Scholarships
Photography scholarships help emerging artists take creative risks, develop a distinct voice, and build a sustained practice at SUNY Purchase.
The Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship
Since 2009, SUNY Purchase and The Gordon Parks Foundation have supported emerging photographers selected for artistic talent, academic achievement, and financial need. The scholarship may help cover tuition and room and board while carrying forward Gordon Parks’s legacy of visual storytelling, humanity, and social justice.
Recipients, portraits, and selected work
Explore every Purchase scholar represented in the Foundation’s records from 2009 through 2026 through portraits, selected work, and brief biographies adapted from their award profiles.
Anelise Rodriguez
2026
Anelise Rodriguez is a junior photography major at SUNY SUNY Purchase, from the Bronx, New York. Having graduated from the Cinema School, she developed an interest in photography through film, where she discovered a more open, expressive way of working that also strengthened her storytelling and narrative practice.
Claudia Scheiderich
2025
Claudia Scheiderich is a photographer and artist born in Utica, NY. She has been an artist for as long as she can remember, a passion nurtured early on by her father, a Purchase alumnus who encouraged her creative path.
William J. Scheel
2024
Scheel is an Egyptian American artist from Vestal, NY, and will receive his BFA in Photography, at SUNY Purchase, NY, in 2025. His work embodies a fast-paced, point-and-shoot style of the mundane, revealing unseen obscurities of everyday life.
Syn Gladden
2023
Syn Gladden is a photographer, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her first introduction to the camera world was through her interest in movies.
Tyler Thompson
2022–2023
Tyler Thompson is a junior photography major at SUNY SUNY Purchase. In high school Tyler was in stage crew all four years but didn’t take a photography class until his senior year.
Wesley De Jesus Bruno
2020–2021
Wesley De Jesus Bruno is a junior photography major at SUNY Purchase who was born and raised for nine years in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has acquired a keen sense of awareness and appreciation for portraits, fashion, landscape, and documentary photography.
Unique Acevedo
2020–2021
Unique Acevedo is an American born Latina photographer studying at SUNY SUNY Purchase. Traveling to many different cities and states as a young child, Unique developed a natural curiosity for human interaction and behavior, causing her automatic connection with portrait photography.
Douglas Shindler
2020–2021
Douglas Shindler is a junior painting/drawing and photography double major at SUNY Purchase. Douglas’ photographic work deals with the struggles of growing up and living life in a rural, desolate and viciously impoverished area such as Sullivan County.
Mina Grullon
2019
Mina Grullon is a junior photography major at SUNY Purchase. Her work explores portraiture as a means of understanding people and questioning her own sense of identity.
M. A. Audu
2019
M. A. Audu is a queer/trans photographer born in Jos, Nigeria and living in New York City. Their work moves beyond reductive expectations placed on Black and queer artists.
Anouk Grandits
2019
Anouk Grandits is a junior working towards a BFA in photography and printmaking at SUNY SUNY Purchase. She uses her photography to track changes in her personal life and the larger world—the physical and emotional environments in which we all live.
Leonardo Vasconcelos-O’Neill
2018
Leonardo “AVO” Vasconcelos O’Neill is a multimedia artist who primarily focuses on photography. He resides in New York City and is pursuing a BFA in Photography at SUNY Purchase.
Gawon Song
2018
Gawon Song is a junior photography major at SUNY Purchase. Through her photography, she is able to examine her identity by observing and confronting cultural norms.
Christopher Robinson
2018
Christopher Robinson was born in Mount Vernon hospital at 1:42 am on July 27th, 1996. His two years pursuing an AS degree at SUNY Adirondack College were hard, but he eventually found his passion for photography and decided to apply to SUNY Purchase to complete a BFA.
Tiana Schippa
2017
Tiana Schippa is a junior photography major at SUNY Purchase. Tiana is currently working on a mix of family images and paperwork documenting her adoption.
Giancarlo Montes-Santangelo
2016–2017
Giancarlo Montes is a junior photography major at SUNY Purchase. Inspired by the works of Gregory Halpern and Andrea Modica, he is interested in the poetics of photography.
Zuri Seldon-Jordan
2016–2017
Zuri Jordan is a junior studying to receive her BFA in photography at SUNY Purchase. Being born and raised in Washington D.C. has played a vital role in Zuri’s understanding of the world and her development as a young, black, female photographer.
Siara Ramos
2016
Siara Ramos is a sophomore photography major. While attending high school in Manhattan, she developed a love for the architecture that surrounded her, and when finally in possession of a camera, began taking photographs that attempted to show a New York City that most people don’t see.
Craig White
2015
Craig White is a junior photography major at SUNY Purchase. Through its constantly changing environments, the city of New York and its outskirts provide a framework of concepts suitable for documentation and artistic interpretation.
Robert Wagoner
2015
Robert Wagoner is a junior photography major at SUNY SUNY Purchase. Seeking the beauty in these nostalgic moments is what Robert’s work expresses.
Daniel Naman
2013–2014
Daniel Naman is a sophomore photography major, born and raised in rural, upstate New York. When inquisition always elicited the same intolerant reaction, Daniel’s photographic work developed its own questions.
Christopher Postlewaite
2013–2014
Christopher Postlewaite is a sophomore photography major, born and raised in New Jersey. His photographs are an observation of the reflections of various rituals and events we find in our American culture; whether it is something as simple as lawn care and pets, or the admiration for our armed services.
Rebecca Iasillo
2011–2012
Rebecca Iasillo, a rising senior in the SUNY Purchase School of Art+Design’s photography program, received the Nikon Gordon Parks Foundation Photography Scholarship to honor a photography student whose work reflects the passion, vision, and humanity of Gordon Parks. Her photographic work is a critique of the suburban culture.
Chiara Marinai
2009–2010
Chiara Marinai is the senior photo editor for VanityFair.com, where she oversees the visual aesthetic of the site. She studied photography and fine arts at SUNY Purchase, graduating in 2011.
Portraits and biographical information are drawn from The Gordon Parks Foundation’s official scholar pages. Additional selected works for Craig White, Robert Wagoner, and Christopher Postlewaite link to their gallery, publication, or artist portfolio sources.
How students are considered
The Gordon Parks Foundation identifies talent, grade point average, and financial need as selection criteria. Most SUNY Purchase institutional scholarships do not require a separate application; candidates are generally considered during the admissions process. Criteria, award amounts, and availability may change from year to year.
For current guidance, contact Photography faculty and Student Financial Services.