not in individual accomplishments but in the framework of the mind and spirit that he brought to creating a better life for the blind.
My life and the lives of many other Federation members have been enriched because Dr. Emerson Foulke was our friend. He is gone, but the spirit of excitement, of exploration, and of enthusiasm that was an essential part of him is with us still.
The obituary in the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal has this to say about Dr. Emerson Foulke, a Federationist who will be greatly missed:
Innovator for the Blind
by Katherine L. Sears
Emerson Foulke, a retired psychology professor at the University of Louisville who established a research center that developed alternative forms of reading and communication for visually impaired adults, died of cancer Monday at his Louisville home. He was sixty-eight.
Foulke, who had been blind since he was two, worked to develop alternatives to Braille because most blind Americans can't read Braille, he told the Courier-Journal in 1976.
He founded the Perceptual Alternatives Laboratory in 1968 and served as its director until he retired in 1992. Foulke developed techniques to compress information from audio tapes. His equipment could speed up recordings of books and text and still enable someone to retain pertinent information.
He also worked to increase the number of ideas that could be expressed in Braille to make it easier for people to understand complex subjects such as chemistry and math.
Foulke also developed for blind people a curved cane that wouldn't get caught in sidewalk gratings.
Lela Johns, an assistant of Foulke at the lab, said the university closed it after he retired. But Foulke continued to devise improvements to computer codes in math for the National Federation of the Blind, Johns said.
"He was still very active in the research for improving the educational techniques and communication for visually impaired people," Johns said. "He was a very challenging person to work for. He always wanted to learn more."
Louisville resident Tim Cranmer, who chairs the International Braille Research Center in Baltimore, said Foulke was known worldwide for his innovations in electronic communications for blind and visually impaired people.
"He is probably the most widely published and widely quoted (person) in the field of Braille research and tactile communications," said Cranmer, who also is blind. "His loss is absolutely profound as far as our field is concerned. We do not have a successor for Dr. Foulke."
Cranmer said Foulke recently received the Louis Braille Memorial Award, a 3-ounce solid-gold medallion and $10,000, from the International Braille Research Center, which Foulke helped establish in 1985.
Last year Foulke spoke to the World Blind Union meeting in South America. He also earned the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Louisville.
His survivors include his wife, Marilyn Foulke; sisters Margaret Meyer and Patricia Rountree; and a brother, Eldridge Foulke.
In 2000, the NFB of Kentucky established the Betty J. Niceley Memorial scholarship to honor Betty J. Nicely, who served as the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky from 1979 until she passed away unexpectedly in early 2000.
The following was published in the Braille Monitor upon Betty’s death…
Betty Niceley Dies
Very early in the 1999 public meeting of the NFB Board of Directors, Betty Niceley, who had been a member of that board since 1985, sought the floor to make the following statement:
Dr. Maurer, I would like to say that I am not seeking reelection to the Board this time. I want to say first of all that this decision in no way indicates a lessening of my commitment to this organization. I have served on the Board for fourteen years, and I have been deeply touched by the trust that has been placed in me in electing me to this position.
I feel the need to spend a lot more time in affiliate-building in my own state and to devote my attention to the Braille concerns of the Federation. I am grateful for the wisdom of our beloved Dr. Jernigan, who put his confidence in you, Dr. Maurer, as our leader. I want to pledge to you and to the future leaders of this organization my willingness to do whatever I can as you lead us to greater heights of success, which I know you will do.
Later in July Betty retired from a career of twenty-eight years with the Kentucky Department for the Blind. In early November she was elected President of the International Council on English Braille, and following that election everyone expected that her plan to devote her energies to building the Kentucky affiliate and to working for the health and propagation of Braille were now in place.
Then, just before Thanksgiving, Betty suffered a stroke, which was actually caused by a defective heart valve damaged years before by rheumatic fever. On February 8 she underwent open-heart surgery, from which she seemed to be recovering. Then sadly, Sunday morning, February 13, her damaged heart gave up, and she died.
It's hard to imagine the Federation without Betty. She became a member in 1967, and by 1979 she was President of the Kentucky affiliate. When the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille was established in 1983, she became its first and, until her death, its only President. She served as Vice Chairperson of the Braille Authority of North America. In 1997 she received the Jacobus tenBroek award.
But beyond and undergirding all the offices, responsibilities, and honors, Betty was a cheerful soldier who would put her hand to any task for the Federation that needed to be done and see to it that those around her had a good time while they were doing their work. She was an optimist and an extravert who believed in people, especially young people, and she was always willing to go the extra mile and overlook the shortcomings of those who were trying to learn how to lead.
In early November of 1978 Betty attended an NFB leadership seminar. For several reasons, including the fact that the meeting began on All Saints Day, the group clamored to be named the Saintly Seminar--an impulse that Dr. Jernigan resisted mightily. Eventually the weight of reasons for the group's preference beat down his opposition, and one of many facts about the seminar marshaled by seminarians during discussions was that Betty Niceley was a member, and, while niceness was not exactly saintliness, she was so very nice that it ought to count for something. This was not the decisive argument, but it was irrefutable that Betty was simply one of the kindest, most considerate people any of us had ever met.
Those qualities didn't make her a push-over, however. She fought like a tiger to protect Kentucky's separate agency for the blind. She stood up to the American Printing House for the Blind when she thought they were in the wrong. When city officials engaged in unfair practices against the blind, they could count on Betty to stand up in meetings, write letters, and talk to the press about the injustice. Her absolute integrity brought her respect even among her opponents, and often those opponents stayed to become her friends.
Betty loved a party. The final night of the 1984 convention in Phoenix the Kentucky affiliate hosted a mint julep party to get the organization in the mood to come to Louisville the following year. And before the memorable 1985 convention, Betty, the President of the host affiliate, announced that the big dance that year would be a genuine southern ball. Ladies were encouraged to wear real ball gowns, and many did. It was a glorious evening.
But Betty's triumph, and perhaps the finest hour of the blind of Kentucky, was the May a8, 1999, celebration of the accomplishments of blind people. This was the evening after the University of Louisville awarded Dr. Maurer an honorary degree. Representatives from city and state government, private and public organizations, and educational institutions gathered to pay tribute to what blind people, working together, have accomplished in the past and can accomplish in the future. Federationists from eighteen states were present to celebrate. The evening was filled with elegance and joy, and at the center, organizing and announcing everything with poise and radiance, was Betty Niceley.
She is survived by her husband Charles, their daughter Sharon, her stepdaughter Barbara, two brothers, and seven grandchildren. Betty also leaves behind her a large circle of Federation friends and colleagues who love and remember her still and for whom the world will be a bit grayer without her. As Betty would say, "Pay-back time." She brightened the world for us; now it's time for us to pass it on.
In 2008, Long-time Kentucky Federationists, Charles and Betty Allen Made the notable decision to endow the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Scholarship Program. Charles Allen, who friends knew as “Charlie”, believed in the importance of a college education. Due to circumstances in his own life, Charlie was unable to gain a college education, so he wanted to ensure that other blind individuals from Kentucky would have the opportunity to receive the education that he did not have. Therefore, he and his wife, Betty made the decision to endow the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Scholarship Program.
The following article was published in the Kentucky Cardinal Newsletter…
Charles Allen joined the National Federation of the Blind in 1968 when he became a member of the Louisville Association of the Blind, later re-named the National Federation of the Blind of Greater Louisville.
Charles was offered the opportunity to take a vending facility in Northern Kentucky. Shortly after settling into his new job he began to organize an NFB chapter in that area. He served as president of the NFB of Northern Kentucky until he returned to Louisville a few short years later after the death of his father. Once again he became active in the NFB of Greater Louisville.
He met Betty Taylor, his future bride, and she too joined the Federation. I don’t think Charles would have had it any other way. They were married in 1973 and are living happily ever after to this day.
Once again an opportunity to take a vending location in Frankfort, Kentucky moved the young newlyweds to a new city, the one they still call home today. Betty took a job as a social worker with the Kentucky Department of social Services.
There was no NFB chapter in Frankfort, but with the help of T. V. Cranmer, Charles and Betty set out to organize chapters in both Lexington and Frankfort. Charles served as president of the Frankfort Chapter for thirty plus years. Betty has most certainly done her share of the chapter work. She most recently served as the treasurer of the Frankfort Chapter.
Charles was president of the Kentucky Affiliate from 1974 until 1978. Betty was by his side the entire time. They continued their chapter building efforts. During his time as president Charles and Betty helped establish the Bowling Green Chapter.Perhaps the most note worthy accomplishment of Charles’s term as president was the battle waged and won to create the separate agency for the blind in Kentucky. It has been said that many of the supporting documents that were presented during this battle were actually handwritten by Betty.
In addition to president, Charles has held several positions on the state board throughout the years serving as second-vice president, secretary, and board member.
Charles has served for many years as president of the Merchant’s Division in Kentucky, as well as president of the National Merchant’s Division for a short time.
Charles’s business partner, Clarence Mitchell, President of Mitch-Co Inc. has also contributed financially to this scholarship. Charles and Betty Allen wanted to establish this scholarship because they place such high emphasis on education. Charles wants blind students to have the opportunity to further their education, something he wishes he had had the opportunity to do.
The National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky wishes to bestow its warmest regards in memory of Charles and Betty Allen for their generous endowment to the NFB of Kentucky Academic Scholarship Program. Their generous legacy will allow ongoing support for the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Academic Scholarship Program for many years to come.
National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Academic Scholarship Program
Information and Criteria
General Eligibility Criteria
All applicants for a National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Scholarship must be either legally blind or low vision and/or must be eligible to receive services from the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation due to vision loss. Proof of legal blindness or a statement of eligibility from the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation must be provided as documentation.
Students receiving scholarships must attend an accredited college, university or on-line program.
Applicants must reside in Kentucky and/or attend a post-secondary school in Kentucky. Students who participate in on-line programs based in Kentucky, but do not have any physical ties to Kentucky, i.e. are not physically in Kentucky, are not eligible to apply for these scholarships.
Scholarship finalists must attend and participate in all activities at the annual state convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky. The NFB of Kentucky state convention takes place annually during a weekend in October. Convention expenses are covered as a part of the scholarship program. Scholarship winners will be chosen during the annual state convention. Information in regards to convention date and location is forthcoming.
NOTE: Scholarship finalists who are invited to attend the annual NFB of Kentucky state convention are not guaranteed a scholarship. The scholarship committee will make final decisions regarding scholarship awards during the convention. However, even if finalists are not chosen to receive an academic scholarship, convention expenses, including convention registration fees, hotel accommodations and three (3) meals on Saturday of the convention will be awarded. Scholarship finalists are responsible for other expenses incurred during the convention.
Applications must include the following:
A completed on-line scholarship application.
Most recent school transcript.
Two (2) letters of recommendation.
Proof of legal blindness, i.e., a statement from a physician, and/or a statement from the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation stating that you are a current consumer.
Proof of enrollment in a post-secondary educational institution, i.e. Scholarship applicants must be enrolled in a post-secondary program, or be accepted into a program. (Please include a copy of the letter of acceptance into a post-secondary program if not already enrolled.
Telephone interview with one of the scholarship committee members
Supporting documentation to scholarship applications should be emailed to NFBK Scholarship Chairperson, Lora Felty Stephens at scholarships@nfbky.org
Scholarship applications and all supporting documentation must be received electronically by midnight on August 31st.
The scholarship committee reserves the right to present National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Scholarships on an annual basis; however, if the committee feels that they have not found worthy candidates, it may choose not to award a scholarship
NOTE: Scholarship Applications MUST include all required documentation. Incomplete applications will not be considered for a scholarship award.
It is recommended that scholarship applicants review the "Scholarship Finalists Frequently Asked Questions" for more detailed information in regarding the NFB of Kentucky scholarship program.
Any questions regarding the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky Scholarship Program may be emailed to scholarships@nfbky.org.
2025 NFBK Academic Scholarship Form
Please use the link above to access the scholarship form.