The Burma Bucknell Connection

Helen Hunt

Miss Helen Hunt was the daughter of Bucknell President Emory W. Hunt. A graduate of Dickinson College, she travelled to Burma to be the Dean of Women at Judson College. She began gathering support for a scholarship for Burmese students in 1934, to which Bucknell students contributed in various amounts. Thanks to her efforts, the scholarship was formally recognized in 1949 at the first Burma-Bucknell Weekend, which was also started at her suggestion. Unfortunately, she was not able to make it to the first weekend, but she attended the following one and was as present as possible through the following years. 


She helped in the planning of the weekends, specifically on inviting Burmese students to Bucknell. Throughout her career at Judson College, she had befriended many students, and most of the students who came to Bucknell for the very first Weekend were acquainted with her, at the very least. Letters to Helen Hunt from Forrest D Brown note that the students asked how she was and had remembered her very fondly.

Throughout the years, she continued to be essential to the organization of the Burma-Bucknell weekends, using her connections with Burmese students to invite more people through the network. On the 10th anniversary of the weekends, she, with Lisbeth Shaw Loo, were presented certificates of appreciation and recognition by the University. In the pamphlets made for the weekends, she is described as the guiding spirit of the Burma-Bucknell relations.

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