Fedora Amis-Mary D. Ross Speech Education Scholarship

The Fedora Amis-Mary D. Ross Speech Education Scholarship is available through the University of Central Missouri Alumni Foundation for full-time students in good academic standing who are pursuing a BSE in Speech Communications and Theatre, submit an essay, and are taking in-person classes at the UCM Warrensburg campus. This scholarship may be renewable without reapplying, provided that the student maintains a minimum GPA of 3.4. This scholarship is made possible by way of a generous gift from Mary Ross ‘66.

Mary D. Moore-Ross graduated from then-Central Missouri State College in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in Speech Education and a Bachelor of Arts in English. She went on to teach speech, debate, and communication for thirty years in the Parkway School District in Chesterfield, Missouri. During her career, she was elected to three halls of fame: Smith-Cotton High School, the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri, and the National Speech and Debate Association. As Missouri’s representative to the Speech Communication Association (now the National Communication Association), she was a leading advocate for ethics in speech.

Now writing under the pen name Fedora Amis, Ross is the author the Jemmy McBustle series of historical mysteries with a touch of humor. Her fiction work includes Jack the Ripper in St. Louis, which won the Mayhaven Fiction Award, and Mayhem at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a finalist in the Missouri Writers’ Guild “Show Me” contest. In St. Louis, she also performed as real historical figures and imagined characters from the 1800s.

In addition to fiction, her non-fiction publications include educational magazine articles and books on speaking and logic. She collaborates with her son, Skimmer Ross, in writing science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism. “Why do I write?” she says. “I love words. Words are the greatest gift we humans give to each other.”