For students pursuing the MS in Acupuncture Degree
In 2011, the University of Bridgeport Acupuncture Institute initiated the Bob Flaws/Honora Lee Wolfe Acupuncture Scholarship, which is designed to allow prospective students an opportunity for merit scholarship funds to support their acupuncture education.
Bob Flaws grew up in Rutherford, NJ. He attended Newark Academy and then Middlebury College where he earned a B.A. degree in American Literature. In 1969, Bob went to India and Nepal to become a Tibetan Buddhist in the Nyingmapa lineage. At first Bob wanted to also study Tibetan medicine. However, because Bob could not see a clear path in the mid-1970s to becoming a Tibetan doctor, he decided to study its closest kin or cousin, Chinese medicine. President Nixon had reopened the United States' relationship with the People's Republic of China and James Reston had created a groundswell of interest in acupuncture with his articles about that subject in The New York Times.
In 1978, Bob began studying acupuncture with Eric Tao (Xi-yu) in Denver, CO. Dr. Tao had learned the Tao family style of acupuncture from his uncle in Beijing when he was a teenager. Bob studied with Dr. Tao for a year and became certified by Dr. Tao in acupuncture-moxibustion. At the same time, Bob studied acupuncture and Chinese medicine whenever and wherever possible. This largely meant correspondence courses put out by the Occidental Institute of Chinese Studies and Henry Lu. It also meant reading anything and everything on Chinese medicine and taking lots of workshops by such people as Naburo Muramoto, Herman Aihara, Kiiko Matsumoto, Paul Chen, Michael Broffman, etc.
In 1982, Bob published his first book on Chinese medicine. This was titled Path of Pregnancy. It was a compendium of everything Bob had found on acupuncture and Chinese medicine for gestational, birthing, and postpartum diseases. This was the beginning of Blue Poppy Press. Bob and Honora then wrote and published a book on Chinese dietary therapy, titled Prince Wen Hui's Cook.
Around the beginning of the new millenium, Bob and Honora decided to put more energy into growing Blue Poppy Enterprises which, by then, had three divisions: Blue Poppy Press, Blue Poppy Seminars (later to become Blue Poppy Institute), and Blue Poppy Herbs.
Some of Bob's other acupuncture-Chinese medicine credits include being a Fellow and Governor of the National Academy of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, a founder, past President, and Lifetime Fellow of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado, a founding member of the National Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Alliance, and a Fellow of the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine in the U.K. In addition, Bob has been the editor of the Colorado Acupuncturist and The Journal of the National Academy of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine and is currently a contributing editor to The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patient s. He has written, edited, and translated approximately 100 books and hundreds of articles which have been published in professional and popular journals and magazines all over the world. Bob has taught at dozens of American acupuncture schools and Chinese medicine colleges as well as at a number of national professional conventions and symposia. He regularly teaches throughout Europe and has taught in Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. Bob is coauthor of an NIH-funded acupuncture research protocol on AIDS-related peripheral neuropathy, the report of which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In addition, Bob is a founder of the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers.
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Honora Lee Wolfe was the founding director at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy from 1976-1980 and went on to study tuina massage at the Shanghai College of TCM during 1984, ’85, and ‘86. She completed her acupuncture training in 1988. Ms. Wolfe has taught at many national and regional acupuncture colleges and conferences in North America and Europe and is the author or co-author of several books, including Prince Wen Hui’s Cook: Chinese Dietary Therapy, How to Have a Healthy Pregnancy Healthy Birth with Chinese Medicine, Managing Menopause Naturally with Chinese Medicine, Better Breast Health Naturally with Chinese Medicine, Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists, The Successful Chinese Herbalist: How to Prescribe Correctly, Gain Patient Compliance, and Operate a Profitable Dispensary, and most recently is co-author of Western Physical Exam Skills for Practitioners of Asian Medicine.
Message to Scholarship Applicants:
The practice of medicine is the practice of life and requires a very special person to even be interested in it. Being a better than average practitioner, however, requires ongoing intellectual passion and curiosity.
If you love this medicine, of course you will bring your best work to your patients. More than that, we challenge you to think about what you will bring to the larger profession that will leave it better than you found it.
Study hard and many blessings to you in your practice!
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Scholarship Application Requirements
Two (2) of the scholarships are reserved to be based upon merit for incoming full time Acupuncture students. Requirements for these are as follows:
1) Complete the Scholarship Application form found @ http://www.bridgeport.edu/Media/Website%20Resources/documents/admissions/HealthScienceScholarshipForm.pdf
2) Submit a well written, typed essay that addresses the following three areas:
- Why have you chosen this profession and what is your career plan?
- Why is the program at the University of Bridgeport the best fit for you?
- Discuss any personal, financial, or academic circumstances that warrant receipt of the scholarship. How will you plan to “give back” to the University if this scholarship is awarded to you?
Three (3) of the scholarships are directed toward specific groups:
- Significant need dual-degree students who declare at the start of their dual track careers:
- Complete the Scholarship Application form found @ http://www.bridgeport.edu/Media/Website%20Resources/documents/admissions/HealthScienceScholarshipForm.pdf
- Applicant must complete the scholarship essay indicating how they plan to “give back” to the University if this scholarship is awarded
- Applicant must present a financial plan indicating how and when federal financial aid will run out prior to graduation from both programs
- Applicant must identify how receiving the scholarship will make completion of both degrees possible in the body of the application essay
- Applicant must commit to the 5-year dual plan in which they complete acupuncture (MS-Acup) first
- Health professionals already in practice
- Complete the Scholarship Application form found @ http://www.bridgeport.edu/Media/Website%20Resources/documents/admissions/HealthScienceScholarshipForm.pdf
- Essay must indicate how the acupuncture degree will enhance their career or change the direction of their career. In the body of the essay, applicants should discuss both how the addition of acupuncture is of benefit to both the profession of acupuncture and their patients
- Applicant must commit to completing the MS-Acup within 3 years from the date of acceptance into the program
- Physical Arts Professionals:
- Asian movement/Asian Physical Arts background
- Performance Professionals (Actors/Dancers)