Frances M. Franklin Scholarship Program

Frances Mason Franklin, a professor of English at Tri-C from 1969 to 1983, was born in Cincinnati. She received a bachelor's degree in English in 1942 from Spelman College. Her master's degree, also in English, was granted in 1946 from Atlanta University. Franklin was recognized for her extensive knowledge of African-American literature. She began research on the subject during the 1940s, collecting archival material on Black authors and discussing their works with many of them.  

Franklin attended the University of Chicago for three years for further graduate work in English and, from 1974 to 1976, was enrolled in the doctoral program of Urban Education Administration at the University of Akron. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Franklin taught English at Spelman College, Tuskegee Institute and Fisk University. She received an Outstanding Faculty Award at Spelman College. She came to Cleveland in 1953.  

The next year, she joined the Cleveland Public School System and taught English at Charles W. Elliot Junior High School. She was the chair of the English department from 1959 to 1969, when she joined the Tri-C faculty. She became the coordinator of Developmental Education and the director and academic unit leader of the Learning Center. In 1974, she received an award for Outstanding Service to the College.  

Franklin was a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association and the Spelman Alumnae Association. She was also a member of the College Entrance Examination Board and the Junior College Test Committee and a consultant to the Ohio Board of Education in Humanities.  

The scholarship honors Franklin for her tireless efforts on behalf of the many Tri-C faculty members for whom she served as a mentor. She passed away in 1983. Her only child is Carol S. Franklin, Ph.D., who recently retired from her position as the associate dean of Social Sciences at the Western Campus. 

You must:

• Be a currently enrolled Tri-C student in the FMFAA mentoring program prior to Feb. 1 of the academic calendar year 
• Be actively a part of FMFAA for one semester  
• Have a current and locked Academic Plan  
• Have 24 or more institutional credits 
• Have a GPA of 3.0 or higher