The Mary Markley Scholarships, funded by the AAUW-Ann Arbor Branch and administered by the University of Michigan, are awarded each year to two undergraduate women.

The name of the scholarship honors Mary Butler Markley, one of the earliest (1892) graduates of the University.  During her college years she championed various women’s causes and was one of the organizers of the Women’s League, established to promote activities on campus for women.

In 1902, Mary Markley joined 40 other women  to form the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. Annual dues were $1.50. The group was committed to the educational advancement of women and girls and established science clubs in the elementary schools of Ann Arbor. The Association of Collegiate Alumnae later became the American Association of University Women, or AAUW.

Mary Markley died in 1956 and her will bequeathed $5,000 to fund an undergraduate woman’s scholarship to be administered by the Ann Arbor branch of AAUW. The original scholarship requirements were: a 2.5 grade point average, residence in Mary Markley Hall, and academic standing above that of a first-year freshman. The residency requirement was modified and then dropped after the residence became co-educational in 1964.

The first Mary Markley House (formerly Alumnae House) at 1219 Washtenaw Avenue was operated as a women’s cooperative dormitory until its closing in 1950 due to its small size and poor physical condition. After Mary Markley’s death the Ann Arbor branch petitioned the U-M Board of Regents to name a new women’s dormitory in her honor. A new Mary Markley Hall at 1425 Washington Heights on the northeast corner of U-M’s central campus was completed in 1959 at a cost of $6.1 million.