Dr. Elizabeth Joy ('Betty Joy') Baylor Neatrour

The Baylor Foreign Language Scholarship was established by Dr. Elizabeth Joy (‘Betty Joy’) Baylor Neatrour ’60, in September 1988, in honor of her mother, Amalia D. Baylor.

Elizabeth graduated from Mary Washington College with a B.A. in 1954. She received an M.A. from Madison College in 1960. She received a Fulbright award to study and teach in France and earned a certificate in French studies from the University of Paris. She then completed another M.A. degree in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1973 in Russian language and literature from Indiana University. She was a school teacher in French and English and joined the faculty of Madison College in 1961 as a professor of Russian and French.

In 1974 she was named chair of the department of Foreign Language & Literature. She was known internationally for her research, scholarship and writings on Nadezhda Teffi and was considered the leading expert, even in Russia, on the pre-Russian Revolution author and playwright. Dr. Neatrour received the prestigious Pushkin Medal in 1998 from the American Council of Teachers of Russian, among numerous honors during her academic career. She was honored with a reception at the Russian embassy in Washington for her efforts in developing American-Russian goodwill relations.

In 1991, Dr. Neatrour received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and, in 1989, she received the Distinguished Foreign Language Teacher award from the Foreign Language Association of Virginia. She received JMU’s first Distinguished Service Award in 1996, and Mary Washington named her its Distinguished Alumnus in 1999. She founded JMU’s Governor’s Russian Studies Academy, and helped established a sister city program between Harrisonburg and Peter, of Russia.

The Baylor Scholarship award is made to outstanding students studying Russian.