The Rosie Richmond Scholarship was established in 1994 by John C. Moore and Patricia O'Neill in memory of Rosie Richmond, an accomplished UIS (then Sangamon State University), graduate, author, and business owner. Rosie taught creative writing at SSU and was co-founder and member of Brainchild, a local women's writing group. Before her death from cancer in 1994, Rosie asked that a scholarship be awarded annually to a female undergraduate student aspiring to be a writer.