University of Michigan. Barbour Scholarships for Oriental Women Committee.

The Barbour Scholarship for Oriental Women was created through the generosity of Levi L. Barbour. Barbour was a graduate of the University of Michigan (1863) and the Michigan Law School (1865) who went on to become a successful Detroit real estate developer. Barbour served as a regent of the University from 1892-1898 and again from 1902-1908.

As a result of personal observations of the work of three Oriental women trained at Michigan, Barbour became committed to a program of bringing Oriental women to the University of Michigan, where they could receive formal education which would be of benefit to both themselves and their native land. The first Barbour scholars arrived in 1914, and the program became permanent in 1917 through a gift of $50,000 by Barbour to the University. Barbour subsequently increased the sum of the endowment several times. According to the terms of the gift, a committee, composed of the University's president, the dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, the dean of the Medical School and the Dean of Women, was to choose the scholars and administer the program.