Dr. Elaine Harrison Award

The Dr. Elaine Harrison Award is a bursary awarded to a second-, third-, or fourth-year full-time student who is talented and working toward an Arts or Music degree, and has a demonstrated financial need. This award was established through the Estate of Elaine Harrison following her death in 2003. Elaine Harrison graduated from Dalhousie University in 1937 with a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in Latin and English. She began her 30-year teaching career in Summerside in 1939, spending many years teaching English and Latin at Summerside High School. Carrying on the tradition of women artists throughout the century, Harrison was an inspired teacher, believing that education was not a means to an end but a way of life. She was a self-taught artist and was an active member of the PEI Art Society and the Great George Street Gallery. Throughout her teaching career, Harrison painted and devoted her extraordinary energy to painting, writing, and environmental activism. In 1997, Elaine Harrison received an honorary degree from UPEI. This bursary honors her legacy as an educator and artist by supporting talented students pursuing Arts or Music degrees who demonstrate financial need.