Scholarship honors Louis Crompton, national pioneer of gay, lesbian studies

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Office of Student Involvement and the LGBTQA Resource Center announce an endowed scholarship fund has been established in honor of Professor Emeritus Louis Crompton.

Lead donors to the fund established the Louis Crompton Scholarship Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation as a tribute to Crompton, a longtime English professor at UNL and an early leader in gay and lesbian studies. In 1970, he initiated at UNL one of the first interdisciplinary courses in the nation about the gay and lesbian community. He also developed one of the earliest courses exploring gay and lesbian literature.

Organizers set an initial goal to raise $25,000 toward the fund, at which level the NU Foundation will permanently endow it and provide annual net income to the university for scholarship awards.

The scholarships will be awarded by the Office of Student Involvement's LGBTQA Resource Center. Qualifying students must demonstrate financial need and be members of the Queer Student Alliance or be enrolled in the LGBTQA/sexuality studies minor.

When the university notified Crompton of the scholarship in his name, he said, "I am delighted and honored to hear you've established this scholarship."

Crompton said he was content working at the University of California, Berkeley, when he was asked years ago to come to Nebraska. He said he never regretted the move because "UNL needed him more."

Pat Tetreault, assistant director in the Office of Student Involvement, said she had the privilege of working with Crompton before his retirement from full-time service in 1988 and is glad he's being recognized for his accomplishments.

"It's momentous to have this opportunity to honor someone who has given so much of himself intellectually to this university and given so much toward making our campus and society a better place for gay, lesbian and bisexual students." Tetreault said. "We're confident we'll reach the goal to completely fund the scholarship, and we greatly appreciate those who have given."

Crompton served for 20 years as advisor to the earliest gay student organization at UNL and helped establish the homophobia awareness committee to improve the campus climate for gay students, faculty and staff. In 2003 he received the Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contributions to the GLBT Community. In addition to these accomplishments, he is recognized for numerous achievements in literature curriculum, research and publishing.

Crompton lives in El Cerrito, Calif., with his husband of 40 years, Luis Diaz-Perdomo, also a former UNL faculty member, who served many years with the Counseling and Psychological Services Office and taught in the department of modern languages and literature. He also led the gay men's discussion group on campus.

To support the Louis Crompton Scholarship Fund, tax deductible contributions may be made online at www.nufoundation.org/crompton. Gifts may also be sent to: University of Nebraska Foundation, 1010 Lincoln Mall Suite 300, Lincoln, NE 68508. Make checks payable to the University of Nebraska Foundation and direct the gift to the Louis Crompton Scholarship Fund.

For more information about contributing, contact Lori Thomas at the University of Nebraska Foundation at (402) 458-1156 or lthomas@nufoundation.org.

The University of Nebraska Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation that has raised private gifts to support the University of Nebraska for 73 years. Last year, it provided more than $130 million -- the most ever -- for students, faculty, academic programs, research, and for campus and building improvements on all four campuses.